11/13/2013 Wednesday--Valpo at Illinois--6:30 p.m. CST--Game Thread

[valpopal]

Valpo played an Illinois team, as good or better than any in the Horizon League, on the road and kept the game as close as two points late in the second half. In addition, they did that with freshmen playing 76 minutes, which in past seasons would have led to a huge blowout.

As I mentioned in a preseason thread, this is an encouraging situation. If the team can use this stretch of three away games against Illinois, Ohio, and Evansville as a lesson to toughen themselves, no mater the results, they will benefit in the future, especially when the more important conference play arrives along with Keith Carter.

As others have noted, two glaring weaknesses tonight: free throws and rebounding, both of which should improve by the time the conference schedule starts. On the other hand, the defense seems better than I expected at this point in the season, and the freshmen (Williams, Peters, Yeo) are maturing quicker than I thought they would. In fact, the stat that stood out to me as significant: the freshmen had an amazing 0 turnovers in their 76 minutes of play.

[a3uge]

I would agree on the 3 at the end of the the first half I was like, that's game, we're not winning. That was pretty much a five point swing. Bobby was open under the basket and would have had the easy 2 but instead we turned it over and a desperation 3 going in. Big difference between going in down by 3 compared to 8. Changed the whole feel of the game for us. We need Keith Carter now, with him we probably win this game. Also no presence down low is gonna hurt.

Like I said before if we make our FTs this is a one possession game in the last minute of the game. This one was ours for the taking.

I'm sure Kieth Carter would have helped, but I'm not going to say he's a 10 point or so difference maker until I actually see him play.

And the missed FT is really annoying. I think we missed the front end of a one and one at least twice too. But you can't say "if we shoot free throws better" without mentioning the flatlander's horrible shooting. If they have an average night shooting, then we see Davidson check in at the end of the game.

As others have noted, two glaring weaknesses tonight: free throws and rebounding, both of which should improve by the time the conference schedule starts. On the other hand, the defense seems better than I expected at this point in the season, and the freshmen (Williams, Peters, Yeo) are maturing quicker than I thought they would. In fact, the stat that stood out to me as significant: the freshmen had an amazing 0 turnovers in their 76 minutes of play.

Honestly I couldn't really think of too many actual positives, but I think the lack of turnovers by the freshmen is a great sign, especially since we're used to seeing Valpo cough the ball up like they're in a cold doctor's office getting a checkup.

[VULB#62]

Couldn't watch the game but saw the ESPN crawler a couple of times and was pleasantly surprised that we were hanging in through most of the game. Then hit the Valpo site and noted that Coleman led in Points, Rebounds and assists, yet no one acknowledged that.  Seems like that is a major performance from a kid who was a reserve last year.

[atkins]

I was very impressed by the freshmen.  They put the upperclassmen to shame (perhaps aside from Coleman, who showed flashes of brilliance but also was sloppy at times).  This team needs to shoot free throws until their elbows buckle....There is simply no excuse for that abysmal effort from the line. 

Unlike most posters on this board, I have seen Carter play, and he is better and more talented than anyone on this team.  Valpo will be a much tougher team when he suits up.  It will be interesting to see how Dority plays at the SG position.  I think he will thrive.  However, he's a duck out of water as a PG. 

Illinois is an average to below-average B1G team this year, but they are clearly superior to the Nebraska team of 2012 that embarrassed us.  So the year-to-year comparison is a positive for us. 

p.s., As an aside, why did the board's Spell Check want to change "below-average" to "bullfrog"?  Who'd have thunk.

[valpotx]

At this point in the season, I see Dority going to the 6th man spot, and Coleman staying at the 2 when Carter comes back.  Jordan has really improved, and it definitely deserves a mention.  He did the one stupid 'jump before you know where you are throwing the ball' play when we were down by 2 late in the game, but other than that, had a solid game.

[justducky]

Illinois is an average to below-average B1G team this year, but they are clearly superior to the Nebraska team of 2012 that embarrassed us.  So the year-to-year comparison is a positive for us. 

The same thing had occured to me. This years bunch might have won out there (Neb) by a dozen and maybe more. Then the next question is how would the 11/13/2012 Crusaders have fared tonight against Illinois? Because of depth issues and some poor matchups I doubt if the outcome would have been much different and perhaps not as good. We also only had 12 turnovers on the night and that could have been 20 with the 2012 team.

I am a long way from predicting anything like last years success but I now think we can stay very close at Ohio and can win at Evansville. A lot of work still to do but Bryce seems to have a surplus of potential talents to work with.

[historyman]

We need Keith Carter now, with him we probably win this game

Can't agree with this. I don't believe Valpo wins this game with Carter. He is not the Lord and Savior. Keith might have lessened the difference by challenging the Illini with more skill at the rim and better passing and shooting but how does Carter make up 13 points?

[historyman]

(we would have seen) Davidson check in at the end of the game.

I guessed you missed it because Davidson did check in at the very end of the game when the outcome was decided.

[oklahomamick]

I think the difference between the 2012 team in Nebraska and the 2013 team in Illinois that 2013 they had nothing to lose.  I think there was a lot of pressure on the 2012 team not only in Nebraska but the entire the season.  There were a lot of expectations for the 12 team.  They were afraid to make a mistake or fail.  You could also see it in the semi final of the HL tournament.  The 13 team played Illinois with a sense of "we have nothing to lose, we are supposed to lose, lets show people wrong attitude." 

We were in the bonus with more than 8 minutes to go.  I thought we were trying to get the hole and draw fouls too much.  I could tell the game plan was to get to the free throw line (even though we are struggling there).  Bryce was very upset with the refs on a couple of drives to the hole.   

I like that we have some shot blockers this year.  Illinois always thought twice about driving to the basket and often altered their shots.  This helped the defense tremendously. 

Don't know if it was mentioned or not.  But the Big 10 network said that our coaching staff has the 5th most points scored among all coaching staffs in the country!!!!!

[historyman]

Don't know if it was mentioned or not.  But the Big 10 network said that our coaching staff has the 5th most points scored among all coaching staffs in the country!!!!!

Fun fact but depressing that the coaches don't win games by playing the game on the court.

[hoopfan22]

All i know is Big Bobby C needs to sit next to the coaches during the game as often as possible.

[crusadermoe]

I am usually among the cynics, but I was very impressed.    I know football much better than hoops.

But to my eye, these players are more athletic and stronger than last year other than Matt Kenney.   They drive to the hoop stronger, especially Peters.  More guys can get their own shot.  Last year it seemed guys had to catch and shoot.     

Also passes are stronger and sharper so turnovers were low.  I think they have a much bigger upside than last year's team because Rowdy, Kevin, and Erik were as good as they were going to be.   

[LaPorteAveApostle]

NWITimes
Game rep
http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/basketball/college/upset-bid-falls-short-for-valparaiso/article_abf22a0d-5f00-534e-a9a9-5bd6877a012a.html
Blog wrap
http://www.nwitimes.com/blogs/sports/valparaiso-university/wrapping-up-illinois/article_b5f045ea-4cfc-11e3-bc92-0019bb2963f4.html

Post-Trib
Game rep
http://posttrib.suntimes.com/sports/23737522-556/crusaders-hang-tough-but-illini-pull-away.html
Notebook of sorts
http://posttrib.suntimes.com/sports/23741884-556/illini-game-a-homecoming-of-sorts-for-valparaisos-alec-peters.html

Before anyone rags on Dority too much, he was playing with a sprained ankle.  Those were 2 big-time shots he hit, even though MC and A3 will note that I was mad about the first one because his foot was on the line.  Gamer, though.

[classof2014]

After sleeping on it a night I feel a lot better from the loss. Our defense was stellar and kept us in the game. I know the bigs don't do much offensively but they make up for it on the defensive side of the ball. I'm not gonna bash Dority, he's playing the PG position when he's not a PG, makes it real tough for him.

Jordan Coleman looked really, really good. Had one bad play, it happened to occur at a terrible time but he had 15 point, 8 boards, two assists, and a block. Dority didn't look awful, he's just out of position and you can't blame him for that. The one I have been the most disappointed with this season is Bobby, he looked awful, made a few 3's, turned the ball over 5 times, had 4 fouls, and only 3 rebounds. We needed him to step up and he didn't.

I thought the freshmen played really well. I would love to see Peters get going from the 3 soon but if the shot isn't there he's not forcing stuff up, no shot is better than a bad shot. Yeo and Williams looked pretty good as well.

Going into Assembly Hall and going stride for stride with the Illini is definitely nice. Most teams that have freshmen play 75 minutes against a B1G team get blown out of the water. And we were not the lesser team in this game, both teams seemed evenly matched and Illinois got a few more breaks than we did and they made their free throws and we didn't.

Hopefully we can come out running against Ohio. Valpo is gonna finish in the top of the HL, we went stride for stride with Illinois, and with our best player in street clothes. So far the only disappointment in the season has been Capo, he looks awful and once Carter comes eligible if he still plays like this he should go to the bench. 5 turnovers and 4 fouls in 20 minutes of play is ridiculous, he accounted for almost half of our turnovers.

[valpopal]

Bryce's post-game press conference:

Bryce Drew - Illini postgame remarks

[covufan]

After sleeping on it a night I feel a lot better from the loss. Our defense was stellar and kept us in the game.

Was not able to watch the game, but looking at the stats I agree that our defense played well -except for allowing 18 Offensive rebounds.  Luckily, they only got 11 second chance points on those rebounds.  Those rebounds allowed Illinois to shoot 14 more times - that and a few FTs is the difference in the game. 

This team can play.  Looking forward to watching many good games this year!

[Chairback]

All i know is Big Bobby C needs to sit next to the coaches during the game as often as possible.

I 100% agree with this.  He gave up 3 uncontested 3's the first 15 mins.  He didn't get out and guard them or wasn't quick enough to.  He isn't scoring down low, he is turning the ball over and he's not rebounding.

In regards to Dority, while he forced shots down the lane at times he also hit some key shots where Illinois could have gone on a run.  I really like him and like his aggressiveness.

[agibson]

Oh, and the Horizon League is looking up if we're gonna finish 6th!

The BTN guys made basically this point.  I only turned the game on at our high water mark, and haven't watched the first 34 mins yet.  But, at that point in the game, the BYN guys (obviously a home team call) were very complementary to Valpo.

[SanityLost17]

I would not be over complementary of our defense... 

I thought our zone was very slow to rotate giving Illinois a plethora of wide open 3 point shots.  We are lucky that they missed most of them!  Also, a good defense does not allow a team to get so many offensive rebounds.  We seemed to have trouble finding a man to box out while in the zone.

We have a lot to work on!  However, we are much further along than I thought we would be at this point of the season.   

[valpotx]

Oh, and the Horizon League is looking up if we're gonna finish 6th!

The BTN guys made basically this point.  I only turned the game on at our high water mark, and haven't watched the first 34 mins yet.  But, at that point in the game, the BYN guys (obviously a home team call) were very complementary to Valpo.

So it was your fault that we turned a solid run into a loss!!!! 

In regards to defense, I have to disagree with SanityLost17.  The whole point of our zone defense was to FORCE a poor 3-pt shooting team into taking those shots, versus letting them take penetration shots.  I feel that we did very well overall on defense, in contesting a lot of shots, and making them take fade-away jumpers.  We did give away a lot of offensive rebounds, but that seemed to be because Illinois players were very well taught in tipping a ball out to the perimeter if they couldn't get a firm grasp on it.  They got some offensive rebounds around the rim, but I remember far more tips out to the 3-pt line.

[bbtds]

Phew! It's been a day since making the sudden decision to spend the last evening in Illinois country.

I sat right in front of of 4 guys with 2 of them being Valpo grads and all 4 Illini season ticket holders. 3 of them were dressed in orange. Many times they were cheering for both teams. The people that sold us a program were Valpo grads but worked at State Farm Center, I believe, to make money for their benevolent group, wearing orange (might be required). There was a couple from NW Indiana with the husband wearing orange and the wife Valpo gear. The couple said they were season ticket holders at the ARC and the husband had a lot of family from U of I.

All together it was a worth while trip.

I really hope the team sees the positives and carry a can-do attitude over to Sunday's game in Athens. It seems Ohio is a very beatable team.