1/17: Valpo @ Detroit Game Thread oh and lots of giveaways!

[valpotx]

I think it is funny that their forum is questioning both the Ray Jr and Calliste technicals.  The NCAA will NEVER allow someone to yell 'get that outta here' or whatever Ray said after his block, as well as Calliste saying something to Bobby as he is walking off the court.  You didn't see Bobby getting in anyone's face, so Calliste is OBVIOUSLY going to get that called on him if he tries to instigate further.  It just shows what a sh@t coach Ray Sr is, as he even tried to defend his son on his BS mouthing off.  I hope both do absolutely nothing further in life of significance

[truth219]

Ray said ....git tha shi odda her

Anyone notice after the capo block anderson laid in front of the camera holding his crotch breathing heavily out of his nose like a bull

[bbtds]

I think the only time I've seen him ever confront a ref on a call was tonight on the blatant goaltend that somehow all three officials missed

I guarantee you who ever is in charge of officiating for the Horizon League will make it abundantly clear to tonight's refs that they blew that call and if it happens again they won't be officiating any more HL games or at least not as many as they would have.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

bbtds, i wish you were right.

i hesitate to ask this of you, but if you're as into Schadenfreude as I, would you mind copying/pasting a couple of their best rants, or just linking to them?   

[valpotx]

I assume you are talking about when Anderson held onto the rim while the ball was coming off the backboard?  That was pretty awful, and it seemed like they were slow to call the 2 other goaltends that we got.  It seemed like 3 seconds went by on each before they did the obvious and blew the whistle.  Hmmmmm....ball hits the backboard, Minnerath swats it as it is going to the rim at that point...uh duhhhhhh, maybe I should blow this whistle thing?

[oklahomamick]

Ray Sr. has no control over his team.  They do as they please.  They don't run a set offense. 

I would hope if one of our players received a tech for taunting, Bryce would pull him out and have a coaching moment with him.

[bbtds]

i hesitate to ask this of you, but if you're as into Schadenfreude as I, would you mind copying/pasting a couple of their best rants, or just linking to them? 

I'm not sure what you mean by best rants.

[agibson]

They're really going at it on the ESPN message thread for the game. 

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/conversation?gameId=330172174

I've never noticed that for a Valpo game.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

I just mean if they are really griping, you know, the ones that give you the most pleasure to read. 

Like reading an ND thread after either the BCS game or the dead girlfriend hoax, you know?

Oh, and for the record:  we're undefeated when giving up 80 or more...

[bbtds]

I just mean if they are really griping, you know, the ones that give you the most pleasure to read. 

Like reading an ND thread after either the BCS game or the dead girlfriend hoax, you know?

Oh, and for the record:  we're undefeated when giving up 80 or more...

That wasn't me that was referring to the messages on the Detroit board. That was valpotx.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

They're really going at it on the ESPN message thread for the game. 

I think being on the U helped a lot. 

I was really enjoying giving it to them on that page...notice I gave us a shout out, trying to get more VU fans ova here?   RECRUITING SKILLZ

[vu72]

Jr got one and I think Calliste? I believe both we're taunting. They didn't have the volume up in BWs so I'm not 100% sure.

I'm more impressed with Ryan every game. Tonight it would be his composure.

1) those game winning free throws
2) he got cheap spotted at least 3 times in the head either after free throws or going down the court and never was openly whining to the officials or daddy, errr Coach
3) I think the only time I've seen him ever confront a ref on a call was tonight on the blatant goaltend that somehow all three officials missed, and he dropped that pretty quickly

I know Commish didn't think he is NBA material, but he couldn't be more wrong. This kid is the real deal.

Yeah, was invisible, went for "only" 18 and 9, oh well...

[oklahomamick]

They are calling for Ray Sr.'s head

http://www.detroittitanhoops.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=428

[hailcrusaders]

"The refs take the game over. The Valpo goon changed the game too."

From the game thread on the UDM forum. Capo, a goon? Coming from Detroit? Are you serious?

[agibson]

Detroit post game interview is up.

MBB postgame vs. Valparaiso

Poor Minnerath

[LaPorteAveApostle]

STRAIGHT UP TROLLIN', Y'ALL
(not trollin y'all, of course) with some fun schadenfreude thrown in that i didn't even comment on...

[agibson]

What's the record for road teams in Horizon League games this season?  6-15?  And we're three of the road wins?  (And, OK, one of the home losses.)

[oklahomamick]

I know its early in the conference season, but Rowdy won this match up against Ray Jr.  They will square off again but Rowdy made a big statement tonight. 

[hailcrusaders]

Two technicals and 13-20 at the line. Detroit is all talent but no discipline.

[chef]

Sometimes the PA Announcer can have an effect on the game. Prior to the first media time out, after a Valpo missed shot Broekhoff grabbed the offensive rebound. As he snagged the ball, the official blew his whistle for a Valpo foul. He signaled 55 to the scorer's table as it appeared the foul had been on Van Wijk. The scoreboard showed the foul on Van Wijk as did the official stats. A second later the PA Announcer said foul on Valpo's 45 Ryan Broekhoff. A few seconds later the scoreboard and live stats changed the foul to Broekhoff. If this had happened at Valpo, play would have been stopped (by the scorers table) and the officials would have been asked who the foul was on. This did not happen at Detroit, and the foul was wrongly charged to Broekhoff. This had no factor on the game as neither Broekhoff or Van Wijk were in any foul trouble. Just can't ever remember a PA Announcer having an effect on the game.

[valporun]

I was skeptical after the ugly first half, and was ready to change the channel, until my girlfriend slapped me back to reality, and she called the comeback too. I was really impressed with Matt Kenney tonight. He'd been away for awhile, but he definitely showed up big tonight. The Capo flagrant 2 made sense considering the intensity of his slamming his arm across Anderson's windup. I still can't make sense of how three officials could miss such an easy goaltending call on Anderson during the layup, but you can be sure that the HL Director of Officiating has been on the phone with these guys about it already.

I not sure about all of the adjustments that Bryce and the coaching staff made in the second half, but they were just what we needed, and we definitely took advantage of the Detroit starters playing with a slight chip on their shoulders the second half. Minnerath was their key tonight, seemed until the closing minutes, that he couldn't miss, regardless of where he put the shot up from. To shutdown McCallum was the best part of this game. If he had been on, like he usually is, Detroit scores 100+, and we're dead in the water, ala YSU. Kudos to the Detroit FT line playing a solid denial defense on many of their FT attempts.

Still need to fix the turnover ratio/issues, but overall, we're looking better. Need to keep it up for Saturday night, and hope we don't have tired legs, because we'll need them majorly against WSU, whether they are slow or not, we need to get our legs, and play our game, not the Raiders' game.

[Smj]

Loved that game...   Beautiful win.    Fundamentals won this game - this is an example of a coaching win or coaching loss.  I waited to watch the game until it was archived on ESPN3 so I had to stay away from here.   

However I have to say I really enjoyed reading the thread and seeing the moods change.   If someone sees a Valpo post game interview please post the link.    Great win - definitely the kind of confidence booster the team needs.   

[wh]

Would someone kindly copy the Post Tribune game story and post it?  I have tried their "free access" sign-up on more than one occasion, but all I can get access to is the mother ship paper Sun Times.  If it wasn't for wanting to see the game article, I would totally blow off their website.

[historyman]

Buggs.  If you can't make a wide open 3 at the D-1 level when they are 10 feet away from you, you don't need to be playing in games where they sag on you.

Buggs fired up 2 threes towards the end of the game. You can't fault him this game for not trying. And he didn't shoot any worse from three than others on many nights. Buggs also hit 2 of 3 free throws and without that kind of free throw shooting we don't win.

[historyman]

Valparaiso pulls off stunning rally to beat Detroit

By Michael Osipoff 648-3137 or mosipoff@post-trib.com January 17, 2013 11:12PM


The Big Number

Valparaiso had five turnovers in the second half after committing 10 in the first. Entering the game, opponents had committed 17.2 against Detroit, an average ranked No. 23 nationally, and the Titans' turnover margin of plus-5.6 was No. 6.

"They're a very good defensive team," said Valparaiso coach Bryce Drew, whose team had averaged 15.6 entering the game. "We're not the only team they've turned over; they've turned over everybody all year.

We knew we were going to turn the ball over some against them, so our big thing was we just wanted to not make it so many that we couldn't recover from it."

The Bonus

With 11:17 left in the game, Bobby Capobianco was called for a flagrant foul and ejected, when Doug Anderson came up with a steal and was on his way to a would-be dunk.

DETROIT — What turnovers?

What sketchy defense?

What career game from Nick Minnerath?

Long, long, long forgotten, with Valparaiso instead authoring a dizzying, determined, dogged comeback. The Crusaders overcame a 22-point second-half deficit to stun Detroit 89-88 at Calihan Hall, adding another chapter to the burgeoning rivalry between the teams.

With a career-high 31 points from Kevin Van Wijk and Ryan Broekhoff knocking down the go-ahead free throws to complete the see-it-and-still-not-quite-believe-it rally — it was the Crusaders' first and only lead of the game — they scored the game's last 12 points over the final 2:37 to break a second-place tie in the Horizon League and set up Saturday's matchup for first place at the ARC against Wright State.

"I was kind of speechless in the locker room after the game," Valparaiso coach Bryce Drew said. "I though Detroit dominated the game for the most part. We were able to chip away in the second half, chip away, and the last couple minutes we made a bunch of shots in a row to give us a chance for the lead there at the end. It was just one of those crazy games we've had against Detroit these last few years. I'm just really proud of our guys how they persevered in the second half."

Said Van Wijk: "We needed to keep fighting. ... We knew it was going to take the whole game and not just one minute. We knew if we kept fighting and kept playing hard, we'd slowly get back in the game."

Valparaiso (14-5, 4-1 Horizon League), which swept its three-game road stretch, snapped a 17-game home win streak for Detroit (11-7, 3-2), with the Crusaders also having won 73-71 on Erik Buggs' coast-to-coast layup on Jan. 6, 2012. The Titans also had won 22 straight games in which they had scored at least 80 points.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Broekhoff said with a laugh, when asked how Valparaiso was able to pull off the win. "Obviously, we went into halftime and really weren't happy with how we played. We knew if stuck to it and played like how we normally play, they might let us back into the game. We just really locked down on defense, and our offense was really working in the second half. We made some plays down the stretch and they kind of tightened up. It was one heck of a win. It's hard to explain."

Valparaiso trailed 60-38 with 17:08 left when Minnerath — who scored 36 points, the most by a Horizon League player this season, on 12-of-17 shooting, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range, doing it in a wide assortment of ways, regardless of how the Crusaders attempted to guard him — made three free throws. But though the Crusaders were down, they were not out.

Detroit still led 88-77, before Matt Kenney made a 3-pointer with 2:37 left and another with 1:48 left. Van Wijk, a force inside all game as he shot an unconscious 13-of-15 from the field en route to surpassing his previous best of 25 points at Kent State earlier this season, scored, then added two free throws to make it 88-87 after a back-court violation on the Titans.

Ray McCallum then committed a turnover, and Broekhoff was fouled with 17.4 seconds left as he headed toward the other end of the court. He proceeded to make both free throws to put the Crusaders — who shot 20-of-32 (62.5 percent) from the field in the second half — in front.

"I was pretty calm, actually," said Broekhoff, who entered the game shooting 90.3 percent from the line. "I just knew that I had put in the work, I had made all my free throws to that point (6-of-6, finishing 8-of-8, as part of an 18-point, nine-rebound night, just short of his fourth straight double-double). I felt pretty good. Just shoot it in rhythm and stay in your routine, and hope it goes in in the end."

Detroit called timeout with 13.4 seconds left, before Evan Bruinsma missed a 3-pointer. The Titans grabbed the offensive rebound and called timeout with 2.1 seconds left, before Minnerath missed a contested 3 as time expired, as the Crusaders celebrated.

"Heartbreaking loss," Detroit coach Ray McCallum said. "There's a reason they're the defending (regular-season) Horizon League champs. They play to the end. They make hustle plays. ... They got the stops and made the plays down the stretch to get the win."

Kenney had 12 points for the Crusaders on 4-of-5 shooting from 3-point range. Doug Anderson — who Drew described as "probably the best dunker and jumper in the country" — had 17 points for the Titans on 8-of-11 shooting, and Jason Calliste added 14 on 6-of-10. The Crusaders limited McCallum to six points on 2-of-11 shooting.

Detroit had used a 13-2 run to take a 17-6 lead with 13:18 left in the first half, and opened up a 50-32 halftime cushion when Calliste hit a deep 3-pointer with one second left, as the Titans shot 21-of-31 from the field (67.7 percent).

"Detroit's such a talented team, and they score the ball so quickly; I thought we actually played pretty good defense for a while, and they just made shot after shot," Drew said.

"I think both teams get a little extra fired up for these games, just because we've played each other so many times the last few years (including in each of the last three league tournaments). I definitely think both teams were excited to play tonight. Detroit came out and got all over us right away."

But the Crusaders would not be denied in the second half.

"You can't get it all back at once," Broekhoff said. "If you try to do too much too early, it's just going to work opposite for you. We tried to get a few points down each media break, each timeout, just try to get little wins that add up. We gave ourselves an opportunity with a couple minutes left, and really made some good plays. ... It was really good execution down the stretch."