Ball State at Valpo, Dec. 13

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Great to see the home run ball.  Can't believe it works so many times

thought the SAME THING.  even the guys in the cheap seats know it's coming.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Oh--almost forgot.  CREDIT where CREDIT is due:  only 5 turnovers.  That's right, in case you missed it, we only turned the ball over 5 times according to the box.  And forced 11 ourselves. 

Best since 4 against Drake...and a good sign:  last year we only had 3 single-digit turnover games, and two of them were 9s!  (The lowest?  You'll never guess...Columbia, we had only 6.)

So hopefully we're trending up.

[beastkiller]

They got lucky this game ball state out play them the whole game. Ball state made a few mistake that got us back in the game .36% for the field is bad we need to start inside out

[LaPorteAveApostle]

I don't know that you can say that they outplayed us the whole game when we held them to a total of 15 points for like 20 minutes of game-time, and scoreless for the first 5:38 of that stretch.  That was crucial in getting back in it.

Yeah, totaled it up:  15 points from the last 50 seconds of the first half to the last 1:04 of the second.  That's a pace of not even 31 ppg.

I don't always make obvious statements, but when I do, you're not going to lose very often when you give up 15 in a half.

[mvandersee]

First time I've had the chance to watch the majority of a game online in a while due to work, but it was great to see so few turnovers. Definitely not the prettiest of wins, but great to see the guys grind one out at home in front of what appeared to be a pretty decent sized crowd

[VULB#62]

Didn't see it.  Hoped for the best.  But when I opened up my laptop and saw the score and looked at the box score, I knew it was about staying in the game by playing defense (broken record spinning again).  Rant below is probably oversimplified (sorry).

It was true for FB this year (after years of thinking it's all about the offensive scheme), it SHOULD be true for WBB this season, but they haven't gotten the memo yet about playing more to-the-belly-button defense for the first 5 minutes of their games (or at any point in the game).   It's so simple.  Shut them down, make it hard to score and you have a chance to be a winner.  What's so difficult to understand about that?  All of Valpo's teams need to understand that we can't always compete for the 3-4 star players in most sports, but with some guts and resilience we can put people onto 3-4 star players and make them make mistakes and cut them off from the easy way that they are used to scoring points.  It's lunch bucket basketball (or FB or Soccer or Baseball) and it can work.

I'm off my soap box.  Congrats MBB for a 10 win start!

[valpo64]

Disappointing attendance of 3,188.  It was good to see Alec getting back on track with 23...7/16 from the field but only 3/8 for 3's and 6/6 from the line.  We definitely need to improve our free throw shooting.  We were terrible the  last 2 minutes.  Our defense was very good,  especially in the 2nd half.

[Chairback]

Couple of thoughts:

-We used our last time out with 8mins to go in the game with a TV timeout coming soon.
-Very surprised we went with Jabril the last 3 mins of the game instead of Skara.  Skara is a better shooter and defender and much quicker.  Jabril looks really really bad.  He's extremely slow, his defense is horrid and why he continues to take jump shots in a panic amazes me,
-When E.Victor is in the game he is creating difficult match ups for the opposing team.  He had a couple of bad shots but is just so explosive on offense.  I hope he continues to be healthy in conference play as he good be really good down the stretch.
-I thought Ball State had a tough time keeping up with T. Walker in the 2nd half.  He hit a clutch shot in the lane in the 2nd half which was a great move. Those 3 quick, and legit, fouls he had in the 1st half to me was why were were down.
-To me it looks like the team is hesitant to pass the ball down low to Vashil.  He had great position many times down low and they looked but never passed it down.
-Keith continues to improve and get better each game.  I really like him for his D.
-The halftime contest "Win Mark's cash" was a scam.  They pick a female student and she hits a free throw for 100 bucks.  Mark gives her a choice of keeping the 100 bucks or giving it back and trying to hit a 3 for 500 bucks and she gets 2 attempts.  The girl comes no where close to hitting the 3 and you'd think Mark would actually give her the 100 bucks still but doesn't.  100 bucks two weeks before christmas for college student is a big deal.  I thought that was pretty crappy they still didn't give her the 100.  We must be hard up for contest donations i guess......

[wh]

KC played spectacular on-ball defense. He may be the best Valpo defender I have ever seen, going back more than 20 years. He works so hard at both ends of the court without letup that I'm surprised he can make his way back to the locker room without assistance (and I'm only half kidding). He does a great job of running the offense as well. And to think that this is only his 2nd semester playing. I think he will be an absolute star next year.

Speaking of stars I didn't see any mention that Alec had a double-double (23 and 10). The scary thing about Alec is as good as his numbers are, he's no where near reaching his full potential.

Why do we have Alec (our best FT shooter) in bounding the ball to Jubril (our worst FT shooter) on back to back possessions, knowing that they were going to immediately foul. Had we done the reverse Alec would have had close to 30 and 10 and we easily would have closed the game out. Instead Jubril bricked 4 consecutive FT's and gave them an opportunity they never should have had to send the game to OT. Luke Gore told Todd that they expect Jubril's FT shooting will improve in time. I guess I'm thinking how about waiting until it does before you put him in the pressured packed position of trying to ice the game.

[justducky]

I'll take the win but we didn't deserve it. So much of the game appeared to be poorly prepared for, poorly coached, and poorly executed. Despite that there was enough great hustle and fine basketball (once the team woke up) to secure another win. That definitely would have been a loss at Muncie and lets not even think about playing like that in Fort Wayne.

[classof2014]

Scrappy win against a team we should beat easily. Ball State isn't the worst of the worst and any win is a good win in my mind. Team could've folded in the first half but didn't and there were times in the second half as well when Ball State tied it up. FT shooting nearly did us in at the end. Like many don't understand why Jubril was in there he's been awful this season and hasn't done much lately, I think Skara might get the nod in a similar situation down the road. Make just 1 of those 4 free throws and there's no last second chance for the Cardinals.

Anyways nice win and nice to get back on track. KC is looking like the KC we thought he could be, he is an amazing defender and Alec Peters with a double/double. In my mind game ball goes to KC, he's such a gamer and really wins all the battle and continually shuts down teams top scorer and frustrates them throughout the game.

[valpopal]

As Bryce said when beginning the post-game press conference, this was an entertaining game for the fans. Alec proved that he is the catalyst who sparks the rest of the team. His box score line was evidence of his abilities as an all-around player: 23 points, 10 rebounds, 6-6 from the free throw line, 4 steals, an assist, and 0 turnovers! However, what seemed evident about this year's team is that Valpo's players are quicker than in past years (even without Lexus and with Nickerson still not 100%), and they were definitely the more athletic team on the court in this game. This was the cause of the difference in fouls committed, which allowed Valpo to shoot 17 more free throws (not that they made a high percentage of those). The athleticism is needed on nights like tonight with the shooting fairly cold: 36% FG, 29% 3FG.


In addition, the Crusaders' defense and ball handling bailed out the lack of offense. After hitting 8 3-point shots in the first half, Ball State's long-range shooting went away as the defense by the guards stiffened and Ball State only connected on 1 3-pt shot in the second half. Indeed, my favorite stat of the game was the assist to turnover comparison: Valpo had 11 assists and only 5 turnovers; Carter's ratio was 5 to 1!


PS: As a bonus, I noticed that Derrik Smits had a great game tonight with 27 points as his team beat a tough Marion squad, 67-65.


Here are a few of my photos displaying the breakaway speed and athleticism of the team in tonight's game.
 

[valpopal]

Excerpt from the game report in the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel:


The "ARC" is perfect

Turn on a college basketball game on most given nights and what you'll often see are over-built arenas that are (at best) half full (and I'm being generous). Valparaiso's gym (Athletics-Recreation Center) is smaller, but not small. It's perfectly-sized for the Crusaders.

The 3,188 fans filled up the arena Saturday to a large degree and were into the game loudly. Conversely, Ball State's Worthen Arena is beautiful to behold, but not to try and fill. The same could be said of programs like Indiana State, IUPUI, IPFW (at the Coliseum) Wright State and many others.

[crusadermoe]

I would expect a Dec. 13 game before finals week to be low attended.    Ball State isn't a draw.     

But,......the Horizon season really should be able to draw fans vs. all but the YSU and UIC games.    We'll see.   Definitely no reason to build bigger place if fans don't care enough to fill 80% of the ARC or VU doesn't promote well.   Still tough to figure which or both drives the low #s.

Anyway, team is off to a solid start.   Would be more impressive if they had played Missouri and New Mexico down to the last few possessions, but I'll take it.  Team has big upside this year and even more in the next year.

[bbtds]

Great comeback to win this game that started out bad, really bad. This Crusader team has a ton of potential but, as evidenced, can be rusty and go cold for long portions of a game.  Defense was the key to reinvigorating the offense.

Other opponents would have played better defense against Valpo and shored up a marginal win.

[Valpofan00]

Moving to a better conference could bring more people to the games? Same thing with a new stadium?

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Moving to a better conference could bring more people to the games?

wasn't that part of the reason for going to the HL?

[wh]

Excerpt from the game report in the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel:


The "ARC" is perfect

Turn on a college basketball game on most given nights and what you'll often see are over-built arenas that are (at best) half full (and I'm being generous). Valparaiso's gym (Athletics-Recreation Center) is smaller, but not small. It's perfectly-sized for the Crusaders.

The 3,188 fans filled up the arena Saturday to a large degree and were into the game loudly. Conversely, Ball State's Worthen Arena is beautiful to behold, but not to try and fill. The same could be said of programs like Indiana State, IUPUI, IPFW (at the Coliseum) Wright State and many others.

Always good to be reminded of how our tax dollars get wasted in every conceivable way.  (For the half who don't pay income taxes, please disregard.)

[talksalot]

the Horizon season really should be able to draw fans vs. all but the YSU and UIC games.

Having Jim Cornelison back to do the Anthem for the UIC game should help !   Jan 8th... be in your seats early, please.

[wh]

Be in your seats early?  Does that mean the Anthem is going to be started early again?  Last year there were tons of fans caught unaware in the aisles and walkways headed for their seats when the Anthem/WWII veteran ceremony started.

[valpospartan]

I would expect a Dec. 13 game before finals week to be low attended.    Ball State isn't a draw.     

But,......the Horizon season really should be able to draw fans vs. all but the YSU and UIC games.    We'll see.   Definitely no reason to build bigger place if fans don't care enough to fill 80% of the ARC or VU doesn't promote well.   Still tough to figure which or both drives the low #s.

Anyway, team is off to a solid start.   Would be more impressive if they had played Missouri and New Mexico down to the last few possessions, but I'll take it.  Team has big upside this year and even more in the next year.

Finals didn't seem to be the reason, as the student section was full.
I was shocked that the place wasn't full, as there has to be many BSU alums in the area.

[valpo95]

It's frustrating to be down big to an opponent that you should be beating, at 14-2 or 19-7, the team could have tail spun into something really bad.  But they forged through and clawed against a scrappy team.  Hats off to BSU, from the parts I watched (the parts where Valpo missed everything) they were in it to win it!  Glad to see 10-2. 

I agree with govalpogo - it is nice to be 10-2.  I would remind everyone that in 1992, when Valpo beat Ball State in a 2-OT thriller, there were T-shirts available in the bookstore with the score and saying "BSU Ball Who?" or something like that.  Now, we expect to win against teams like Ball State. 

While we can be disappointed about the two losses, did anyone predict that the team would be 11-1 at this point in the season?  The reality is that if this team shoots poorly, they struggle: They shot 33% overall and 22% (3pt) at Missouri, and 30% and 14% (3pt) against New Mexico.  Most teams are going to do poorly shooting 14% from three at home, and I don't expect that will happen often.

[talksalot]

Does that mean the Anthem is going to be started early again? 

USUALLY, the only time we have the anthem early, is if we are LIVE on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU...and SOMETIMES for COMCAST-SPORTSNET they ask that the anthem be completed before their on-air time, and it impacts their lighting.   The HorizonLeague.com schedule does not have the coverage listed for this game.  If we go early, the anthem will usually be between the 10-minute and 8-minute mark on the pre-game countdown clock.   

As always, we encourage all fans to get to their seats early... we start running commercials for the local businesses supporting ValpoAthletics at the 18-minute mark on the pre-game countdown clock.   More time to visit the Culver's Cart or the VU BookStore shop... and of course the concession stand.

[valpo64]

While perhaps our attendance is somewhat disappointing, I wonder about the comment that a better conference would help increase the number attending...Just ask Butler as they have made 2 "upgrades"(?) and I don't believe their number are up, in fact they may be down.  However their ticket prices are much higher than VU's.  They are "big time" you know.    lol

[historyman]

It's frustrating to be down big to an opponent that you should be beating, at 14-2 or 19-7, the team could have tail spun into something really bad.  But they forged through and clawed against a scrappy team.  Hats off to BSU, from the parts I watched (the parts where Valpo missed everything) they were in it to win it!  Glad to see 10-2.

I agree with govalpogo - it is nice to be 10-2.  I would remind everyone that in 1992, when Valpo beat Ball State in a 2-OT thriller, there were T-shirts available in the bookstore with the score and saying "BSU Ball Who?" or something like that.  Now, we expect to win against teams like Ball State. While we can be disappointed about the two losses, did anyone predict that the team would be 11-1 at this point in the season?  The reality is that if this team shoots poorly, they struggle: They shot 33% overall and 22% (3pt) at Missouri, and 30% and 14% (3pt) against New Mexico.  Most teams are going to do poorly shooting 14% from three at home, and I don't expect that will happen often.

In a recent episode of "The Middle" TV show one of the family members was visiting colleges in Indiana, the home state of this family. They visited IU, Butler, Ball State and Purdue. Publicity is never a bad thing.