Valpo @ Green Bay - Friday 1/23/15, 8pm CT

[vu72]

A terrific college basketball game.  I wouldn't want to face ether in the NCAAs.  E Victor, if playing with pain, is the real deal. What could we expect without pain?  Get to the end of the season, at Valpo and we win the title game.

[mj]

Most of the time I'm upset when Valpo loses but I'm actually ok with this loss. Equal teams slogged it out. Refs were consistent the entire night. One more shot and we win the game. As I said in the chat, these type of games are the reason I watch Valpo basketball. We'll get them at the ARC.

[HC]

Great great game! EVN has come a long way since he took over the pg duties. That was like to heavyweights beating the snot out of each other, Valpo just couldn't get that last hit in.

[rink]

Wow, holy bad.  That was the least intelligent half of basketball I've ever seen Valpo play.  Mistakes a'plenty and the same futile display of driving, being stuck, and throwing up a shot that had no chance.  Over and over again.  They had more bad possessions that half than they had good possessions.  Lots of middle school quality garbage.  Nasty stuff, really annoying to watch.  Bad coaching, bad playing, bad basketball.  Yuck.

How ridiculous that this game was even close?  Either these two teams played their worst games of the season tonight or the Horizon league is a joke.

[justducky]

I really enjoyed that game (except for the outcome). Great defense, excellent coaching. By far Nickerson's best performance!

[valpotx]

The announcers kept saying how great the defense was in the second half, but it was really the terrible shot selection.  I did not like the alley-oop selection in this game, outside of the 1 on the inbounds pass in the second half.  We threw it up from too far away, which allowed GB to adjust and foul/contest the dunk.  How many trips in a row resulted in no points from both teams?  This is the game that is going to haunt us for the rest of conference, as we probably had 10 opportunities in a row to take the lead again, and a commanding one at that. 

[HC]

Or their defenses are ranked 1 and 2 in every category, or so it seems, for a reason.  This wasn't on the offense...GB and valpo played extraordinary defense.  Don't think you understand how long those defenders are. Makes a drive and kick out nonexistent (although I would like to see if Carter could do it) and makes it tough inside (if you can even get there).

Both coaches are going to have a way to counter what they saw tonight in the second half, the return game should be another good one.

[HC]

You guys are jumping of a cliff for no reason. Terrible shot selection tonight was a product of fantastic defense.  I think putting the bigger EVN on Sykes might be a blueprint for other teams to follow.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

I would've wanted Tevonn or Darien to take it.

Eh, neither of them were having world-beating games (2-12 and 3-8 respectively).

EVN to the hoop was really the only thing going in the 2nd half.

...Is it just me or have I or someone else here already compared Alec to Rowdy in their propensity to disappear from games (in which they are actively playing, like on the court) for seemingly-months at a time?  Sykes was struggling all night but you knew he was there pretty much all game.

[a3uge]

Is Grizz actually rink?

[HC]

Rowdy and Alec are big time players with incredible talent. The one thing neither had/has yet is the ability to create off the dribble.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

No one's denying that they're both t5 players in program history.

But without the ability to create off the dribble, they are vulnerable to being neutralized to the point where you're like, "oh hey bryce gonna bring him ba...wha?  he's been playing?"

[Chairback]

Rowdy and Alec are big time players with incredible talent. The one thing neither had/has yet is the ability to create off the dribble.

Alec yes, however with Rowdy you are way way off.  To me this is what separates two.  Rowdy moved better on offense than Alec has at this point in his career.  Alec scores with either a 3 or a dump and catch down low. 

[HC]

What did you want Alec to do on one good wheel against that zone? I was impressed that he played as well as he did on D and was enough of a decoy to allow the other guys to at least attempt to attack the hoop.

[rink]

I laughed every time the announcer touted the defenses as an explanation for the dreck on the court or dropped banal platitudes about "two heavyweights slugging it out" or some other such nonsense.  That's how you spin it when you're trying to keep viewers from tuning away from a couple uninteresting mid-majors playing the sloppiest basketball on the airwaves that night.

I think it's denial to shrug off our pathetic play as the product of great defense.  Looks like some others on here agree, perhaps majority of you disagree.  I think we had great success in the lane the first half, UWGB adjusted, and we stubbornly and stupidly played with no adjustment.

No one else thought we looked careless, unprepared, and silly all half?  I really thought it was an embarrassing performance.  If UWGB makes us look like that, then playing anyone in the NCAAs with a seed of 6 or higher is going to destroy us.

[nkvu]

Didn't seem like Alec had many touches in the second half. Seems like they could have set some hard screens to get him a few looks from 3 in the second half. Also don't know why he passed off on that in bounds play toward the end with the shot clock winding down. It would have been contested but I think he could have got off a decent shot.

[Valpofan00]

We need Keith back. Like next week.

[HC]

If a one point, back and forth game is uninteresting to you then you are a hard fan to please.  GB defense, like Valpo's, has given teams fits all year.

We will just have to disagree this time. I will stand by the great defense caused the poor offense position especially if Alec's lack of touches and movement was due to his ankle (in which case, great job coaches using him as a decoy to at least partially open up the lane). There were some poor possessions, I keep thinking of Darien Walkers play where he lost it out of bounds trying to push the ball on a 1-3 break, and a few missed opportunities, Tevonn's missed layup near the end.

I'm not nearly as upset or discouraged after this as I was after the loss to Oakland.

[justducky]

What did you want Alec to do on one good wheel against that zone?

Had already forgotten about that first half accident! That would explain a lot.

[valpotx]

That Tevonn layup was bad.  I don't think it hit rim, just went off the backboard to the other side, and then he hit it out of bounds.  Another good opportunity squandered, and our movement in that last 10 seconds to win the game was also very poor.  Why not give it to a quick guy again, and get a closer shot or foul?  We settled for a long jump shot.  Even if Tevonn misses another layup at the rim, I would have felt better.

[FWalum]

Great defensive game by both teams. Refs allowed some really heavy contact around the rim. E Victor has progressed a lot but we are still a beat slow with the entry pass or seeing that the player will come open so throw the ball were he will be. We are still tentative. Also allowing the ball to get stuck on one side of the court during some possessions. The ESPN announcer was right when he said the ball needed to go from one side of the court to the other.

I am also afraid that Keith has been out long enough that it will take time for him to acclimate again. I hope he can hit the ground running soon.

[vu72]

Wow, holy bad.  That was the least intelligent half of basketball I've ever seen Valpo play.  Mistakes a'plenty and the same futile display of driving, being stuck, and throwing up a shot that had no chance.  Over and over again.  They had more bad possessions that half than they had good possessions.  Lots of middle school quality garbage.  Nasty stuff, really annoying to watch.  Bad coaching, bad playing, bad basketball.  Yuck.

How ridiculous that this game was even close?  Either these two teams played their worst games of the season tonight or the Horizon league is a joke. This was a very well played game by two coaches playing a skilled game of chess.  Match this with that...We saw the emergence of E. Victor and the continued fine pay of players like freshman Tevonn Walker.

Hats off to GB for stopping Alec and to Bryce for shutting down Keifer.  We will continue to improve while GB has peaked.  We win the title on pointsi

[bbtds]

We shot one three pointer in the 2nd half and missed. I thought maybe Valpo could have attempted at least a few more threes.

The offense seemed very stagnant in the 2nd half. It seemed, remember I'm saying it seemed, like Valpo decided to go to Nickerson in the 2nd half for all the offense. If Darien, Tavonn or Alec got an opportunity they were supposed to take it but much like when we played higher ranking teams those players froze some and couldn't make the plays that they did in the first half. Did Green Bay's defense suddenly get that much better in the 2nd half? 1st half-34 points, 2nd half-16 points.

If Green Bay's defense was twice as good in the 2nd half what exactly did they do differently than the first half?

[HC]

I would say yes they were twice as good, maybe slightly better then twice as good. They played more zone and Alec was hurting. Valpo will figure out that zone before they meet again in a few weeks.

[justducky]

When a defense gives you no room for any open 3's then shuts down your drives with quickness, size and strategic help then you got your hands full. Now we know how everybody feels when they try to take it to the hole against Vashil. Too bad we didn't have one more time out, but Bryce used them well and when he had to.

Is it too early to nominate Wardle for HL coach of the year?