Game #15 - Missouri State at the ARC December 31 3pm ESPN3 Home at Last

[talksalot]

Pre-Season favorite Bears come to the ARC...

Bears looking for Revenge.
Crusaders looking for Respect.

[valpotx]

Even though I want to pick a win, until Lottich figures out how to motivate our guys to run better half court sets, we will struggle:

Missouri State 67
Valpo 61

[talksalot]

NON-CONFERENCE  (10-3)  (5-1)  (2-1)  (3-1) 


Date Time   Opponent   Score Attend High Points High Rebounds
11/10/17  7 p.m. CT      at Western Kentucky    W    85-80    5241   (14)J.T. Miller  (8)J.T. Miller
(8)Alize Johnson   
11/15/17  5:32 p.m.      SOUTHERN    W    86-58    4876   (16)J.T. Miller  (14)Alize Johnson 
11/17/17  7:02 p.m.      NORTH DAKOTA STATE    L    54-57    4703   (23)Alize Johnson  (20)Alize Johnson 
11/20/17  1:30pm      vs Georgia Southern    L    73-74    823   (17)J.T. Miller
(17)Alize Johnson   (14)Alize Johnson 
11/21/17  11:00 am      vs Manhattan    W    69-65    841   (17)Alize Johnson  (7)Jarrid Rhodes 
11/22/17  1:30 PM      vs Florida Atlantic    W    71-60    868   (14)Alize Johnson
(14)Jarrid Rhodes   (8)Alize Johnson 
11/24/17  7:02 p.m.      EVANGEL    W    80-48    3485   (13)Jarred Dixon  (10)Obediah Church 
11/28/17  7:02 p.m.      COLORADO STATE    W    77-67    4895   (20)Ryan Kreklow  (8)Obediah Church 
12/02/17  7 p.m.      vs South Dakota State    W    73-53    2001   (20)Alize Johnson  (14)Alize Johnson 
12/04/17  7 p.m.      at North Dakota State    W    71-58    1704   (21)Alize Johnson  (10)Alize Johnson 
12/08/17  7:02 p.m.      HAMPTON    W    88-75    4612   (17)Jarred Dixon
(17)Alize Johnson   (12)Alize Johnson 
12/10/17  3 p.m.      at Oral Roberts    L    66-73    2331   (14)Jarrid Rhodes  (7)Alize Johnson 
12/19/17  7:02 p.m.      WRIGHT STATE    W    66-50    3123   (13)Obediah Church  (14)Alize Johnson 
12/22/17  8:07 p.m.    *  LOYOLA CHICAGO    W    64-59    4583   (24)Alize Johnson  (11)Alize Johnson

NON-CONFERENCE  (10-3)  (5-1)  (2-1)  (3-1) 


##  SUMMARY  GP  GS  Min/G  FG%  3PT%  FT%  Reb/G  Ast/G  Stl  Blk  Pts/G 
24  Alize Johnson   14  14  28.5    .430   .258   .737  10.5  2.4  4  3  14.7 
02  Reggie Scurry   14  0  16.0    .586   .333   .667  4.1  0.1  2  11  10.0 
23  J.T. Miller   13  8  20.2    .527   .364   .750  3.7  1.5  7  2  9.2 
15  Jarrid Rhodes   14  14  27.9    .421   .397   .667  4.5  1.7  8  2  8.6 
11  Jarred Dixon   14  8  27.0    .442   .550   .688  2.5  2.6  13  4  7.6 
20  Ryan Kreklow   14  6  24.2    .344   .344   .955  2.7  1.9  17  2  7.4 
05  Obediah Church   14  14  22.1    .704   .000   .500  5.4  1.0  5  27  6.6 
14  Ronnie Rousseau III   12  6  24.5    .400   .417   .688  1.9  2.0  6  1  6.1 
34  Tanveer Bhullar   11  0  8.9    .368   .000   .500  2.5  0.5  1  2  3.1 
21  Ross Owens   4  0  6.0    .375   .167   .000  0.8  0.0  0  1  1.8 
01  Mustafa Lawrence   8  0  5.6    .333   .333   .000  0.9  0.6  4  0  1.4 
00  Abdul Fofana   8  0  4.4    .429   .000   .667  1.4  0.1  2  1  1.0 
TM  TEAM   14  0  0.0    .000   .000   .000  2.6  0.0  0  0  0.0 
   Total..........  14       .461   .351   .690  40.9  13.6  69  56  73.1 
   Opponents......  14       .382   .310   .668  32.6  10.2  69  50  62.6 

TOTALS  GP  Min  O-Reb  D-Reb  Tot Reb  PF  DQ  Ast  TO  Ast/TO  Hi Pts 
Alize Johnson   14  399  40  107  147  32  0  34  30  1.13  24 
Reggie Scurry   14  224  26  32  58  29  1  1  15  0.07  18 
J.T. Miller   13  263  9  39  48  23  0  20  14  1.43  17 
Jarrid Rhodes   14  391  15  48  63  24  0  24  14  1.71  14 
Jarred Dixon   14  378  9  26  35  26  0  36  20  1.80  17 
Ryan Kreklow   14  339  5  33  38  31  0  26  20  1.30  20 
Obediah Church   14  309  34  42  76  29  0  14  15  0.93  13 
Ronnie Rousseau III   12  294  5  18  23  27  0  24  18  1.33  12 
Tanveer Bhullar   11  98  11  16  27  17  0  6  14  0.43  9 
Ross Owens   4  24  1  2  3  2  0  0  1  0.00  5 
Mustafa Lawrence   8  45  1  6  7  4  0  5  2  2.50  3 
Abdul Fofana   8  35  3  8  11  5  0  1  2  0.50  4 
Total..........  14  2799  171  402  573  249  1  191  170  1.12  88 
Opponents......  14  2800  144  313  457  225  5  143  152  0.94  80 

Conference Game Starters Only:
##  SUMMARY  GP  GS  Min/G  FG%  3PT%  FT%  Reb/G  Ast/G  Stl  Blk  Pts/G 
24  Alize Johnson   1  1  36.0    .421   .500   .500  11.0  2.0  1  0  24.0   6-9 Senior
20  Ryan Kreklow   1  1  34.0    .500   .667  1.000  5.0  5.0  1  1  10.0    6-4 Junior
11  Jarred Dixon   1  1  33.0    .200   .500   .000  0.0  3.0  2  0  3.0        6-4 Junior
05  Obediah Church   1  1  14.0    .500   .000   .500  0.0  0.0  1  0  3.0     6-7 Junior
15  Jarrid Rhodes   1  1  21.0    .333   .000   .000  3.0  1.0  0  0  2.0      6-6 Senior

TM  TEAM   1  0  0.0    .000   .000   .000  3.0  0.0  0  0  0.0 
  Team Total..........  1       .431   .421   .571  32.0  12.0  6  3  64.0 
 

[VU2014]

The Missouri State coaches have to be licking their chops at the thought of Alize Johnson being matchup against Parker Hazen and Mileek McMillan (possibly a hobbled undersized Kiser...). It's going to be musical chairs on the bench because there is definitely going to be foul trouble on Sunday.

[M]

68-53 Valpo Victory...gotta figure it out eventually (right??) and this is the game they do it.

[NativeCheesehead]

It's games like this that really magnify our poor parking situation. Possibility of more snow, very cold. One of the more important home games of the year and my guess is we'll be lucky to get 2k.

[VU2014]

It's games like this that really magnify our poor parking situation. Possibility of more snow, very cold. One of the more important home games of the year and my guess is we'll be lucky to get 2k.

Wait you're telling me walking a quarter of a mile for parking in sub 0 wind chill is bad for business?  I think President Heckler would disagree.

[VU2014]

Quotes from Coach Lottich after the Indiana State game:

"We're excited," Lottich said. "But we can't think because we're home it's going to fix our problems. We just have to continue to build on the positives.

"Our guys are a little discouraged, but we're going to continue to work."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/sports/ct-ptb-mens-basketball-valparaiso-indiana-state-st-1229-20171228-story.html

[justducky]

until Lottich figures out how to motivate our guys to run better half court sets, we will struggle:

I don't think motivation is the problem. Seems to me that without Burton we simply do not have the level of depth and talent at the 3 or 4 to execute the offense Matt wants to run. We simply do not have the bench depth, experience, or number of outside shooters to make it properly work.

OK! So what do we have available and in surplus supply?

Looks to me that we have 2 extremely high potential level 7' talents in Smits and Sorolla. Back them up with 2 more 6'8" future high potential power forwards who are now better trained and suited to play the 5. Let me recount --that's 1,2,3, 4 out of 11 active roster members who I would call centers and 7 players who are not. Since every coach must use the players he or she has instead of the players he or she wishes they had I'd say Matt has to make some major adjustments. The slow but sure method would be to force centers to be power forwards but that will be a long slow process. OR design an assortment of dual post setups to try to take full advantage of our available talent while minimizing some of our clear limitations. OK Maybe that forces us to play more zone and that isn't what Matt likes to play but when stuck between a rock and a hard place, then stone-cold difficult decisions are your only options.

The Missouri State coaches have to be licking their chops at the thought of Alize Johnson being matchup against Parker Hazen and Mileek McMillan (possibly a hobbled undersized Kiser...). It's going to be musical chairs on the bench because there is definitely going to be foul trouble on Sunday.

At this point I am not worried about winning. I just want to be able to compete. If Burtons absence requires an expanded playbook with new combinations, rotations and defensive twists then let the reshuffle begin.

[VU2014]

No Kiser tomorrow.
https://twitter.com/MichaelOsipoff/status/947196200801001475
https://twitter.com/MichaelOsipoff/status/947196980320768000
https://twitter.com/MichaelOsipoff/status/947197696602988544
https://twitter.com/MichaelOsipoff/status/947198021040709632

[wh]

At this point I am not worried about winning. I just want to be able to compete. If Burtons absence requires an expanded playbook with new combinations, rotations and defensive twists then let the reshuffle begin.

Agreed. I'm sure Matt and staff are working diligently to get things figured out. That's all anyone can ask.

[talksalot]

We are tied for 10th longest active Home Winning streak at 13...

tied with Duke, Michigan State and South Dakota State...

14th would tie us with Kentucky and UC Davis for #8.

[valpotx]

I guess that we will find out tomorrow if there is any hope of Burton sticking around.  Jubril was on the bench for every home game during his suspension/lost season.

[oklahomamick]

Vegas has valpo as a 1 point favorite

I think you go big.  2 7 footers

[FieldGoodie05]

Vegas has valpo as a 1 point favorite

I think you go big.  2 7 footers

Vegas is smoking the good stuff, I'm just hoping we keep engaged the whole game.  Show some grit.

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/_amleavitt/status/947540066812989440

[VU2014]

Probably taking a look at Alize Johnson and Tevonn Walker.
https://twitter.com/MichaelOsipoff/status/947553586334007296

[VU2014]

Mileek McMillan getting the first start of his career today!
https://twitter.com/ValpoBasketball/status/947561568866357248

[VU2014]

On the pre-game show Todd just said there is no indication he will return to this team... return this season or ever?

Anyone at the game see Joe in the Arena or on the Bench?

[humbleopinion]

No sign of Joe.

[VU2014]

Robbie Hummell is in the house apparently at the ARC.

[VU2014]

Best gameday experience in the league...
https://twitter.com/MichaelOsipoff/status/947565357023350789

[VU2014]

We are so completely offensively challenged. How many times do we have to see the team be forced into terrible last second shots at the end of the shot clocks.

Outside of Tevonn who else is a strong offensive player on this team? Maybe Bakari but he's inconsistent. 5 minute scoring draughts is unacceptable.

[valpotx]

Why is our home video broadcast so slanted towards Missouri State coverage?

[jloose128]

When Tevonn's 3 was waved off by an offensive foul (his second) and then Missouri State hit two threes immediately, the game was over. :/