Game #28 - Wednesday, Feb 14 8PM @ Loyola

[nkvu]

Shooting a towering 19% from the field and 14% from three. Not going to win many games that way.

Not to mention the 9 turnovers.

[VUGrad1314]

Not aware of the shot clock... Not good... Wake up guys!

[crusadermoe]

There's that nice baby hook with the left hand by Sorolla right before the half.   That was big for him last year and it seemed a sure bet he would get stronger and use it more as a sophomore.

[crusadermoe]

Left hand hook again.   Where has that been?

[bigmosmithfan1]

That was a great sequence there. Two touch fouls called on Valpo on their big (including a phantom foul on Sorolla) then said big shoves Walker into the first row 20 seconds later to get an offensive rebound with no call. Thankfully he missed.

[bigmosmithfan1]

Could our coaches teach our interior players to make sure the guy doesn't get the damned shot off if they're going to keep giving up stupid arm fouls?

[VUGrad1314]

Too much Krutwig. Too much Custer. Hope we've got a run left.

[crusadermoe]

Kiser big rebound.......pass out to Golder who drains a three again.    Then Kiser blocks a shot by Krautwig and we tie up  a jump ball.   Kiser has impressed.     

Impressive...we keep hanging tough. 

[VUGrad1314]

Tough break for Sorolla on that foul call. I've been hard on him this year but give him his due he had a great game. His fifth was a really cheap foul.

[FWalum]

How does McMillen not get back in the game. Would've definitely put him back in after Jay fouled out. I think that's a big miss by Matt.

[bigmosmithfan1]

I mean, Jay's gotta be smarter with four fouls, but that foul has literally not been called all night. LU's been hand-checking at will.

[bigmosmithfan1]

Welp. I don't blame Bakari there. After three chippy fouls against Valpo down the stretch then a no-call going to the rim? I get it.

[jloose128]

Very frustrating when the other team scores on like 15 of 16 possessions but Loyola's a tough team.

[VUCPB alum]

I am not a fan of the shorter rotation in the 2nd half. It seemed like the same line up was out there for at least 10 minutes straight and we looked gassed on defense because of it

[bigmosmithfan1]

Great effort tonight. Loyola is very good and we were in it, just couldn't get a few stops when we needed. No issue with the Bakari T - if Coach was standing up for his team better near the end it probably wouldn't have come to that.

[justducky]

Maybe our best half of basketball this season. Improvement still needed everywhere but the big picture is slowly coming together. The 18-19 season should be a good one.

[nkvu]

Despite the final score, I thought we played pretty well. They just hit the key shots down the stretch and we didn't.

Sorolla played better on offense than he has for a good while, and we hit free throws like we haven't all season.

Our inability to defend the post hurt, but again their ability to hit shots own the stretch was the difference.

[valpotx]

Pretty decent game, no real issues on my side.  However, Custer makes some of the most BS-looking shots.  The guy is obviously good, but those bounces he got on several were complete horsesh!t.

[M]

Effort is getting better every night and games are at least competitive now.

Now for a couple of gripes:
How in the world does a senior throw that poorly of an inbounds pass?

Why do our inbounds play suck so bad?

Why did Mileek sit the last 17 minutes after scoring 7 points in 3 minutes and finally showing the aggressiveness that's going to make him a star in the future?

[justducky]

Now for a couple of gripes:
How in the world does a senior throw that poorly of an inbounds pass?

Max was angry and rightly so. Nobody cutting. I think people were gasping for air.

[M]

I saw he was frustrated with at least one guy (Sorolla I think) whonapprared to go to the wrong spot. Still, throw it high and deeper for your guy. Heck, throw it past halfcourt if you have.

[justducky]

Why did Mileek sit the last 17 minutes after scoring 7 points in 3 minutes and finally showing the aggressiveness that's going to make him a star in the future?

One of his baskets looked like something that may have been drawn up at halftime to fit a Loyola defensive reaction.

[VU2014]

Why did Mileek sit the last 17 minutes after scoring 7 points in 3 minutes and finally showing the aggressiveness that's going to make him a star in the future?

Mileek did look really good but once Krutwig came in the game Coach took out Mileek and the pairing of Jay and Kiser were working really well for the most part till Jay fouled out. Kiser was doing all the little things well and was coming up with big offensive rebounds which probably made it tough to take him out because he didn't want to hurt the flow.

A very encouraging stretch coming out of the 2nd half for Mileek though. He looked confident and aggressive. So much potential in Mileek's game and future.

[VU2010]

Our rotations are incomprehensible. Start the same players for 12+ straight games and then from there bench Mileek, never give Parker a chance, and are spotty with Micah's minutes from game to game. I don't get it. We're 5-15 after starting 8-0? Can't keep blaming it on youth or inexperience. Guaranteed a Thursday game. Play Parker and Mileek. Try some different rotations. What's to lose? Feel for Tevonn and Max.

[VU2014]

Once Jay fouled out it sort of took the gas out of our defense. Smits just isn't as good on defense right now and it showed.

We were trading punches down the stretch but Loyola was hitting some really difficult shots with Valpo playing some good defense. Custer made some very difficult shots as well as Jackson. They just have so many guys that can get double figures in points on any given night and we don't have that yet.

Loyola may have dropped 80 but I'm pleased with our defense for the most part, although there are things that can be cleaned up. Loyola was making difficult shots all night. I thought overall this was an encouraging game.