Western Kentucky 11/15/18 at MB Inv. - 4:00 (CST) ESPNU

[a3uge]

The two transfers are a combined 4-17 from three.

[FieldGoodie05]

It's more than just the big guy that is a 4 star recruit potential pro.

Yeah, it's also having a 7-2 3-Star Red-shirt junior that can't do his job - 2 fouls, 0 points and 0 rebounds, 0 blocks in 2 minutes of playing time - leaving a mismatch for others to contend with.

This was a likely loss the minute our schedule was announced.  But we've shown solid despite their length hurting the passing lanes and disrupting any flow offensively.

But boy FT attempts (disparity) was alarming.  Guess last year they ranked #1 in free throw disparity sooo......that isn't changing this year.

Hollingsworth and Savage were impressive.  WKU has a solid season ahead of them as we all knew.

[IrishDawg]

Valpo isn't out of this one yet - if they can keep the pace disjointed and ugly, they aren't far away from turning this one completely around.

[oklahomamick]

Agreed smits is a great student and person.  Wish he could contribute a little more on the court.  I wonder if jay could have helped.

[ValpoDad89]

We are still in this one guys!!!

We need better post presence on offensive and defensive ends.

[a3uge]

Valpo isn't out of this one yet - if they can keep the pace disjointed and ugly, they aren't far away from turning this one completely around.

Too many empty possessions down the stretch. Still love the team's fight, especially with this talent mismatch.

[valpolaw]

Terrible defense...I've never seen a team get so many offensive rebounds. Way too many second chance points.

That was a painful performance by Smits.

The positive is that it was at least close at times.

[ValpoDad89]

There is a definite mismatch here but you have stallions you run, yiou cannot hang with a team like this in the half court, you need to run.

[mjg100]

We got very lackadaisical with the ball. Like we thought this game was over, when it wasn't. You see why we are needing our point guard back. We have not done a pick and roll once tonight.

[nkvu]

We played them pretty even in the second half which impressed me a little.  I half expected to just be blown out in the second half but we found ways to be more effective.  If we had had Jay to sub in for Smits and at least be a larger presense in the middle then we might have been able to play a little tighter defense on the perimeter. Two or three more missed threes on their part and just a little better three point shooting on our part and we would have been right there.

They showed they could play with these guys for long stretches of the game and that at least is encouraging.

[FieldGoodie05]

Assists 15
TO 12

Solid start, last years team would've turned it over 20+ against this length.

Lavender is a solid solid pickup.

[govalpogo]

I don't think that there was a scenario in my head in which Valpo won this game.  Went pretty much how most of us expected.  Thought the team did alright in the midst of the challenges of the way the game played out, from minute 1, the style of the game went how WKY wanted it to. 

You can't run when your opponent makes that many easy shots off of rebounds, if the Hilltoppers missed more 3's with long rebounds, then it would have been a different story.  At the same time, if Fazekas and Valpo made a few more threes then it would have been a different story...then again, that's not how the game played out. 

Personally glad for the quick turnaround.  Sounds like Monmouth should be a winnable game.  We shall see.  Disappointed, but not "embarrassed."

[FieldGoodie05]

Terrible defense...I've never seen a team get so many offensive rebounds. Way too many second chance points.

That was a painful performance by Smits.

The positive is that it was at least close at times.

Offensive Reb
WKU 14
Valpo 13

Total Reb
WKU 41
Valpo 31

It was our missed shots leading to rebound disparity I'd imagine.  It was close on offensive rebounds.  We also took (8) more shots because we ran very few offensive sets and Bakari/Fazekas have a penchant for quick 3 attempts...

I'm still excited for a solid season and strong MVC showing.

[govalpogo]

Oh, and can anybody tell what the crowd was yelling on the "BUM BUM BUM" part of Sweet Caroline after WKY made that dagger 3?  It didn't sound friendly on TV. 

[justducky]

I wonder if jay could have helped.

Yes. Against WKU we would have seen some of Jay or Derrik at the 5 with Mileek at the 4 and Fazekas playing some 3. Instead we played a lot of a 5 guard offense with Kiser defending the post. Mileek played better than I was expecting but no one else really stood out.

Playing with only 9 scholarship players, 2 being raw freshmen is not a formula for instant success. Overall I was reasonably pleased. A healthy Micah would also have helped as Sakey looked a little stage struck.

[Chairback]

I think J is significantly better then Smits.  J had a really good freshman year and a underperforming 2nd year.  But his skill level is way above Smits.  He will be starting by the start of Conf games if he comes back.

2 players beat us tonight. 

[justducky]

2 players beat us tonight. 

Two of our or theirs?   

[IrishDawg]

Golder played well, but as much as their defensive rebounding hurt them, it's tough to win games when Fazekas goes 2-10 from 3.  Fazekas really looked like he got in his own head there when the shots weren't falling.  His end of the shot clock make showed he's better when he just pulls the trigger and doesn't think.

[vu72]

Solid effort and would have been much closer had Zeke been himself.  Lavender is the real deal and kept us in the game.  Had we had J, this would have been very tight.  Good effort overall. Hope we get healthy.  Only 9 dressed?

[mjg100]

Good luck with your next game. Monmouth hanging tough with UWV.

[justducky]

Only 9 dressed?

If Stalling (our walk on) was dressed, I didn't notice him. Freeman also was sick yesterday according to the broadcast. I have no idea how close to full strength he was playing.

Good luck with your next game. Monmouth hanging tough with UWV.

Monmouth looks good! I had been hoping to play West Virginia but not in the losers bracket. 

[VU2014]

They spell his name Rick $tansbury for a reason. It's one of the worst kept secrets in CBB that he's a dirty recruiter. He's dirty but he's also a good coach. But that's not the discussion to be had here right now. I thought WKU was a great test for our guys and this game will pay dividends for later in the season.

What clearly was the biggest issue in this game was rebounding. We had no player on our roster who could match up with their bigs. Jay Sorolla was sorely missed today, but to be honest I think Jay would still wouldn't be a great match for WKU (still much better than Smits/McMillan). Games like today makes me hope we land a guy like Bediako. I'm not sure of Skogman's defensive abilities, but he'd be a great and versatile offensive big man.

We saw 'good Sackey' in the exhibition and game 1 but today we saw 'bad Sackey'. He was erratic in his limited minutes today and I have no problem with Coach not playing him extended minutes in a game like this. Bakari needs to take care of the ball better. He's not a natural PG, which is totally fine, but he needs to limit those TOs. I thought Lavender was solid for the most part. He's not a playmaker but he's a calming presence at the point. Fazekas going 2-10 was an issue but he still contributed today even on a tough shooting night.

The offense is still a work in progress but it looks better than last years offense. You could tell they're still working some things out. I'll remain patient with the offense. As for our defense, I thought defending the paint was a blatant weakness but that's a personnel issue with Jay out and McMillan still learning on the job. Smits just isn't a good defender against quicker/more athletic big men but team defense can work around his deficiencies.

[IndyEIT777]

As much as the team as a whole struggled rebounding, Golder had a really nice game with 15 and 8. He seemed to be the only one who could match the athletic ability of WKU.

Also really liked seeing Deion step up in the middle of the 2nd half to keep us in the game. Hopefully he can be the key ball handler this year while Sackey develops.

A really respectable first D1 game from Javon. 10 points and he looks really calm out there for a freshman. He'll certainly be a force come conference time.

[justducky]

Center vs centers -------Smits- McMillan played 33 minutes with 9 fouls, 5 rebounds, 11 points, 0 blocks and 0 turnovers. Bassey played 26 minutes with 3 fouls, 6 rebounds, 8 points, 3 blocks and 4 turnovers. With Jay in the mix our interior play would have been stronger, Bassey might have fouled out and our inside out game would have given us some better looks from the perimeter. No sense worrying much about our being shorthanded because they were short their starting point guard. Net-net they still would have likely won but it would have been closer.

[may know]

Hilltoppers were good. They'll make some noise.

Hard to beat good teams without toughness down low. Gotta get meaner down there, fast.