Valpo vs. WVU 11/24/2018@1pm CST

[FieldGoodie05]

Sorry guys, Kiser has no business making it into games any longer.

[IrishDawg]

Totally dead in Morgantown today.

Valpo having little issue with West Virginia's defense, and they aren't even shooting the 3 well yet.  Rebounding still an issue.

If Huggins is dumb enough to keep running the press when his team clearly can't execute it, keep punishing them for it.

[vu72]

I actually think the environment will be pretty low key given its Thanksgiving break and they had a major football game last night. Just wish it would be easier to find on TV.

This game was probably scheduled specifically to ride the coattails of last night's football crowd which didn't seem affected by the Thanksgiving break. So I expect a full house who, assuming they still have their voices, will be looking to take their frustrations out on somebody....anybody. The Crusaders will do.

WVU's press is not running at full octane at the moment but will still likely give Valpo fits at times. Valpo's inside game should be non existent unless Konate gets in foul trouble.

Valpo will have to shoot the lights out to win this one.

Godda love you experts!  Smits, 12 points and 3 blocks in the first half!   

[crusader05]

This is just more proof that we can play better than we have in recent games but instead play down to our opponent.

At least by half I was having a more enjoyable viewing experience with my team than the two Michigan Fans screaming from my living room were for theirs.

[wh]

I actually think the environment will be pretty low key given its Thanksgiving break and they had a major football game last night. Just wish it would be easier to find on TV.

This game was probably scheduled specifically to ride the coattails of last night's football crowd which didn't seem affected by the Thanksgiving break. So I expect a full house who, assuming they still have their voices, will be looking to take their frustrations out on somebody....anybody. The Crusaders will do.

WVU's press is not running at full octane at the moment but will still likely give Valpo fits at times. Valpo's inside game should be non existent unless Konate gets in foul trouble.

Valpo will have to shoot the lights out to win this one.

Godda love you experts!  Smits, 12 points and 3 blocks in the first half!   

We're doing a good job of taking advantage of Derrik's man leaving him to hedge our guards. I'm guessing they'll make some kind of halftime adjustment to shore that up.

[valpo64]

I was curious to see how many 3-pointers that Kionte(spell?) guy had to make before we thought we better guard him outside.....HellOOO!

[vu72]

Well, moral victories don't cut it anymore but nonetheless, some very good performances.  Derrik, 20/7/5, Deion, 10/0 and as a team 19 assts and 14 turnovers.  Obviously, the addition of Deion has corrected a glaring problem we had last year.  Where was J?

[bbtds]

I was curious to see how many 3-pointers that Kionte(spell?) guy had to make before we thought we better guard him outside.....HellOOO!

Konate finished 5 of 8 from three.

[bbtds]

Sorry guys, Kiser has no business making it into games any longer.

Kiser got 4 minutes which was the lowest of the subs. When Sorolla and Bradford get back he'll probably get 1 or 2 minutes.

[IrishDawg]

Valpo put up a good fight, but defensively, I'm sure the coaching staff wants better.  Even with the long scoring drought in the 2nd half, this was the best offensive output (1.09 PPP) for Valpo this year against a D1 team.  Unfortunately, it was the worst defensively they've played all season (1.28 PPP) by a fairly decent margin (1.20 PPP was their previous worst against WKU).

West Virginia might figure things out once they get into Big 12 play, but they have some major issues defensively currently.  Not saying anything anyone doesn't know, but Valpo is competing better in these games than a year ago, but still has some things to figure out before they can take the next step.

[valpopal]

I'd say this was a good game for Valpo and demonstrates positive progress. I never expected a win against WVU on their home court, but I was pleased by the team performance overall. Smits continued to show he has found his offense with 20 points, plus he had 7 rebounds and 5 blocks (and only had 2 fouls). Lavender displayed his value with 10 assists and 6 rebounds. Fazekas exhibited his 3-point shot. In fact, the team shot a fine 54% from the field and 45% from the 3-pt. line. Freeman came up short on double-digit points (9) for the first time, but he had a few bad calls against him by the refs. Golder's 13 pts. and 5 rebs. was solid. Weaknesses still seem to be giving up offensive rebounds that lead to Valpo being outscored on 2nd-chance points (15-5), and too many turnovers. Two factors could not be controlled: their big guy suddenly finding a 3-point shot and hitting 5 of them (none of the others were a 3-pt. threat), and the officiating favoring the home team, who had 12 more free throws. Finally, team obviously tired in last 10 minutes.

[nkvu]

We stayed in the game longer than I thought we would, just wore down at the end. Need Jay and Micah back.

22 free throws for them. 10 for us, 10 more made for them. We actually rebounded and shot better today, but Kanote hitting 5 threes really hurt.

Smits had another good game. Stayed out of foul trouble. Played decent defense at times. Even got a few rebounds. Maybe he has figured a few things out.

[bbtds]

Stayed out of foul trouble. Played decent defense at times.

I question whether Derrik can do both of these in game. The times Derrik played better defense was when he got some blocked shots but many times he should get defensive rebounds and doesn't and sometimes their big men drove around him like he wasn't there at all.

[VUBBFan]

Well, moral victories don't cut it anymore but nonetheless, some very good performances.  Derrik, 20/7/5, Deion, 10/0 and as a team 19 assts and 14 turnovers.  Obviously, the addition of Deion has corrected a glaring problem we had last year.  Where was J?

[tweet]1066406563265593346[/tweet]

[RS]

Decent game. I think the last 10 minutes of the game we were finally getting worn out. Like announcers said the short bench hurt us in the long run. Shots started coming up short and more fouls being committed. Really don't think the refs were that bad. Smits, Fazekas, Lavender and Golder played well. Last few years we would have lost by 20 or more plus scoring is better.

[bbtds]

I agree that Valpo will find some way to keep it close despite being out rebounded and out shot. The new wrinkles of Smits being to score down low more often and the athletic ability of Freeman, Sackey and Golder will make it closer than what many are thinking. Hopefully one of our non-shooters, maybe Mileek, Kiser or Bradford will find some way to make an unexpected number of shots.

It was Smits who did play well down low and Golder had a good game in my opinion but Evelyn and Fazekas had better shooting games than I expected. Bakari was 2/5 from two and 2/6 from three. Ryan was 2/2 from two and 3/4 from three. He only missed one three all game.

In the end it was a much closer game than many of you expected.

[M]

The good: no teams are going to press us, Smits on offense and even a tad on defense (but maybe put a hand up before Konte starts his shot), Fazekas finally looked right, offense looked better when VU had to run half court sets

The not so good: still can't rebound on defense

Glad to see them compete for 30 minutes before their size and depth got the best of Valpo.

[valpotx]

Smits must have read my comment about not living up to his blocks proclamation .  The team can be proud of their overall effort, even with the defensive and rebounding lapses at times.  I didn't really notice any foul disparity, outside of the end numbers.  We got a lot of uncontested inside and outside shots, so I don't think that it was called unfairly.  We just had more body-to-body contact on shots when on D.  Within 6 for 36 of 40 minutes on the road against a team that will probably finish towards the top 4 of the Big 12...no complaints on my side.

[nkvu]

Smits must have read my comment about not living up to his blocks proclamation .  The team can be proud of their overall effort, even with the defensive and rebounding lapses at times.  I didn't really notice any foul disparity, outside of the end numbers.  We got a lot of uncontested inside and outside shots, so I don't think that it was called unfairly.  We just had more body-to-body contact on shots when on D.  Within 6 for 36 of 40 minutes on the road against a team that will probably finish towards the top 4 of the Big 12...no complaints on my side.

Thought there were a couple of calls on us that were ticky-tacky and a couple of similar that weren't called on them but not outrageous for a game at a P-5 school. On a neutral court we may have kept it under 10. That's all.

[justducky]

With Mileek racking up 3 fouls in 6 minutes and Micah and Jay not playing I'd say that the rest of the guys are pretty much on or ahead of schedule. Wasn't Jay and then Mileek supposed to be our starting centers? Just how much center playing time will McMillan get when Sorolla returns?

Just how good will this team get when everybody is healthy and a bit more maturity sets in? Looks to me that in 5 weeks we will be in no danger of losing by 10 to anybody in the Valley. Thoughts?

[EddieCabot]

Smits must have read my comment about not living up to his blocks proclamation .  The team can be proud of their overall effort, even with the defensive and rebounding lapses at times.  I didn't really notice any foul disparity, outside of the end numbers.  We got a lot of uncontested inside and outside shots, so I don't think that it was called unfairly.  We just had more body-to-body contact on shots when on D.  Within 6 for 36 of 40 minutes on the road against a team that will probably finish towards the top 4 of the Big 12...no complaints on my side.

Overall, a very solid performance.  If they can repeat that at UNLV, I think they nab a win.

[crusadermoe]

Didn't get to see any of this on TV.  Just followed it on Gamecast.  But it does seem solid to keep up on the road with WVU and also to stay tight with Wake and West KY.   One good sign is we have not been beaten down early by any of these 3 teams.   

[FieldGoodie05]

We stayed in the game longer than I thought we would, just wore down at the end. Need Jay and Micah back.

22 free throws for them. 10 for us, 10 more made for them. We actually rebounded and shot better today, but Kanote hitting 5 threes really hurt.

Smits had another good game. Stayed out of foul trouble. Played decent defense at times. Even got a few rebounds. Maybe he has figured a few things out.

Now if Smits can cut his TO in half it will be hard to yell at him through the TV!

[vu72]

Remember guys, we haven't been at full strength all year.  Add another 7 footer and a speedy guard and we may really have something come conference time.  No one in the Valley is going to blow us out.

[VULB#62]

Didn't get to see any of this on TV.  Just followed it on Gamecast.  But it does seem solid to keep up on the road with WVU and also to stay tight with Wake and West KY.   One good sign is we have not been beaten down early by any of these 3 teams.   

I'd take this over our 8-0 start last year.

It is time to sit down with Mileek and explain to him that he is our project player for 2018-19. He bas so much raw (emphasis on raw) talent but he cannot yet control his body enough to be an asset when he is out there. He has 3 years to become all he could be, but not at the expense of this team's current season. Iam reminded of how painfulit was to watch Vashil in the first two years of his Valpo career. Could it be that during that stretch he might have an even greater liability. But look how he blossomed with effort and determination. Mileek and the staff both have to be patient and Mileek has got to accept that his minutes will no longer be at crucial times in a game. Rather he should be given minutes when the the game is well in hand (or the opposite).  In the meantime, here is a kid who should deserves to be almost privately tutored in every practice in an effort to develop the skills he is lacking and optimize the skills he brings to the court.