Game #17 @ SIU Saturday Jan 12th 3pm

[hailcrusaders]

Slowly starting to believe in this team...

[VUSWIM08-12]

Great win on the road, line moved from valpo +6 to +8.5, but we proved Vegas wrong. AWESOME WIN

[nkvu]

Another gutsy (dare I say "gritty") win. The way we were getting killed on the boards in the second half I really worried that we would blow it but the team never lost their poise. Good job!

[valpopal]

Definition of "gritty": Playing a tough team on the road without our leading scorer, out-rebounded by an amazing 45-28, and shooting only 26% from the 3-pt. line; yet, Valpo comes away with a big W.

[FieldGoodie05]

Getting outhustled. Not happy with the last 3 minutes or so.

SIU goes for ORBs. We still do not.

No consistent hustle to close this game, we deserve to be had if it should be...

It's most apparent in Rebounds, being outrebounded 45-28.  Not going to win many games rebounding like that.  Excellent to get the W but we have to figure this out.

They had 22 Offensive Rebounds, of which a healthy percentage was lack of hustle and awareness of your man.  Bakari and Smits' guys always seem to find a way to out hustle or out think them.  These two give me palpitations during games!

[VALPO LI]

Did I hear the broadcaster say gritty?

And he said it at the end of the game too
"toughness and grit"

Great win! Fun to watch this team compete

[usc4valpo]

I would love to know what vitamin or instance occurred to define this turnaround. Great effort.

[VUSWIM08-12]

I would love to know what vitamin or instance occurred to define this turnaround. Great effort.

This:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ2TNV_LKZM

[FieldGoodie05]

Also, Smits might be one of our best passers on this team.  Hard saying because we have some REALLY solid passers.  Heady play by my agitant Mr Smits!  Bravo!!!

[oklahomamick]

Everyone is correct on the rebounding problem

But I want to point out smits went 8-9 on free throws.  Previously he struggled

[valpotx]

Some really bad positioning on rebounding when on defense, but otherwise, I was happy.  We tend to just watch and maintain our current position when a shot goes up, while SIU was working their way to one side of our guy to try and steal a rebound each time.  You need to fully block the dude out, so that he can't sneak around!

I know that many posters don't like Kiser's game, but as I think that I mentioned last year, he is Matt Kenney-lite.  He doesn't have anywhere near the athleticism of Kenney, but he is a glue guy that does bits of everything, and doesn't have to score to keep us together.

[VUfan]

Great Win!!

[vu72]

Part of the problem with rebounding was not having 6'7" Ryan Fazekas on the court.  You could just see the hesitancy to shoot the three as in "where is Ryan!"  When he returns we should be in every Valley game and the favorite in most.  Great challenge Tuesday!

[FieldGoodie05]

[VUGrad1314]

Extremely unhappy with the last 14 or so minutes of the second half. That effort on the glass was wholly unacceptable and I hope coach lets them know that. This game should not have been this close and we are fortunate to escape with a win (even though our defensive intensity was deserving of a win). Coach needs to impress upon this team that they're not done defending after the miss. They're done after they get the REBOUND. We have done and need to continue to do a better job of this and it's clear that they could use a reminder of that.

All of that said this was extremely uplifting. We stepped on the court without Fazekas and it showed in our offense yet we STILL made enough plays to win on the road for the SECOND time this year something we didn't do in year one. We also reached 4 conference wins an astounding 10 games sooner than last year and REMAIN in first place. We weathered a major storm on the road (literally and figuratively) and managed to get it done. All that will matter as we prepare for Tuesday Night's battle for first place in Chicago is that we scored 65 to their 61. Ultimately that we picked up another invaluable MVC road win is all that matters. This should be a big shot in the arm to boost the team's confidence going forward. 4-0 feels Good First place feels Great GO Valpo!!!

[craftyrighthander]

Raise your hand if you had us 4-0 in the MVC after the High Point game.  Me neither!  Winning is fun.

[oklahomamick]

The two newest members battling for 1st place next week. 

Lutherans vs Catholics

[VUBBFan]

Great Halftime clip about Golder's half court shot vs Illinois State on TV.  Can anyone share it.

I have it here,
https://twitter.com/AlBillets/status/1084233801977475072

[VALPO LI]

That is awsome!!!!
Clip was well done.

[M]

Almost an epic collapse. Way to survive! Let's get the rebounding fixed.

[SanityLost17]

I asked that Kiser/McMillan combine for 24 minutes win or lose because we don't want to wear the rest of our players down...  They got 22 minutes. 

I asked that we keep everyone at 30 minutes or less.  Everyone was under except Golder (33) and Freeman (35).  Unfortunately we needed them to play those extra 8 minutes because of our lack of rebounding keeping SIU in the game. 

We don't need Fazekas back just for his shooting, we need him back to continue to watch our minutes.  We don't want Freeman hitting a wall 3/4 through the season.

Bakari still not playing well but I gotta think it will come back to him by the time we hit St. Louis, right?   

[VUGrad1314]

I asked that Kiser/McMillan combine for 24 minutes win or lose because we don't want to wear the rest of our players down...  They got 22 minutes. 

I asked that we keep everyone at 30 minutes or less.  Everyone was under except Golder (33) and Freeman (35).  Unfortunately we needed them to play those extra 8 minutes because of our lack of rebounding keeping SIU in the game. 

We don't need Fazekas back just for his shooting, we need him back to continue to watch our minutes.  We don't want Freeman hitting a wall 3/4 through the season.

Bakari still not playing well but I gotta think it will come back to him by the time we hit St. Louis, right?   

Bakari didn't have the best game but I don't think he was horrible. He's still way ahead of where he was before conference play. Not worried about him. I'm sure he'll be fine. How's your letter going? 

[crusadermoe]

Well my 74-69 pick wasnt far off..   

I had Freeman leading the scoring.  I wouldn't worry about him hitting a wall.  He just glides and just has a knack for avoiding contact.   

He will score more as the year goes on and he feels ok leading.

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/THefferman/status/1084260055195762689
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr7lt9pmHlg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_zPCoDYzfc

[justducky]

I asked that Kiser/McMillan combine for 24 minutes win or lose because we don't want to wear the rest of our players down...  They got 22 minutes. 

I asked that we keep everyone at 30 minutes or less.  Everyone was under except Golder (33) and Freeman (35).  Unfortunately we needed them to play those extra 8 minutes because of our lack of rebounding keeping SIU in the game. 

We don't need Fazekas back just for his shooting, we need him back to continue to watch our minutes.  We don't want Freeman hitting a wall 3/4 through the season.

Bakari still not playing well but I gotta think it will come back to him by the time we hit St. Louis, right?   

Bakari didn't have the best game but I don't think he was horrible. He's still way ahead of where he was before conference play. Not worried about him. I'm sure he'll be fine. How's your letter going? 

When you finish the rough draft on the apology letter just post it here so we can help you fine tune it. We always try to help each other because that is what VU message board membership is all about!