Valpo vs. Loyola Game Thread, Mon., Dec. 30, 2019, 7:00 p.m. CT

[oklahomamick]

We wasted a career night from Clay. 

We were in the game because he was 4 for 4 from 3.

We were in the game because Loyola couldn't make ft's. 

This would have been a blown out otherwise. 

I know things are different and the programs are different but did Bryce ever lose to Loyola?  Has Lottich ever beaten Loyola?

[NativeCheesehead]

Henceforth, the laying an egg over the first quarter of the game shall be known as the "Lottich Special".

Example: The Packers pulled a Lottich Special to start the game on Sunday but managed to come from behind for the win.

Patent Pending.

[VUGrad1314]

One thing's for sure We wouldn't be losing these games under Bryce. No way whatsoever. As much as I want to see us become more than just the Drews I would welcome him back home in a heartbeat anytime he wants to retake the reins. Sadly until those Vanderbilt checks stop coming his way he has no incentive whatsoever to coach here or anywhere... But I wish he would come home sometime in the future. He may be our best and only hope in the immediate term of becoming a contender in this conference.

[VUGrad1314]

Henceforth, the laying an egg over the first quarter of the game shall be known as the "Lottich Special". Example: The Packers pulled a Lottich Special to start the game on Sunday but managed to come from behind for the win. Patent Pending.

Breaking News: Native Cheesehad Sued by Matt Lottich for Copyright Infringement. Lottich trademarked that term years ago. You're too late. Call it something else.

[NativeCheesehead]

I'll countersue for emotional distress.

[VUGrad1314]

I'll countersue for emotional distress.

Your counterclaim is granted. Lottich your case is denied. That term falls under the Public Domain and is subject to fair use. Want it to stop? Stop laying more eggs than a factory farm and start winning games.

[tiny707]

Bottomline on this is point guard play. Sackey needs to make shots and quit turning the ball over. At this point, give Lorange more time at the point position and see what happens.

[GoldenCrusader87]

Pretty good effort overall. It was nice to see the place decently full too. Were there some bad calls by the officials? Certainly. But we were out coached down the stretch. Silly stuff. And sorry I know he's the fan favorite but it's a problem if Kaiser is getting this much playing time. And seriously we're going to put Siggy in with a minute left??? He's cold because he doesn't get any playing time. Then again we don't have a play down the stretch with the game on the line. Sooo we blew it. So tired of Matt's mediocrity and excuses. Tired of the whole progressing nicely crap. It's time for accountability if this season doesn't work out. Unless that's the goal - mediocrity. In that case, fine. We'll settle. Sorry but that isn't the same Loyola team that went to the finals. Joke.

[VUGrad1314]

Summary of Valpo in the MVC so far:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APOk7phgafE

[mj]

Looking at the box score you realize that it's the little things that add up. McMillen 0-4 from 3. Freese-Villen 0-2 from 3. Morgan 0-1 from 3.

That's 7 missed 3s from guys who have no business taking those shots. 7 empty possessions. 7 missed opportunities. And we end up losing by 3. Ugh.

[M]

Mileek won't miss that many 3s ina game again.
Donovan played great, let's keep it going!
Sackey should've stayed on the defensive end of the court tonight.
Javon forced it too much.
Kiser played like a freshman.
Nick shot well but had some real ding ding plays.

Good thing Loyola stinks or Valpo loses by 20+. I'm encouraged that they played so poorly much of the night and still had a shot at it.

[Just Sayin]

And Sackey takes the final shot. A fitting end.

I've said this before.  Sackey should never be the go-to guy during crunch time at the end of a game. This has happened before with the same result. What the hell was the coach thinking?  What play did he draw up for situations like this? You should tell certain players not to shoot in these kinds of circumstances. 

Sackey for the win? Get real.  No wonder we lose close games. smdh
He's a horrible 3-pt shooter. We all know this. The coach doesn't.

[valpopal]

I thought I'd look at the stats to see if that would give me a more objective view. However, the stats show Valpo shot better than Loyola with field goals (43.1%-42.9%) and Valpo made more field goals (25-21). VU also made 9 3-pointers to 5 for Loyola. In rebounding, Valpo was beaten by only 3 (33-36). Valpo only had two more turnovers (13-15) due to the numerous charges called, some questionable. The big difference was in fouls: Valpo was called for 23 while Loyola only got called for 12, and the free throw discrepancy was 6 for Valpo but 30 for Loyola. Also, Javon was eliminated from the end of the game because of the 5 fouls he got, at least two were questionable. The final score: 66-63. You're not supposed to say it, but sometimes poor officiating does matter in the results, especially when Valpo gives the opponent a double-digit lead and must rely on coming out ahead in a tight game.

[mj]

Javon forced it too much.

I'd argue that Porter Moser figured out how to bottle JFL up. And Lottich didn't know how to adjust his game plan.

[VUGrad1314]

Mileek won't miss that many 3s ina game again.
Donovan played great, let's keep it going!
Sackey should've stayed on the defensive end of the court tonight.
Javon forced it too much.
Kiser played like a freshman.
Nick shot well but had some real ding ding plays.

Good thing Loyola stinks or Valpo loses by 20+. I'm encouraged that they played so poorly much of the night and still had a shot at it.

If Loyola stinks... And we still lost... What does that say about us?

[M]

I dont disagree with that. Moser laid the framework on how to slow JFL. JFL needs to be a little smarter. He had 7 assists...he also gambled on a few steals early on and left his teammates in bad shape on defense. He will bounce back.

[Just Sayin]

These kids deserve better coaching.

[vok22]

I hate to say it but losing Lottich would likely do more bad than good. He is a heck of a recruiter and without him we probably don't have most of these players that make this team have the potential that is does.

[GoldenCrusader87]

Good points but I don't think Kiser air balling a 3 helps matters either.

[VUGrad1314]

These kids deserve better coaching.

Hear! Hear! Hands down THIS is the answer! I hate to bring it up... BUT After a 32-9 start to his tenure Matt Lottich is 29-42 with a 14-26 mark in conference. Those are not good marks. That works out to a .350 winning percentage in conference (including Arch Madness) And a .408 winning percentage overall. Take out the conference games that's 15-16 (.484) in NON-Conference Take out 3 non D1s and that's 12-16 .429. There's struggling but this feels like another category of struggling. Most teams aren't under .500 in nearly 3 years of non conference play. This feels like Porter Moser ISUr era. Lottich simply wasn't and isn't ready to be an MVC coach. The question is what do we do with it? Is this similar to Homer Drew's early struggles where he later built the program we enjoy today? Unfortunately the competition is ratcheted way up and so are the expectations from those days. We may not get the chance to find out but the question is will we even want to? So much rides on these final 17 games+ St Louis and I hope Matt understands that.

I hate to say it but losing Lottich would likely do more bad than good. He is a heck of a recruiter and without him we probably don't have most of these players that make this team have the potential that is does.

Sadly and scarily, this is most likely very true and something we need to acknowledge when weighing whether or not to jettison Coach Lottich at the end of the year. He's got 17 games and St Louis to show me he can get this team where it needs to be. If we are still having these issues late in the season we might just have to take the risk of enduring some transfers and finding a guy that can actually coach up the talent he gets. Wichita State Creighton and UNI rarely won on superior talent. They won on the sidelines because they had X's and O's. Loyola didn't make that final four run because they were more talented than those teams. They did it because they had better strategy and they played together as a cohesive unit. Maybe we need to stop worrying so much about recruiting stars and high school accolades and focus more on the sidelines where right now we are SEVERELY lacking and it's cost us so many games.

[oklahomamick]

This talent is not any more talented than previous coaching regimes.

[wh]

Mileek won't miss that many 3s ina game again.
Donovan played great, let's keep it going!
Sackey should've stayed on the defensive end of the court tonight.
Javon forced it too much.
Kiser played like a freshman.
Nick shot well but had some real ding ding plays.

Good thing Loyola stinks or Valpo loses by 20+. I'm encouraged that they played so poorly much of the night and still had a shot at it.

If Loyola stinks... And we still lost... What does that say about us?

I don't think Loyola stinks per se, but they are what their record says they are - pretty average. Moser coached an ok game, but nothing earthshaking. In other words, this game wasn't about what Loyola did, it's about what Valpo didn't do. As Todd noted in the postgame, this game was there for the taking, and we just flat out blew it.

One more thing - someone said Mileek won't go 0-4 from 3 again, like tonight was a 1-off or something. He is now 6-30 from 3 for the season, a pathetic 20%. This is his 7th game missing every 3 he launched. He hasn't made more than 1 3FG in any game this year. It's completely counter intuitive to think he should ever be shooting a 3. Moreover, Todd pointed out and Gore agreed that all the big man 3 point attempts tonight were on the first 15-20 seconds of the shot clock, which never Javon a chance to work through the defense without the ball to shed a defender and get himself open. Gore said the big men could get open looks any time because no one was coming out on them. Mileek needs to take a lesson from Loyola's big and work on his post moves.

[M]

Leek shot over 36% as a freshman and over 31% as a sophomore. He will find that range again.

Maybe it's been it's been mentioned already, but why in the world did Freeman foul himself out when none of those other 4 guys on the court at that time had more then 1 foul. Is our team basketball IQ really that low?!

[VUGrad1314]

Somebody actually asked when the last time we beat Loyola was and I had to look it up... We have to go all the way back to February 19, 2013 for our last win over the Ramblers. They have won the last six meetings counting tonight. And even before that we were only 6-5 against them... So we went 7-5 against them in the HL (which surprised me) and are now 0-6 against them in the MVC... It seems as peers in the HL we were only a smidge better than them but since we've both gotten to the MVC you can see how their investment has paid off and you can see their potential. I hope I'm wrong but it may be awhile before we beat them again.

[a3uge]

I hate to say it but losing Lottich would likely do more bad than good. He is a heck of a recruiter and without him we probably don't have most of these players that make this team have the potential that is does.

What talent?