Illinois State at Valpo Game Thread, Sat., Feb.1st, 7:00p CT, ESPN3

[crusader05]

Ben Krikke have yourself a game

[VUGrad1314]

NICE PASS!

[VALPO LI]

Krikke and Clay
Great all around effort tonight
Fun to watch when we click!!!

[govalpogo]

All patterns hold true again tonight.  Sure is going to be nice to beat Loyola at Gentile!   

[nkvu]

Overcame the slow start and got the win. Take it.

Great game from Krikke. He's earning more playing time.

[VUGrad1314]

Got that NET bonus. Got back to .500. Tough stretch coming up.

UNI

@Loyola

SIU 

Wow... Just underscores the importance of taking care of business against Illinois State. A loss here probably all but sealed a Thursday trip. Now there is still hope but it's hard to imagine doing any better than 1-2 in that stretch...

[VUGrad1314]

UNI 8-2

Loyola 7-3

SIU 7-3

Bradley 6-4

Indiana State 6-4

Drake 5-5

Valpo 5-5

Missouri State 4-6

Illinois St 2-8

Evansville 0-10

This conference is insane.

The good news is after that tough stretch I talked about  we play all the teams we're fighting to avoid the PIG but a lot can change over 3 games so we'll have to see what the standings look like then. This will be tough sledding. Even at home, none of the next three games is a bad loss. If we go 3-0 or 2-1 I like our chances of avoiding Thursday a lot. If we go 1-2 I still like our chances but we will have to walk a near perfect tightrope. Dropping all of the next three would leave precious little margin for error in the final stretch. The progress and growth from this team compared to past years is quite evident. Yes we keep having slow starts and dead periods but we are taking care of business at home and beating the teams we should beat in conference so far. This is a good sign and bodes well for the future. Another reason it might be prudent to keep Lottich around. With these steps accomplished the next step is winning some surprise games to vault into contention. That could (and if everyone stays together should) happen. There are so many ifs in this season.

If Fazekas hadn't gotten hurt

If we had finished against Cincinnati and Arkansas

If we had won @ Missouri State

If we had finished that UNI game

If we had finished that Loyola game

If we get even half of these we view our season (and Lottich) very differently than we do now. We need to take that into consideration as we evaluate his and our program's future. I'm coming around and leaning towards keeping him. I really think we're close enough that that is most likely in the program's best interests. His performance over the final 8 games can seal it for me. We'll see how the rest of the year unfolds.

[talksalot]

Nobody said anything here... but JASON will be back on Wednesday.  He had a long-standing commitment at a non-profit fund raiser tonight...  I MISSED HIM...

Time to snap the WLWLWLWLW pattern...

[VUGrad1314]

It might get snapped but not in the way we hope... This three game stretch is brutal. The two best teams in the Valley followed by the hottest team in the Valley.

[talksalot]

Valpo 79
ISUr 67

[humbleopinion]

Interesting to note that we only took fifteen 3 pt shots this game.  Javon only shot one, and Ryan only took two. It's not clear (to me) how much of this was due to Ill St's lack of size, and how much was a change of emphasis that will carry over for upcoming games. 

25% of our points were free throws -- it would have been nice to make more than 2/3 of our FT attempts.

[vu72]

If you read the early comments you would have thought we are an awful team.  It was pretty funny really.  What I saw tonight was a "team" effort with a "team" that finally is at full strength and a "team" not relying on Javon to do it all.  A great coaching job rotating players in and out as well.  A terrific, entertaining game! GO VALPO!!

[vu72]

https://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/illinois-state/illinois-state-can-t-hold-second-half-lead-as-valparaiso/article_6969c6e6-fdd2-5734-817e-139a8c9b6ba7.html#tracking-source=home-top-story

[wh]

Interesting to note that we only took fifteen 3 pt shots this game.  Javon only shot one, and Ryan only took two. It's not clear (to me) how much of this was due to Ill St's lack of size, and how much was a change of emphasis that will carry over for upcoming games. 

Gore said that ILS guarded closely on the perimeter, and followed with now what we need to do is not settle for 3's against teams that don't guard so close.

[wh]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O7nnQNMzG4&feature=share

[wh]

Such fun to bask in the moment after a win - reading the newspaper accounts, watching the postgame, feeling the upbeat mood of other fans exiting the ARC, reading posts from fellow diehards. It keeps you wanting to come back for more. Life is good.

[VALPO LI]

"Life is Good".....Until Midweek where life may be great or the fans want a new coach

[valpopal]

"Life is Good"

Just some obvious observations about the game. Good: Sackey seemed a bit more under control and only ran into a turnover once during the game. In fact, the team did a good job of limiting turnovers all night. Good: Robinson looked more healthy than he has in a few games: in just 16 minutes, he had 5 pts. 3 rebs. 3 steals and an assist. Good: The team cut down their 3-pt attempts to only 15 and shot 40%, thanks to Fazekas. Good: Speaking of Fazekas, having his outside threat in the game for 28 minutes helped open up the inside for Krikke. Good: Donovan is solidifying his position as Robin to JFL's Batman or Scottie to JFL's Jordan, and I would love to see them together a couple more years. Good: Defense (and poor shooting by ISU) kept Valpo in the game early, and the team had 9 steals. Not as Good: JFL is the key on the court, but he still seems a little bit off, especially in his 3-pt shot, where he was just 0-1, and I am hoping to see him rested a little more in practice the next couple days to be strong and in 100% shape for Wednesday's game. Not as Good: Free throw shooting was 67%, and the two who missed the most were JFL and Krikke, missing 7 shots. Not Good: McMillen still having trouble with fouls, and one keeps hoping he will get over the problem the way Vashil eventually did in his senior year; however, the flip side is that Mileek's fouls forced Matt to play Krikke more minutes, which turned out to be a blessing. Good: On the other hand, Morgan was 3-3 from the free throw line! Okay: Finally, Matt seemed a little more fired up with the officials, though nowhere near as forceful as Muller. Good: Matt has more depth to work into the game, and it became a definite advantage in this game with bench points 36-13. Bad: Slow starts again in both halves! Great: Fazekas appears to be all right after the injury when he slipped on the court and fell near the end of the game.

[justducky]

JFL is the key on the court, but he still seems a little bit off, especially in his 3-pt shot,

Even in the warm ups he was missing badly. I suspect he is still playing at less than 100%.

Morgan was 3-3 from the free throw line!

They all looked good leaving his hands.    Zion is becoming a big asset coming off the bench. Great defense! Decent assist to TO numbers! Fantastic nose for RBs! Every 4 minutes on the floor he tracks down a missed shot. Nobody else on the team is even close in that category and many of his are on the offensive end. Big, quick guards who can anticipate where missed shots are landing are a wonderful thing to have!

Matt has more depth to work into the game, and it became a definite advantage in this game with bench points 36-13.

If we can stay healthy we will go down the stretch with the only 10 player substitution rotation in the Valley. Most are getting by with only 7 or 8. Bruninga is a case in point. Last night he saw the floor for only 2 minutes! Every 6 to 10 bench player we have is situationally better than our starters. The last time we had that was when Bryce coached. Granted that none are superstars with guaranteed instant offense but ALL are solid contributors.

Robinson looked more healthy than he has in a few games

Agree and he more or less adequately played the point for several minutes vs ISU. This and the improvements for Zion are greatly expanding our options! 

[valpotx]

Was Robinson playing while ill?  He looked more lethargic than normal, or was feeling something else in his body.  He didn't play poorly, but he just didn't look the same when moving, or trying to go past folks.

[justducky]

Was Robinson playing while ill?  He looked more lethargic than normal, or was feeling something else in his body.  He didn't play poorly, but he just didn't look the same when moving, or trying to go past folks.

Back injury vs Charlotte. Since then I believe he has missed 2 games and not started others. With absolutely no inside knowledge I would observationally rate him, Javon and Ryan as all being not better than 90% and maybe less. That said, I'll take 12 scholarship players in uniform with 3 or 4 banged up over dressing only 8 or 9 which we did several times in recent years. We now have a clear depth advantage over most of the league. It may only be temporary but we should try to exploit it. I'd say that UNI and Loyola are close but all 3 teams are one bad ankle twist away from picking up a couple additional unanticipated losses. Injuries are just part of the game.

[VUfan]

Well this team still seems to like each other at this point of the year which is a big improvement over last year, also they have learned to score in more ways then one , and are generally healthy. I would think they will do better then last year, how much only time will tell  But they will be fun to watch as long you do not demand a win each time out.

[bbtds]

Does this quote from ISUr freshman guard DJ Horne sound familiar?

"I thought in the first half we came with the fight we needed, something we've been lacking. All we need to do is finish it off for 40 minutes and we'll be good." 

[valpo64]

I kind of have the feeling in watching this team that the closeness and team play, including contributions from a lot of players,  is continuing to improve as opposed to last year when as the season progressed it appeared to get worse as team play often appeared to break down.  Coach L is doing a great job in utilizing his bench strength and promoting cohesive team play.   Fun to watch!   We are due to surprise somebody any day now.

[VUGrad1314]

A surprise victory or two would go a long way in helping us to avoid Thursday but to be honest I think that's going to come down to how we do in the final stretch of the season (last five games from February 15 onwards) Valpo's NET right now is 155 for your reference. 

February 15 @ Illinois State (2-8) NET 206

February 19 @ Drake (5-5) NET 153

February 22 Vs Bradley (6-4) NET 102

February 25 Vs Missouri State (4-6) NET 154

February 29 @ Indiana State (6-4) NET 100

I have a feeling the games before this stretch are going to take much of our margin for error away so we'll probably have to go 4-1 or better (or at least 3-2) in this stretch. Luckily, I think we can do it based on how we've played against these teams in our previous meetings. Go Valpo! I believe! All three road games are winnable though the disparity on both sides suggests we should beat Illinois State and lose to Indiana State but we surprised the Sycamores at home when their NET was much higher and the Redbirds have been pretty good at home (they beat UNI there after all). The Drake and Missouri State games are essentially a pick 'em with home floor helping us against the Bears, while Bradley will be a tough but winnable home game. I really think this is doable guys especially if we can get one or two surprises in our next three games.  But it's all going to come down to the Final two weeks and that is why I love this conference.