Game 1 @ Vandy 6pm CST on SECN

VUSWIM08-12 · November 27, 2020, 07:39:21 AM

It's finally time for some basketball. Maybe we can squeak one out against an SEC bottom feeder. Spread is Valpo +6. Looking forward to it!

Valpo 71
Vandy 67

VALPO LI · November 27, 2020, 09:56:30 AM

Hope all will tune in!!!!

https://exstreamist.com/streaming-sec-network-online-for-free/

vu84v2 · November 27, 2020, 10:17:52 AM

Valpo 69
Vandy 67

justducky · November 27, 2020, 11:55:37 AM

As much as the injuries to Fazekas and Robinson hurt last year's overall results they gave Clay and Krikke the opportunities for major additional time and development. Vandy is also returning major minutes so we will need our senior class to play like seniors. I'm looking for our steals to go down and our TO's to edge up so our 3 point shooting has to make additional improvements. Specifically that means Sackey needs to hold at 32% with Clay (.286) and Robinson (.271) pushing up to the mid 30's.

Who gets the assists? Have we got anybody who can drive, dish and also finish near the rim? If we can hit the 3 then the presence or absence of a controlled penetrator will determine just how good we can be.

VUBBFan · November 27, 2020, 12:49:25 PM

Is anyone else as exited as I am, that we finally have our first Game Thread this year?

vu72 · November 27, 2020, 01:54:36 PM

Quote from: justducky on November 27, 2020, 11:55:37 AM
As much as the injuries to Fazekas and Robinson hurt last year's overall results they gave Clay and Krikke the opportunities for major additional time and development. Vandy is also returning major minutes so we will need our senior class to play like seniors. I'm looking for our steals to go down and our TO's to edge up so our 3 point shooting has to make additional improvements. Specifically that means Sackey needs to hold at 32% with Clay (.286) and Robinson (.271) pushing up to the mid 30's.

Who gets the assists? Have we got anybody who can drive, dish and also finish near the rim? If we can hit the 3 then the presence or absence of a controlled penetrator will determine just how good we can be.

My guess is either you have been away or at a minimum, haven't been following the individual talents on this team. The answer to your question as to who can drive, dish and score come from a few guys. Donovon being one. The frekish athlete you might be hoping for comes in the form of Edwards. And as for shooting the 3, all the freshman are very good. Jacob shot over 40% last year. McMillan and Krikke shot `36 and 34% individually.

bbtds · November 27, 2020, 02:01:42 PM

Quote from: VUBBFan on November 27, 2020, 12:49:25 PM
Is anyone else as exited as I am, that we finally have our first Game Thread this year?

Twice as excited!!!

justducky · November 27, 2020, 05:59:07 PM

Quote from: vu72 on November 27, 2020, 01:54:36 PMThe frekish athlete you might be hoping for comes in the form of Edwards.

For the early season I am expecting Edwards to be more of a loose cannon than a harnessed workhorse. If that is correct then Clay, Sackey, Robinson and Gordon will be setting the tone and speed of our full and half court advancements. I would continue to expect situationally up tempo play even when we have some of our larger lineups on the floor, but none of these guys can replace Freeman-Liberty for late shot clock desperation drives to the bucket.

hailcrusaders · November 27, 2020, 06:11:17 PM

Many things have changed since we've last taken the floor, but I see that our sputtering offense early has not been one of them

hailcrusaders · November 27, 2020, 06:17:38 PM

"The answer to that question is 'no'."

--Donovan Clay to shooters underneath, 2020

Valpofamfan · November 27, 2020, 06:18:05 PM

nice to see siggy get some playing time!

VUSWIM08-12 · November 27, 2020, 06:18:20 PM

Love me a Sigurd 3! Plus one for the freshman!

VALPO LI · November 27, 2020, 06:47:46 PM

All tied up at the half.
We've got our selves a game!!!!!
Fun to watch so far.

Chairback · November 27, 2020, 06:49:46 PM

The game changed when we took out Robinson the last few minutes.

hailcrusaders · November 27, 2020, 06:50:55 PM

A quick glance at the halftime boxscore:

8 turnovers for us (9 for them), but we're shooting 7 of 15 from 3, while they're 10 of 11 from the line. I doubt that both of those rates will hold up in the second half.

SECN announcers have touched on this, but a lot of standing around on offense, which has been a hallmark of our team since the Drew days. We're outsized but with Sackey's speed and McMillan's ability to hit the jumper, I'd like to see our guys moving to the basket more to stretch out their defenders and get some open looks.

I'm not one to complain much about officiating, but with no fans in the stands I had hoped that home court advantage wouldn't affect the whistles so much this season and I feel that that assumption has been wrong thus far.

Valpofamfan · November 27, 2020, 07:04:33 PM

sheldon needs to get a bucket and Mileek came to PLAY!

hailcrusaders · November 27, 2020, 07:37:08 PM

Guess which team is 2 of 16 from three through the first 16 min of 2H?

VALPO LI · November 27, 2020, 07:39:37 PM

Turnovers tonight are killing us

Valpofamfan · November 27, 2020, 07:44:46 PM

as is scotty pippen jr

Chairback · November 27, 2020, 07:48:23 PM

Live and die by the 3.

nkvu · November 27, 2020, 07:52:36 PM

Choked it up at the end as we usually do against P5 teams. Looks like if we don't shoot lights out from 3 we will struggle.

hailcrusaders · November 27, 2020, 07:55:48 PM

I'll admit I'm more frustrated with that loss than I perhaps should be. Felt like a very winnable game. Up 59-54 at one point, then gave up a 16-2 run down the stretch. Perhaps the abnormal offseason didn't allow us to be as well-conditioned as we normally would be.

The turnovers were brutal and we took too many spot-up 3s hitting nothing but iron with plenty of time on the shot clock. Do we want to live and die by the three?? I think we're still looking for our identity on offense without JFL. I was impressed with Krikke's and McMillan's potential to possibly settle into that scoring role, but it doesn't look like either one is there just yet. Regardless, I think we can complete in the MVC.

(I only saw two offensive fouls called all game, both on us in the last minute, which was frustrating.)

vok22 · November 27, 2020, 07:56:19 PM

This was pathetic. We are about 2 years past the moral victory stage. I said I would be disappointed if they lost this game and I underestimated just how disappointed I would be. Vanderbilt is (second?) worst SEC team and they played even worse than that tonight. In front of no fans. Some of these turnovers I would expect to see in maybe freshman B team basketball. Can't hit any wide open shots. Yea, we had a lot of newcomers and missed a lot of practices due to COVID and didn't get to play any scrimmages. Vanderbilt went through all of those obstacles too. This was a game we should have won, but like every other year, we failed.

valpotx · November 27, 2020, 07:59:41 PM

No issues on my side, after watching this one. We played a fairly good game overall, outside of that last 5 minutes where we went around 0/10 from 3, and had 4 really bad/dumb turnovers. Room to grow, and a decent showing on the road in a big/empty stadium.

valpo64 · November 27, 2020, 08:11:23 PM

Very disappointing...same old Sackey, we should forget him ...no change on E. Gordon either- slow, turnovers , Robinson should have stayed home...we couldn't play when we were in the lead. Maybe it was because we had only 6 practices with the full team but we sure do need a point guard. We should have won this game by 10. GoodNews needs a hair make-over which could help him make better decisions. Is is a shame that this effort was on the SEC Network as I thought it was an embarrassing performance against a poor Vandy team. Liked Ben K. We can only get better so lets get it done, Valpo!