Beacons at Redbirds 2/9 @ 7pm

[humbleopinion]

Illinois State has manged to lose to every team in the Valley this year, but their three victories have all been at home including wins over Bradley and Missouri State.  They took Valpo to overtime in the ARC.

In our last matchup we had no answer for Chatman and Reeves, and we allowed 18 offensive rebounds.  We squanderd an eight point halftime lead, but held on at the end thanks, in part, to hitting all 16 of our free throws.

As is true of all of our remaining games, if we want to escape the bottom four, we need to win.

[SanityLost17]

It's a must win... 

and like all Valpo "must win" games in recent years...

We will lose...

Because that is what we do.     

[vu84v2]

Up four at the half. Feels like Valpo should be up by more, but they gave up two long threes at the end of the half. Taylor played very well.

[oklahomamick]

Good first half.  Where is everyone?

[wh]

SIU down at halftime. A Valpo win and an SIU loss would put us in 6th place at 5-7, a half game lead over SIU at 5-8.

[vu84v2]

They all decided to roadtrip to Bloomington/Normal at the last minute.

[vu84v2]

Let's play like this more often.

[oklahomamick]

Other team is bad

[vu84v2]

I agree, plus we are now struggling to get rebounds.

[vok22]

I don't think we are playing particularly well. In fact I think we are playing pretty poorly. The other team is just, astonishingly, worse.

[mj]

Well, we're doing our best to throw this game away.

[mj]

Overtime! As usual.

[oklahomamick]

Who had a worse last procession to win it?  Beacons or Red birds? 

[NativeCheesehead]

Lack of execution and lack of imagination (and coaching) in out of bounds plays has cost us 5 points a game this year.

[oklahomamick]

Why double team there?  We hadn't double teamed on night.

[NativeCheesehead]

Why in the blue hell are you double teaming a player 35 feet from the basket in that situation? Horrible.

[VUSWIM08-12]

Please fire Lottich , so bad at the end of games !

[oklahomamick]

We have had a lot of close games.

[hailcrusaders]

Blew a 16(?) point lead to one of the worst teams in the MVC....I wish I could say I'm surprised

[AlaskaCrusader19]

This team has such little offensive skill, it's rather incredible. It's time to move on.

[valpopal]

 

[justducky]

Great end of game defense by the redbirds. They earned that tie and they earned that win.

[valpotx]

What a blown opportunity.  Krikke is just not clutch.  Any time that we need a big bucket from him, he coughs it up while trying to over dribble, claps his hands, and says something to himself.  Agreed on wtf we were thinking in double teaming so far away from the basket, only down 2.  Just let him be man on man, and take a long shot.  If he makes it, you at least made him earn it, versus giving up an opening under the basket.

[mj]

Up 16 with less than 16 minutes left in the 2nd half and we threw it away. What's sad is that deep down, I knew we would blow it. Typical Matt Lottich game.

[vok22]

I am sure there are some worse coaches out there, but I haven't seen them. I don't have any inside access to the program or anything, so I can't say whether Matt was just unprepared when he took the job or what the situation is, but he really needs to go. The longer he has the reigns, the less and less likely it is this program ever recovers. I hate to say it, but I can't really think of any players I care to have back next season either. I don't see anybody irreplaceable. Perhaps that falls on the coaching staff too, none of these players have improved significantly since I saw them first. Edwards still plays carelessly after almost 2 years, Krikke has regressed since last season in my opinion, Eron Gordon has regressed, Woodyard isn't going to last as an MVC player. There are 3 or 4 people on the roster that are essentially just dead weight, never even had a chance to play in a game. Is Connor Barrett an actual person or am I just imagining somebody? There was freshman on the team that shot 40% from three last year who occasionally started right? What happened to him?