First up - Toledo Rockets 11/7 at Savage Arena 6pm CT

talksalot · October 23, 2022, 07:05:07 PM

Toledo started their schedule with an exhibition game on Saturday...

The Toledo men's basketball team opened its 2022-23 season with a 100-59 exhibition victory over NCAA Division II foe Hillsdale on Saturday in Savage Arena. Senior JT Shumate topped the Rockets with 19 points, while junior RayJ Dennis tallied 16 points.

"I thought we played hard and played with discipline," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "We played against a team that is tremendous in motion offense and certainly got us on a few occasions. I think overall it was a great start to our season.

Toledo took control of the game with a 19-0 run to take a 27-16 lead with 7:32 remaining in the first half. The Rockets held a 40-25 advantage at the break. UT put together another big spurt by outscoring the Chargers by a 24-2 margin over a six-minute stretch to assume a 75-42 cushion with 7:26 to play.

Toledo will play one more exhibition contest on Sunday, Oct. 30 at NCAA Division II Findlay. Tipoff time vs. the Oilers is set for 3:00 p.m. NOTICE: They are playing a ROAD Exhibition game at Findlay...now THAT's scheduling!

valpotx · October 23, 2022, 07:27:59 PM

Toledo received one vote in the top 25 preseason poll, as well

AB · October 25, 2022, 10:33:04 AM

Toledo has a lot of returning scorers. I'm not sure Valpo has enough offense to keep up. Toledo will likely control the pace Difficult first matchup.

valpo84 · October 26, 2022, 08:40:43 PM

JT Shumate of Toledo started his career at Walsh. As a trivia question, which former Valpo player transferred to Walsh after a couple years at Valpo.

valpotx · October 26, 2022, 11:37:01 PM

Quote from: valpo84 on October 26, 2022, 08:40:43 PM
JT Shumate of Toledo started his career at Walsh. As a trivia question, which former Valpo player transferred to Walsh after a couple years at Valpo.

Hrvoje Vucic. I remember checking his stats every so often to see how he was doing, and he had a pretty good D2 career.

AlaskaCrusader19 · November 02, 2022, 02:16:40 PM

Could be a rough start... I'll let the game play out, but I'm not optimistic about this roster outside of King and Krikke.

talksalot · November 03, 2022, 07:53:21 AM

Rockets played their second exhibition game on Saturday...

FINDLAY, Ohio – The Toledo men's basketball team was tested before pulling away in the second half in a 100-88 exhibition victory on Sunday afternoon at NCAA Division II power Findlay. The contest was played before a near-capacity crowd in the Oilers' Croy Gymnasium.

"Findlay really challenged us and that's exactly why we play this game on the road," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "We play this game because we think it's going to help us get better regardless of the outcome. That happened today because we found out what we needed to work on and that's really valuable."

Junior RayJ Dennis topped the Rockets offensively with 26 points.

Toledo jumped out to an early 14-6 advantage before the Oilers knocked down four three-pointers as part of a 12-2 spurt to take an 18-16 lead with 13:29 remaining in the first half.

Findlay stayed hot and increased its margin to 43-27 at the 7:23 mark. Following a timeout, the Rockets went on an 11-2 run to get within 45-38 four minutes before halftime.

"We handled the adversity we faced well but we shouldn't have put ourselves in that position," Dennis said. "We started the game strong but then we let up a little bit. It was important for us to stay together and fight back in a hostile environment."

Setric Millner Jr. scored the final four points of the half to put Toledo down 52-46 at intermission.

Millner's dunk four minutes after the break gave the Rockets a 58-56 lead. Toledo then extended its lead to as many as 15 points before settling for a 12-point victory.

"Findlay's a tough team and those dudes made some shots," Millner said. "They came to compete and that's why we came down here to play them. We have to fix some things on defense, but we'll be alright. We still have some things to work on. This is what we needed to help us get ready for our season."
=========

From 16-down to 15-up over about a 20-minute span... out-scoring the Oilers 73-45 points in the last 27 minutes.
(BTW, Findlay is called the oilers because Marathon Oil Headquarters building is in downtown).

VUSWIM08-12 · November 06, 2022, 08:54:40 PM

Line opens at Valpo +13.5, jeezus that worries me! I was thinking +8 or 9. I know Toledo has a bunch of returners, but if Valpo wants to start the season off strong and have the chance of an upper echelon MVC finish this needs to be a W or at least close. Maybe a little too dramatic, but this team needs some excitement! Who else outside of Krikke n King can score consistently? Paleese? Edwards ? Green? Lottich please apply that Stanford knowledge to VU basketball, and LETS FIND AN INDETITY! We had one with the Drew's, but what is this team about ?!?!!!

Toledo 82
Valpo 75

AB · November 06, 2022, 09:28:24 PM

Toledo will have more of an identity and chemistry for the first game and Valpo is still figuring things out on both sides. Rockets have better guard play with Dennis, Ross and the wing guy Shumate. I don't think Valpo's defense will be able to slow the tempo enough. 81 66 type game. Hope I am wrong. Krikke Shumate matchup should be fun

AlaskaCrusader19 · November 07, 2022, 10:22:55 AM

Game day! My expectations aren't high, but I'm looking forward to another season. Let's see what the boys can do. HAIL CRUSADERS!

chgovalpofan · November 07, 2022, 11:10:18 AM

Toledo is positioned to have a really good year. Valpo...not so much. Hoping Ben and Kobe will provide some exciting movements to get us through the season. Would love some other surprise performers as well.

VUSWIM08-12 · November 07, 2022, 06:12:01 PM

No grit , no fight in the first 4 minutes of the season , ughhhhh

mj · November 07, 2022, 06:12:31 PM

5 minutes into the season and it's apparent that nothing has changed.

vok22 · November 07, 2022, 06:17:22 PM

Krikke looks like a freshman.

VUSWIM08-12 · November 07, 2022, 06:20:08 PM

Hopefully Dr. Small is taking note, fire Lottich now . I'm sure we'll get it going, but to not have this team ready for a premier mid major is on the guy making 300k. He should've been fired 3 seasons ago. Get him the Fawk out

mj · November 07, 2022, 06:20:20 PM

Matt Lottich had 8 months to prepare for this game. And yet it looks like we have no game plan just minutes into the game. Yikes.

may know · November 07, 2022, 06:36:53 PM

Down 46-20. Wow.

vok22 · November 07, 2022, 06:39:31 PM

I don't think there is any coming back from the point we are as a program. Assuming we fire have a new coach after this year, what is there to recruit on? No recent success, bad facilities, dwindling public support.

valpofan56 · November 07, 2022, 06:42:49 PM

The fact that Matt Lottich's absolute peak is boring mediocrity and that has apparently been acceptable for 7 years now is embarrassing.

AB · November 07, 2022, 06:47:32 PM

Valpo will need a 10 12 games to figure out chemistry. Rockets would finish top 3 of MVC this year. They have played together awhile now, ummmmm we haven't

nkvu · November 07, 2022, 06:50:55 PM

A turnover and a run out dunk to end the first half and double us up score wise. Perfect way to prove that, once again, we suck. I may watch the second half just to see if we can play any worse. I would bet that we can, but Toledo may show mercy and play their managers and cheerleaders some in the second half to keep the margin within 50.

Valpo Joe · November 07, 2022, 07:18:56 PM

Valpo is yesterday's news - plenty of talent available over the last 7 years - unfortunately the coach couldn't put it together!!!!

valpotx · November 07, 2022, 07:51:56 PM

Much better second half. I didn't watch the first half, but was it turnovers that killed us? I didn't see many turnovers in the second half, and we shot well overall for the game, so that is the only thing, outside of FTs, that makes sense in the 15 point loss

nkvu · November 07, 2022, 07:56:41 PM

Credit where it's due. Team played much better in the second half. Toledo may have let up with that big lead, and I don't know if their backups played more in the second half, but regardless outscoring Toledo by 11 to lose by 15 is more in line with expectations. We shall see how things progress.

VUGrad1314 · November 07, 2022, 08:54:54 PM

Sigh... At this point there really are no words... At least we fought hard in the second half but that's not even a moral victory at this point. It's just another Lottich team with all that that entails. No offense No cohesion No game plan and another loss to the kind of team we used to beat regularly. I want to give it a few more games before I call the season a failure but I see no reasons for hope and optimism even one game in. I'm just so tired. This program needs a change badly.