Valpo vs Incarnate Word @ The ARC 7pm CST

[Valpo89]

Stonehill and Trinity Christian, among others, may now see a possible victory.

Jason Hawkins was in attendance last night. I'm sure he's looking forward to returning with his team and a chance at a win.
The atmosphere in the ARC is as bad as it ever has been. The only thing I can remember is the nine-win season in the late 2000's, as far as the fans not being into it and an aura of disgust in the air.

[JD24]

PG 46mins 4 points 5 assists 2 FTs.

C 22 mins 2 points 8 reb 2 assists

bench 9 points

The dependency on 3 guys to score...particularly when one guy is going 2-10 from 3....is going to lead the team to struggle. If you're defending this team there are too often 2 positions the opponent doesn't have to concern themselves with all that much which allows for much easier help with the 3 guys who will actually take a shot.

[Old Timer]

Good numbers JD. We know what we have. Unfortunately, the mystery is finding out what else we have. UIW was well coached and had a good game plan. It appeared UIW was attempting to limit our big three and allow the rest of the team to beat them if they could. It appeared we lacked overall enthusiasm. We would get a little run and do something to lose momentum. As players further develop their roles, the next few games will be critical. Edwards had a good stat line with 15 points in 19 minutes against Chicago State. Not sure why his minutes were cut last night. Hopefully the road will be a good teacher.

[chgovalpofan]

Yes -- they did their homework and had a game plan.  They may not have won but they were competitive.  We are seldom competitive.  It is completely respectable to be beat by a team that has better talent on the floor.  Toledo was a better team.  That loss would have been respectable except we didn't play competitive.  We won this game, but given the difference in talent on the floor, the margin should have been significantly larger.  It is just frustrating to see the talent and  not have it realized.

[mj]

Opponents are now shooting 40% from behind the arc against us this season. Last year they shot 35%.

Just to compare, opponents shot 32-33% from behind the arc during Bryce Drew's tenure.

[JD24]

Good numbers JD. We know what we have. Unfortunately, the mystery is finding out what else we have. UIW was well coached and had a good game plan. It appeared UIW was attempting to limit our big three and allow the rest of the team to beat them if they could. It appeared we lacked overall enthusiasm. We would get a little run and do something to lose momentum. As players further develop their roles, the next few games will be critical. Edwards had a good stat line with 15 points in 19 minutes against Chicago State. Not sure why his minutes were cut last night. Hopefully the road will be a good teacher.

A couple of possibilities are that Edwards didn't score in the first half vs Chicago St. and maybe Lottich thought DeVeiro would give them a bit more energy early. Also, others have mentioned that Lottich is a big believer in +/- numbers and I thought I saw DeVeiro's +/- was pretty good in the Chicago St. game. I can't find those numbers now though.

mj-defending the 3 seems to have been an consistent issue throughout Lottich's tenure.

[usc4valpo]

Valpo has a very very easy non conference schedule. They will win some easy games, get over 500, and then the Valley conference is underway. They will finish a few games below 500, win a play in game in the conference tourney and some will think we are progressing. Then they get blown out in the second game. Based on Valpo's history, this result win not lead to a dismissal.