Game #1 - Trinity Christian 11/6/23 The Powell Opener

[talksalot]

The annual return of Jason Hawkins to the ARC with the Trolls of Trinity Christian.

did you see what Loyola did to the Trinity Trolls the other day?   104-44.
did you see what South Suburban Community College did to the Trinity Christian Trolls on 11/1?  128-37 - SEE NOTE BELOW
Then again, on Friday night, Trinity bounced back with a 77-49 win over Moody Bible Institute.

led in scoring off the bench by 6'4" Junior Jon Dieck
led in rebounding by 6'10" Junior Joe Doyle out of Corliss High School in Chicago
Their two starting guards are each 6'2" freshmen

##   Player             GS   MIN   REB   PF   A   TO   BLK   STL   PTS
3   Hunter, Quinton   *   20   3   3   1   3   0   0   11
2   Staskunas, Dan   *   22   1   1   1   2   0   0   9
45   Schutt, Colton   *   20   8   0   7   0   2   1   7
32   Simpson, Bryce   *   16   2   3   0   3   1   0   7
35   Doyle, Joe           *   18   11   0   0   1   1   2   4
34   Dieck, Johnny      21   6   0   3   0   0   4   13
10   Hudak, Dustin      16   8   3   0   0   0   0   7
22   Williams, Jadon      17   1   3   1   0   0   0   6
5   Peasley, Malachi      12   1   2   1   0   0   1   6
4   Smith, Tyrone      13   5   0   2   0   2   0   5
20   Kietzmann, William   10   1   1   0   1   0   0   2
31   Kveck, John      5   1   0   0   0   0   0   0
23   Henthorn, Chris      4   0   0   1   0   0   1   0
21   Eathan Peacock      3   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
43   Clay Carter      3   1   0   0   1   0   0   0
TM   Team              0   2   0   0   0   0   0   0
   Totals   -          200   51   16   17   11   6   9   77


In the Loyola Game at the Gentile Center, The ramblers had: 
Points in the Paint: 58   
Fast Break Points: 37   
Points off Turnovers: 30   
Bench Points: 49
Led 56-25 at the half.


NOTE: 
did you see what South Suburban Community College did to the Trinity Christian Trolls on 11/1?  128-37
The TIMES reported this score.   They failed to mention that Trinity Christian only used their JV Team against the defending National Champions.  This was not an official game for the Trolls.

[talksalot]

In the Trinity Troll Classic... game two was Saturday night against "East West"   67-66 win for the Trolls in OVERTIME

- although I can only tell that by the "minutes played".  The box score does now show an extra period.     But... Trinity's total player minutes was 288, East West's total was 225.

but they come into the ARC Undefeated... 2-0.  This is an exhibition game for them.  Not for us.

Trinity Christian 67                                          
##   Player          GS   MIN   FG   3PT   FT   ORB-DRB   REB   PF   A   TO   BLK   STL   PTS
33   Loerop, Brady   *   43   4-10   0-0   4-6   3 - 5   8   2   0   1   0   1   12
2   Staskunas, Dan   *   40   3-15   2-12   1-2   0-1   1   2   2   3   0   1   9
45   Schutt, Colton   *   45   1-10   0-3   4-4   0-3   3   2   1   0   1   1   6
35   Doyle, Joe           *   32   3-5   0-0   0-2   4-5   9   2   1   0   3   1   6
32   Simpson, Bryce   *   37   1-5   0-0   1-2   0-7   7   1   1   1   1   1   3
22   Williams, Jadon      17   4-5   1-1   2-2   1-3   4   1   1   0   2   1   11
34   Dieck, Johnny      29   2-3   1-1   1-2   1-3   3   2   1   2   0   0   6
10   Hudak, Dustin      24   1-4   0-0   4-6   3-3   6   1   2   4   1   1   6
5   Peasley, Malachi      16   3-4   0-1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0   2   0   0   6
3   Hunter, Quinton      5   0-0   0-0   2-4   0-1   1   0   0   2   1   1   2
TM   Team              0   0-0   0-0   0-0   4-4   8   0   0   0   0   0   0
   Totals   -        288   22-61   4-18   19-30   16-34   50   13   9   15   9   8   67
                                          
50 rebounds and 9 blocked shots

They have one Indiana player:  #10, Dustin Hudak from Lowell.

[vu84v2]

Prediction: Valpo by 26 in Roger Powell's opener.

[valpotx]

Valpo 88
Trinity Christian 62

[historyman]

I think we need to predict a bit tighter of a game because as some pointed out in the St-Mary-of-the-Amazon game there are some major flaws in Valpo's game that I believe the Beacons will improve on but the team has a long way to go in those areas to be a contender in the MVC.


Trinity Christian Cal Sag Trolls  71
Valparaiso Beacons Brightness  85

[SPEEDYPITCHER37]

Valpo 86
Trolls 68

[VUGrad1314]

Being pushed by an NAIA team like they were in the exhibition doesn't exactly inspire confidence going into the season. Hopefully they'll do a better job tonight.

[VULB#62]

Being pushed by an NAIA team like they were in the exhibition doesn't exactly inspire confidence going into the season. Hopefully they'll do a better job tonight.

Not like a DIII.  A scholly NAIA team (like a DII) with a ton of DI xfers who pulled the plug at the end of our exhibition. 1314, they will be a team to be reckoned within their NAIA world. It'll be fun to watch that.

The Trolls are not in that class.

[VUSWIM08-12]

We look very good initially , we've had slow starts against the trolls before but up 19-4 4 minutes in, making shots , up and down the court quickly!

[AB]

Schwieger. What is a more fair comp as a Freshman? Dan Opland, Broekhoff or Krikke?

Observations...
Trinity is garbage.Team will be more fun this year, live and die by the three. Shot selection needs to improve. Williams plays with a lot of confidence. Interior defense and rebounding will be a major problem. We are in trouble if forced to grind things out in the half court versus the Bradley's etc. Palm will have a nice year if he stays outta foul trouble.

Scheduling conflict Friday. Valpo versus IUPUI . Across town, Valpo HS football versus Merrillville for the regional title.

[David81]

VU played like a solid D1 basketball team matched against a clearly inferior, non-D1 opponent. It was over by halftime, and they scored 100 points.

Let's be honest. How many of us were mixing hope and fear -- hoping that VU would have an easy time of it, but fearing that the game would be close win or even, heaven forbid, a loss? While I'd say it was 70/30 in my head (though a loss seemed thoroughly improbable), when I saw that they were ahead 19-4, I felt a sense of relief. It's not a knock against our new coaches or the current players. It's just that I've been conditioned to keep aspirations in check.

The best thing about tonight's game was the emergence of some other guys besides Stafford who show a knack for scoring. I don't care if they were playing 5 on 1 the whole game, it's still nice to see offensive production spread around a bit.

I know it's going to get more difficult very fast. But really, we couldn't have asked for anything more.

[historyman]

Across town, Valpo HS football versus Merrillville for the regional title.

Across the county line in Merrillville not VHS but that doesn't change a whole lot.

[historyman]

I think we need to predict a bit tighter of a game because as some pointed out in the St-Mary-of-the-Amazon game there are some major flaws in Valpo's game that I believe the Beacons will improve on but the team has a long way to go in those areas to be a contender in the MVC.


Trinity Christian Cal Sag Trolls  71
Valparaiso Beacons Brightness  85

Totally wrong.It does show you that St Mary-of-the-Woods was a truly top knotch team.

[VUGrad1314]

Across town, Valpo HS football versus Merrillville for the regional title.

Across the county line in Merrillville not VHS but that doesn't change a whole lot.

I'd go to the Regional final if it were my choice. If Valpo can't win at home against the same IUPUI team that got pushed to the limit by a non D1 in their home gym then this team is in serious trouble. The Regional Final will be much more important and probably a much better game.

[VUGrad1314]

Also that was certainly much better than the exhibition, but then again, as has been pointed out already, the caliber of opponent was not the same. Still, the Beacons were supposed to blow this team out; and they did, so that's good.

Good night for the conference though. Bradley beat UAB who I think was the NIT Runner Up last year, Belmont beat Georgia State and Evansville beat Miami(OH). Seems like UIC gave Cincinnati a good effort and Missouri State almost got West Virginia. If they had been able to finish that game it would have been a true banner night. Still, I'll take this performance and hope the league (and the Beacons) keep it up.

The Big 10 though--woof-- Michigan State lost to James Madison Rutgers lost to Princeton and Ohio State got all it could handle from Oakland. Doesn't exactly portend good things for them. Still though they'll probably do very well indeed come March because that's how the game works.

[usc4valpo]

The Big 10 is consistently overrated. Purdue proves that.

[vu72]

A great game pretty much all around.  I had posted an article, some time ago, that included Jahari Williamson as one of the top 10 shooters in Canada, regardless of class.  That showed tonight.  True, the opponent was not up to the task, but still a really fun game to watch.  Love the student section and band!!!!

[tiny707]

No assistant coach post game interview on WVUR? Thought someone would replace Coach Gore?

[vu84v2]

Watched the first half after I got back last night. Clearly an inferior opponent relative to any D1 team and, especially teams in the MVC. However, it was very encouraging to see multiple players who seem like they can score the ball. Continue to develop the system and this should get better. Defense seems to be a work in progress...but we'll know far more on that front after playing some D1 opponents.

[VULB#62]

Loved watching the game and am very happy for Roger and the players, but.....

VU built a 39 point lead at the half. The second half was a strangely different game in that the teams were dead even at 38 points apiece. What does that mean? As far as I could tell, the pace never slackened, but the edge was gone and our scoring dropped off significantly (-37%) allowing Trinity to be competitive in the second half. Is that a fair assessment?

[vok22]

That was pretty much what I was hoping for from that game, but can't really take much out of it. I didn't like the amount of turnovers and we looked sloppy for a lot of the game. Trinity Christian was simply REALLY bad. Even when we were playing sloppy we were pulling away from them thanks to our ridiculous shooting in the first half. I also wanted to see more out of our half court offense, where I think Schweiger will be more important. Nobody in MVC play is falling for a Jerome Palm pump fake, then getting blown by by him and allowing him to hit a reverse layup. The quality of the opponent was so bad that it made it functionally challenging to run a realistic or meaningful game plan simply due to their turnovers, lack of talent, and lackadaisical defense.

A couple of things that I think we can take out of this game is the players motivation to play for Powell. We have come out flat in the past against these types of teams, but we came out energized and stayed that way until we were up by 50. The players were celebrating, rushing to help each other up, and generally looked happy to be playing together. We will see if that continues when they inevitably hit a rough patch against D1 competition.

It was also nice to see somebody other than Isaiah hit some 3s. That will be needed to stay competitive this year. 

I am excited to see us play D1 teams now. We should actually be favored in 4 of our next 5 games (Illinois being the exception). If we start 4-2, with a loss to Illinois and a hiccup against one of the other D1 teams, I will be considering that a success. Winning games against teams we should beat has become somewhat of a premium lately, so I would love to see that get back on track. More importantly, I want to see what our younger guys can do against Division 1 talent and coaching.

[valpopal]

Loved watching the game and am very happy for Roger and the players, but.....

VU built a 39 point lead at the half. The second half was a strangely different game in that the teams were dead even at 38 points apiece. What does that mean? As far as I could tell, the pace never slackened, but the edge was gone and our scoring dropped off significantly (-37%) allowing Trinity to be competitive in the second half. Is that a fair assessment?

Yes, a fair assessment. Though not a lot can be determined due to the level of the opposing team, I think it is correct to say the big difference between the first half and the second half has to do with the minutes played by the starters vs. the bench. The starting five scored 61 points in 104 minutes on the court. The bench scored 39 points in 96 minutes. The starters were a combined 24-41 (59%) in field goals and an amazing 10-15 (67%) from the 3-point line. The bench was 10-31 (32%) in field goals and 4-18 (22%) from long range, all 4 makes coming from Williamson, who was 5-6 and 4-5 as a sixth man. Without him, the bench was 5-25 and 0-13! Likewise, the bench only accounted for 13 of VU's 45 rebounds.

Barrett, Sciarroni, Weatherspoon, Ajiboye, and Vick were 2-21 (9%) from the field and 0-13 (0%) from the three-point line. Though I would like to see Barrett back to his freshman form and I hope Weatherspoon will shake this off (he was also 1-6 from the 3-point line in the exhibition to go with 0-6 in this game), if this continues, it would argue for a shorter bench in the future with Williamson as the sixth man and Ajiboye, who at least got to the free throw line for 12 shots, as the backup inside, perhaps alongside spells of Sepp. I am guessing Manyang is still injured and Scroggins is scheduled to redshirt.

[JD24]

Loved watching the game and am very happy for Roger and the players, but..... VU built a 39 point lead at the half. The second half was a strangely different game in that the teams were dead even at 38 points apiece. What does that mean?

Nothing. If you look inside most basketball games they are even with the exception of the winning teams "runs". Gonzaga has made a long history of doing just this. 60-60 for most of the game but 25-5 for 5 mins.

The first half showed who's likely to play and, further likely, who's not going to play.

It certainly was a better watch with the faster pace...which DaVeiro seems to look much better in although he's going to have to score some more than we've seen....and the defense get out on the three pointers.

Schweiger looks like a player to the point that I'm concerned he's a Beacon for this season only. He appears to have been under recruited and now he'll become a bit more known.

[David81]

I'll predict that the bench may be somewhat uneven at first as the freshman players get their bearings. But there appears to be real talent and promise in this first year group. Wouldn't it be awesome if this is Coach Powell's first great recruiting class of freshman for Valpo?!

[tjjvalpo]

I am surprised at how Weatherspoon has looked in the first 2 games. When I went to the open practice, I thought he would be most likely candidate to be the 6th Man on the team. He hit multiple 3 pointers in the practice scrimmage. Shooters can be streaky, so as long as Roger goes with the hot hand, I think these team will have options.