12/17 Game Thread: Oakland Grizzlies

[valpopal]

Speaking of Boggs possibly becoming eligible for this game to strengthen our bench: Oakland has apparently just lost one of its players to academic ineligibility, Blake Cushingberry, a backup guard who has played 13 minutes per game:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/oakland-g-blake-cushingberry-ruled-academically-ineligible/2011/12/14/gIQAF6imuO_story.html

[valpopal]

Vegas has us favored by 1.5 points, which seems about right:

Oakland 76
Valpo     78

[valpospartan]

Vegas has us favored by 1.5 points, which seems about right:

Oakland 76
Valpo     78

Valpo 78
OU     76.5

[sectionee]

Buggs knee looks fine in warmups!

[valpopal]

Boggs is in uniform and officially eligible.

[sectionee]

The Oakland guys looked mesmerized by the video highlights

[sectionee]

How many jumpers defies Edwards have to miss before he takes a few more steps inside to shoot?

[sectionee]

Hamilton is going to shoot every time..double him!

[valpotx]

Absolutely pathetic second part of the second half.  Kenney really messed it up trying to do way too much on that last drive...really bad loss

[rlh]

Can't lose a 17 point lead at home....give Oakland credit, they never gave up and we had no answer for Hamilton

[mj]

I gotta give Oakland credit for coming back. And Hamilton is a hell of a player.

On the other hand, I swear this team get a big lead and then decides to coast. I'm not sure if they lose their focus or what. We made a lot of mental errors tonight that cost us the game.

[valpotx]

I am also wondering why on that last play, the defender tried to go under the screen, rather than on top so he could be waiting closer to where Hamilton received the ball on the run.  You just can't allow a guy to get a running start like that with 4.6 left, you need to make them stop for a second.  The end result was a lucky bank shot.  We just lost to Helms part 2

[Crusader03]

So tired of Eric Buggs and his constant foul trouble.  He has fouled out 5 times this season and had 4 fouls another game.  He fouled out six times last season and had 4 fouls 11 times.  Hard to consistently win when your point guard is off the floor on a regular basis.  For comparison's sake, Kenney has fouled out 0 times this season and 1 time last year;  Broekhoff- 1, 1.  Brandon Wood fouled out 1 time last year.

We will not win anything important if Buggs doesn't improve in this area...it's a constant handicap for this team.

[swiftmutiny]

Turnovers (and Buggs fouling out... again) killed us. Oakland had 11 to our 18, and they converted their opportunities into 24 points over our 10.

[valporun]

We had no answer for Hamilton, because Hamilton could outfox and outhustle Buggs to the basket, leading Buggs to commit stupid fouls, and be out with 11 minutes remaining. I don't know why Kenney had that ball in the closing seconds, it should have been going thru Harris to get to someone, not Kenney. This loss hurts more than IPFW did.

[crusaderboy]

valporun is right about that last possession. i thought it strange that the two ball handlers on that last possession were Bogan and Kenney who had both struggled with the handle all night.

by the way, shout out to chef. I talked to him before the game and asked him for a prediction.
"Buzzerbeater," he said.

The best in the business!

[crusaderboy]

oh, and did both Buggs and Petros from Oakland BOTH foul out without scoring a point?

Don't know if I have ever seen that.

[vuweathernerd]

buggs was going to foul out regardless, but i didn't see anything that warranted the call that was made for his fifth. and one of his other fouls was a little ticky-tack as well. perhaps somebody else saw something that didn't get noticed in the low quality video stream?

[sectionee]

http://sectionee.blogspot.com/2011/12/game-wrap-up-i-really-hate-to-do-this.html

I thought Buggs was horrible tonight and he is one of my favorite players.  I also thought Bryce had his worse game coaching.  Luckily we get a fairly quick turn around and can try to get back to our winning ways at Northern Illinois.

[KL31NY]

A nugget for you about how we ended the game...

Final 6 possessions after Kevin's free throws at 2:55 to gave Valpo a 79-77 lead -> TO, TO, TO, 1-2 FT to tie from Boggs, TO, TO

No official shots in the final 3 minutes in a close game and constant turnovers. Simply put, can't do that and win.

[chipper955]

I don't understand why Kurth was in the game at all when you have Jay Harris sitting on the bench.  I was just waiting for Kurth to get the ball stolen from him.  I thought Buggs had a good game besides the fouls.  He assisted on quite a few of the baskets that Valpo had when the jumped out to a big lead in the second half.  And once he went to the bench with 4 fouls is when Valpo started to struggle to score.

[sectionee]

Couldn't agree more about Kurth.  He has been awful all year and has no business being on the court when a game is in doubt.

[valpopal]

This game is more disappointing than the IPFW loss since a home team should not lose when leading by 17 in the second half. As many have indicated, it is crucial that Buggs remain on the floor out of foul trouble. If Buggs stays in to guard Hamilton (who is terrific and deserves praise for his play) without foul trouble and to run the Valpo offense, Oakland does not get the win.

Having noted that, since the beginning of the season I've said this team is a work in progress that will not be fully prepared until next year. I hope for the best this year, and I have been pleased to see we have already won games we were not favored to win--Duquesne, Akron, Butler. Yet, I always believed we would lose some games this year that we should win, such as IPFW and Oakland, balancing out the effect of the good wins.

However, I remain patient because I feel the real test will be whether this group can learn from these experiences and become next year a team that again wins some games in which they are not favored plus takes all the games they are supposed to win. If not, then I will be truly disappointed.

On the other hand, we can all be happy that we are still undefeated in conference play; after all, the out of conference games don't matter much at all, right? 

[Valpo89]

I don't understand why Kurth was in the game at all when you have Jay Harris sitting on the bench.  I was just waiting for Kurth to get the ball stolen from him.  I thought Buggs had a good game besides the fouls.  He assisted on quite a few of the baskets that Valpo had when the jumped out to a big lead in the second half.  And once he went to the bench with 4 fouls is when Valpo started to struggle to score.

Could you tell that Jay Harris was in pain?
He took a major shot to the chest in the Bowling Green game. He didn't practice much all week, couldn't get his arms above his head.
Jay was basically playing one-handed last night. There was one time when I questioned why Jay was in the game at all, and he got stripped by Hamilton. Hamilton is solid as a rock and would be a tough matchup for Jay on a regular day, but when he could hardly move his left arm, it was easy pick-ins for Hamilton which led to a layup at the other end.
Do you all forget that Matt Kenney helped beat Butler on a driving layup at the end of regulation? He's at his best when driving to the basket. He's got more confidence going to the rim than anyone on the team, and his options included a kickout to Broekhoff.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Ali Berdiel travel against Purdue yet. Similar play, exact same spot on the court. Come on crusaderboy.

[humbleopinion]

A couple notes:
When the ball was put in Kenney's hands at the end, he had seven assists and only one turnover.
Jay Harris had four turnovers last night with no assists.
Was it true that three of Buggs's fouls were on the offensive end of the court?

The defense backed off of Buggs last night.  We haven't seen so much of that this year.  I hope he shoots and sinks some threes, or we'll see a lot more of the sagging during conference play.
I walked out of the game agreeing with Kampe's praise for Hamilton.