SMWC's big man sat through the entire second half, and we took advantage of that by penetrating the lane. Not sure how the game would have gone had he played for the last twenty minutes.
For what it’s worth, it’s not surprising whatsoever that SMWC sat Tupuola and other starters in the second. It was a very similar game layout to when they played Indiana State in the regular season opener last year - SMWC played 18 players and no one played more than 23 minutes, while all of the Sycamores’ starters played at least 28 minutes. Indiana State won that by 30, so not that much different from last night.
Kind of a bummer that this wasn't able to be watched on ESPN+ or a box score available afterward. Thanks to all of the posters who provided input, and thanks to Paul for his coverage of it. I'm cautiously optimistic for what we'll see as the season begins! Liberty will be a tough challenge in the opener, but there are a lot of winnable non-conference games this season. Outside of Ohio State, Valpo should at bare minimum be competitive in almost all of these.
Just opened my computer for the first time in a few days and realized I never closed the box score. Our lucky day! Hopefully Liberty coaches aren't sleuthing through our fan forum.
Looking forward to Monday. For those at the SMWC game, do some of the newcomers look to be similar talent level as Cooper?
I’m looking for our defensive intensity to be increasingly better this year.
Have I missed an announcement of TVB’s over/under podcast with chef?
Just opened my computer for the first time in a few days and realized I never closed the box score. Our lucky day! Hopefully Liberty coaches aren't sleuthing through our fan forum.
Thanks for posting this! Good to see they took great care of the basketball with just four turnovers. A little disappointed to see the three-point shooting result, but hopefully that's not a sign of things to come.
