The Game: 64-73 Loss 0-1
Wow, so I was way off on Natyazhko. As I'm writing this he has 0 points and 4 fouls and has been a complete non factor. The first half saw some excellent play by Valparaiso's first unit especially VanWijk. The second unit was not very good, but hopefully they will continue to grow and mesh. KVW played out of his mind, scoring, rebounding, and getting the Wildcat big men in foul trouble.
The second half started with plenty of sloppy play from both sides. Unfortunately, Valpo's sloppy play continued a lot longer then Arizona's. A long offensive drought combined with turnovers saw the Arizona lead jump to 12 points early. Too many missed open shots and too many open shots allowed at the other end. This was truely a tale of two halfs. Some poor possessions on both offense and defense in the second half proved to be too much for Valpo to overcome. This has to be a good learning experience for this team to hopefully gain some much needed experience and the coaching staff should have plenty of material to coach this team up and make them better. The Crusaders were a few of those open threes from really making this interesting. But hey, we covered the spread!
Some questions I hope will be answered by Friday: Who can fill in for Kevin when needs a breather? Can we find some consistency from behind the arc? Can the second unit find some rhythm on both ends of the court? Keep on gellin', see you Friday.
Things I liked/disliked
+ KVW had a great game, loved his effort and ability to draw fouls on the opponents big men...also his free throw shooting and scoring inside was pretty good
+ Buggs created a lot of open looks early for our shooters, those shots will fall. He also attacked the basket a few times and finished.
- The second unit...yuck
- On the ball defense was aweful
+/- Richie Edwards still hasn't found a shot he doesn't like, love his aggressiveness...for now
- Will Bogan...you are a shooter who passed up several open looks. Take the shot!
- Tommy Kurth, if he is going to be the back up at the point he must, MUST, play better.
- Outside shooting was atrocious. Two of the three games this year has seen Valpo shoot very poorly from outside. I'm a little worried about this. Edwards needs to step inside the arc!
Kevin VanWijk: 16 pts, 7 rebs (5 off), kept their bigs in foul trouble
Honorable Mention
Ryan Broekhoff: 20 pts, 10 rebs, 3-9 3pts, missed too many wide open looks to make POTG
Up Next
Valpo will travel to Statesboro, GA to take on Georgia Southern on Friday at 6:30pm in the 2k Classic benefitting Coaches vs. Cancer. Watch for our game preview to come out by Thursday.
Loved the Blue jackets and ties sported by the coaching staff. Nice message and way to support the Drew family.
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The team needs more depth. I don't known if that comes from existing players or players awaiting eligibility decisions but an 8 man rotation probably isn't going to cut it in the HL and definitely not against a top-20 opponent. The rebounding #'s by the guards was impressive but way too many turnovers as a team.
ReplyDeleteToo many 3's taken for my liking, especially with Buggs being able to get into the lane pretty easily. If you had the player that's now at MSU you probably win this game by 5.