MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

Massey says...

Carthage 73
Wheaton 69

[AndOne]

As TQ indicates, it also seems like the loser of tonight's Wheaton @ Carthage game is in real danger of not making the conference tourney. Conventional wisdom (for whatever thats worth) would dictate Carthage should hold a slight edge with their having home court advantage. Also, speaking only from personal observation of the 2 teams so far this season, I think Carthage is the stronger team.
After tonight, the 2 teams will have 4 common opponents left (Augie, Elmhurst, NPU, & Millikin). Carthage would have to face NCC, while Wheaton will still have IWU.

Things are starting to get interesting around here!

As TQ indicates, it also seems like the loser of tonight's Wheaton @ Carthage game is in real danger of not making the conference tourney. Conventional wisdom (for whatever thats worth) would dictate Carthage should hold a slight edge with their having home court advantage. Also, speaking only from personal observation of the 2 teams so far this season, I think Carthage is the stronger team.

I agree. I like the Red Men by about eight points tonight.

[petemcb]

Rough night for Carthage all the way around so far tonight.  First they lose to the Wheaton women by almost 20 @ the Tarble and now the men are down 8 at halftime.  AND the Carthage play by play guys are feeling lucky to be down only by 8.  A win by the Wheaton men would make Saturday's Thunder game at NPU huge in its significance. 

[Gregory Sager]

Final from the Toolshed:

Wheaton 80
Carthage 60

McCrary with 26-12-6, Djurickovic with 27 points, and -- get this -- zero assists.

This one was never close. Wheaton played inspired, Carthage exhibited no interior defense whatsoever.

[Titan Q]

Carthage exhibited no interior defense whatsoever.

vs IWU Saturday...

Sexauer: 34 pts (14-19 FG)
Koschnitzky: 21 pts (8-11 FG)
Connolly: 6 pts (2-5)

vs Wheaton tonight...

McCrary: 26 pts (11-15 FG)
Schultze: 12 pts (6-11 FG)
Haynes: 5 pts (2-2 FG)


Bosko may need to play some zone, or try some kind of defensive gimmick to at least guard the post a little.

[Titan Q]

Home win = +0
Road win = +1
Home loss = -1
Road loss = +0


+/- Standings through 2/3
Augustana +3
North Central +3
Illinois Wesleyan +1
Wheaton +1
Carthage -1
North Park -1
Elmhurst -3
Millikin -3

(Usually takes +4 to win the title)

Next Games
Illinois Wesleyan @ Elmhurst (Fri)

North Central @ Millikin (Sat)
Wheaton @ North Park (Sat)
Carthage @ Augustana (Sat)

[Titan Q]

As discussed earlier, Carthage now in really bad shape.  Not only a game behind Wheaton, but the Thunder would win a tie between the two.

I'm sure there will be plenty of twists and turns though as spots 2-4 take shape.

[Gregory Sager]

Final from the QC:

Augie 76
NPU 66

[Gregory Sager]

Shaun Collins: 19 pts
Mike Gabriel: 12 pts, 8 rebs

Bryant Voiles: 18 pts, 6 rebs
Kyle Nelson: 15 pts, 10 rebs
Chris Anderson: 13 pts
Kam Norton: 10 pts

Weird game. Augie atypically shot the lights out from downtown (11-23, 48%), and NPU won the rebounding battle, 36-32. It's only the second time all season that Augie has been outrebounded. The Park did turn over the ball six more times than did Augie, however, which canceled out the good rebounding effort. And Augie's torrid shooting from beyond the arc against the NPU 2-3 zone really spelled the difference.

Congrats to Augie upon tying the school's winning-streak record at 20 straight, and for matching the CCIW record by going 20 games deep into the season without a loss.

[augiefan]

Augie wins by 10, but NPU played them tough all night. Mike Gabriel is definitely a positive addition to NPU as he scored in double figures and got 8 boards to help NPU outrebound Augie 36-32 not something Augie is accustomed to. Voiles played great with 18 points as did Kyle Nelson with 15. The best news for Augie was a 13 point performance by Chris Anderson, who again came off the bench and who looks like he might be breaking out of his recent slump.

A good competitive grind out win for Augie against an NPU team that is a lot better with Mike Gabriel on board. 20-0 is an Augie school record. Senior night on Saturday as Augie hosts Carthage in their final regular season home game, then it's on the road for 4 straight including 3 against the current 2-4 teams in the conference. Still work to do, but a great season so far.

[petemcb]

Carthage exhibited no interior defense whatsoever.

vs IWU Saturday...

Sexauer: 34 pts (14-19 FG)
Koschnitzky: 21 pts (8-11 FG)
Connolly: 6 pts (2-5)

vs Wheaton tonight...

McCrary: 26 pts (11-15 FG)
Schultze: 12 pts (6-11 FG)
Haynes: 5 pts (2-2 FG)


Bosko may need to play some zone, or try some kind of defensive gimmick to at least guard the post a little.

Paging Cody Hilton.  Paging Cody Hilton.  Please pick up the Red courtesy phone nearest to you at once.  Paging Cody Hilton.

[CCIWchamps]

Final from the Toolshed:

Wheaton 80
Carthage 60

McCrary with 26-12-6, Djurickovic with 27 points, and -- get this -- zero assists.

This one was never close. Wheaton played inspired, Carthage exhibited no interior defense whatsoever.

Wow!  This is one that I'm glad to see in double digits as well!  Whatever Coach Schauer said/did to them since Saturday must have worked.  I hope it will continue to work, too.  

How was Wheaton's interior defense compared to the game against NCC?

[petemcb]

It looked a lot better, although there was no sign of Landon Gamble tonight. 

[Gregory Sager]

Carthage exhibited no interior defense whatsoever.

vs IWU Saturday...

Sexauer: 34 pts (14-19 FG)
Koschnitzky: 21 pts (8-11 FG)
Connolly: 6 pts (2-5)

vs Wheaton tonight...

McCrary: 26 pts (11-15 FG)
Schultze: 12 pts (6-11 FG)
Haynes: 5 pts (2-2 FG)


Bosko may need to play some zone, or try some kind of defensive gimmick to at least guard the post a little.

Paging Cody Hilton.  Paging Cody Hilton.  Please pick up the Red courtesy phone nearest to you at once.  Paging Cody Hilton.

It's not the perimeter defense that's the problem. The problem is on the inside. Tyler Pierce has no mobility, Mitch Thompson can be faked to death because he's so block-crazy, and Nick Bauch is still learning the trade. And the absence of Raul Guzman, even though he can't play extended minutes because he, too, is overweight, does not help matters.

Final from the Toolshed:

Wheaton 80
Carthage 60

McCrary with 26-12-6, Djurickovic with 27 points, and -- get this -- zero assists.

This one was never close. Wheaton played inspired, Carthage exhibited no interior defense whatsoever.

Wow!  This is one that I'm glad to see in double digits as well!  Whatever Coach Schauer said/did to them since Saturday must have worked.  I hope it will continue to work, too.  

How was Wheaton's interior defense compared to the game against NCC?

I'd say better, but not great. Wheaton did a great job of holding down Pierce (four pts), but he only took three shots and spent a lot of time out on the perimeter distributing the ball in Carthage's triangle offense. And Bauch (five points on five shots) was a non-factor. But Thompson did score 13 points, all of them coming around the basket.

It looked a lot better, although there was no sign of Landon Gamble tonight. 

Yeah ... that, too.

[petemcb]

Greg, I wasn't thinking about Cody on the perimeter.  I was thinking about how successful he was when Bosko dropped him down into the paint to double any big man who needed doubling.  That might have been his greatest, unmeasured value his last year or two.  He was a significant part of Carthage's interior defense that is missing this year.  IMHO.