MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Johnny Augie]

per release

On its final possession, the Vikings ran the clock down, and Pat Brusveen, who made six 3-pointers on the night, missed his 10th attempt but McAdams-Thornton was there for the putback to tie the game 71-71 with three seconds remaining.

With its final play of the game, Millikin inbounded the ball to Harrington, who drove the length of the court. He missed his shot, but Nohren was there for the put-back at the buzzer.

You can do all that in 3 seconds?  

I would be interested to see the tape of the game to see what truly happened.

At this point it's done with and you have to give it to Millikin for beating Augie.

[Jim Matson]

It looks like I picked the wrong day to quit sniffing...I mean, the wrong day to be out of town.

I can't really believe that Wheaton beat Wesleyan tonight.  In any other year, it seems that Wheaton comes close to the Titans in game one and then gets creamed in game two (or vise versa).  Yet this year, a "re-building" year, we take Wesleyan into OT down there and then beat 'em up here.

Kemper had 25 points tonight, following up on a great performance against Augustana (P.O.T.W. for sure).  Mohan had 14 and Bollier had 10.  But more impressive for these guys is the 5 of 6 from behind the arc stat for Kemper and the 4 of 9 for Mohan.  Overall, Wheaton shot a very average 40%, but in what was probably the difference, shot a very respectable 85% from the line.

Amelianovich had 19, Duaksas had 15, and Arnold had 10.  Matt really stood out though in hitting on 6 of 8 from downtown.  This is the confusing stat to me: Wesleyan shot 53% for the game.  Way better than Wheaton.  Even with the 75% FT stat, I'm not smart enough to figure out how Wesleyan lost this one.  Obviously it was a close game and so even small differences matter, but perhaps we can get better color from someone who was there.

[fourt4]

Augie's last basket came, and the timer stopped the clock precisely at 4.7 seconds.  I know, I was there watching very closely.

Millikin was out of time outs because Littrell always takes them after made baskets (which drives me crazy!)  Harrington drove the length of the court through modest (at best) pressure and let go of a running one hander from the left side of the lane from about 8 feet away.

Matt Nohren's tip came with the ball just off of the rim and a little below it from the right side, and it was CLEARLY before the buzzer.  The CCIW supervisor of officials was sitting in the row directly behind me and he definitely said and I quote, "the refs got it right"....  So all of the pissing and moaning about it being after the red light or whatever is not in anyway shape or form correct.

I don't think Millikin could have gotten the victory if they would have had a time out left because the only reason they scored was because of their speed and athleticism beating Augie up the court.   I've seen most of the Millikin games for the last two years, and that was the first time I'd seen them ever have any type of fun!  It was GREAT to see!

Hopefully they can build on this, and Littrell will loosen up a little and allow them to have some fun.  They could be a much better team in the next couple of years with all of the talent they have in the freshman and sophomore classes.

[Jim Matson]

Maybe I can answer my own question on the Wheaton/Wesleyan game as I just noticed that the Thunder won the battle of boards 34-20.

Congrats to Dauksas for his setting the career assist record for the Titans tonight.  He is cut from the unique cloth of Nadelhofer!

[maddog]

What a crazy night in the CCIW!!! I just returned to Bloomington from Wheaton and another frustrating night for Titan fans. First I'd like to congratulate Coach Harris, who coached a great game, and the Thunder players, who over came a 15 point 2nd half Titan lead to get the win. The Thunder played hard on both ends of the floor and made the big plays down the stretch. It was a combination of really good coaching and execution that resulted in the Thunder victory. And another Titan victory that got away, mostly due to Trost losing his focus and making too many emotional substitutions and not enough calm adjustments. Trost did make a good call at the end of the 1st half when the Titans switched from man to man and went to a trapping zone, which resulted in a couple of turnovers and seemed to rattle the Thunder. But, the Titans started the 2nd half in the zone and that led to too many open 3's by the Thunder  due mainly to great ball movement and took the Titans completely out of the game at the offensive end.  Coach Harris is too good a coach and his Thunder players execute too well to have trouble with a zone for very long. The 3's got the Thunder back in the game and turned momentum to their side. And that, along with Trost losing control of his emotions cost the Titans the game.

[Pat Coleman]

Augie's last basket came, and the timer stopped the clock precisely at 4.7 seconds.  I know, I was there watching very closely.

All that in 4.7 seconds makes it a lot more reasonable than the three seconds quoted earlier.

However, just because the officials got it right that the shot left the player's hands before the buzzer does not mean the clock started on time at the beginning of the possession.

[iwumichigander]

Hiker - IWU gave Wheaton too many uncontested 3's throughout the contest.  I think IWU lost this one in the first 6 minutes of the 2nd half -- 6 turnovers, out rebounded 8-3, gives up a 10 - 2 run and other than a single layup at 19:28 -- NO FGA, NO 3-PT FGA, NO FTA  -- ZERO, NADDA, ZIP  A team can't score when the team does not shoot or value the ball.

[maddog]

During the course of the game, Trost's temper and knee jerk reactions resulted in Adam, Zack and Keelan being taken out of the game in  fits on anger by the coach. This eerily reminds me of Trosts' 1st year when Laban Cross, John Camardella and Seth Hubbard were also banished to the bench in fits of anger. I thought tonight, the more Trost lost control of his emotions and the angrier he got, the tighter the Titans played. Titanhammer stated the Thunder out rebounded the Titans 34-20, it was not a big surprise if you saw the game. Zack, Steve, Andrew and Croy spent a majority of theri time outside the arch. It's hard to rebound from out there. The Titans had very few post plays tonight but spent a lot time passing the ball around the perimeter. I think Trost needs to ditch his so called offense and get back to basics, how tough to defend would a pick and roll be with Adam/Keelan/Jason and Zack/Cory/Chris? Every team has been hounding Keelan, how about the old back door play to keeep them honest? Let's get back to low post offense, get the ball to the blocks and good things happen for the Titans. I thought we would in trouble tonight after reading Trost's comments about needing to tighten up the defense because of giving up an average of 83 points a game in the past 3. But he failed to say they were all wins.

[Pat Coleman]

We'll see, I guess.

[Titan Q]

Hiker Jim, the very simple stat that jumped out to me when I saw the boxscore was field goal attempts.  Wheaton shot the basketball 9 more times than Illinois Wesleyan tonight...and won by just 3 points.  Wheaton was 22-54...IWU was 24-45.  IWU averages 55 field goal attempts per game on the season, so the Titans launched 18% less shots than they normally do.  As you point out, IWU shot 53.3% tonight -- any CCIW team would take that FG% any night out in the league...especially on the road. 

Looking at where Wheaton's points came from...

3-point field goals = 39 pts
2-point field goals = 18 pts
Free throws = 12

Bottom line, IWU couldn't guard the 3 in the 2nd half...and Wheaton's players knocked down the open shots.  Jordan Kemper had 19 points in the 2nd half...all 19 in the first 12 minutes of the period!  Kemper hit 4 consecutive 3's...at 13:10, 10:49, 10:11, and 9:11.

Wheaton came into the game averaging 16 3-point attempts per game.  In the 2nd half tonight, the Thunder went 9-17...and for the game, Wheaton shot 30 3's.

[veterancciwfan]

A devastating loss tonight at Wheaton. IWU's zone in the 2nd half was just not effective. IWU missed 3 critical FTs in cruch time and Wheaton made theirs. That and the rebounds were the difference. Gee, Scott Trost is terrible coach according to Maddog. I always thought the players made the caoch, not vice versa. Wheaton's players performed better in the 2nd half than did IWU's. How many 2nd half 3s did Bill Harris make? How many rebounds did Harris have? Let's give credit to an outstanding 2nd half by the Wheaton players and especially making FTs in the last 2 minutes. I am satisfied that Scott Trost's wins and losses and CCIW championships speak for themselves regardless of the rants by one IWU fan.

[Titan Q]

As a Titan fan, I really wish Augie would have won tonight.  The feeling of letting an opportunity to win the league slip away like that is just tough to swallow.

Not a good night at all in terms of getting multiple CCIW teams in the tournament.  Wow.

[vikes22]

I've read the last 6 pages or so and have seen no mention of the fact that Harrigan didn't play for Augie. Not saying that makes the loss to Millikin acceptable, but when your superstar is out I think that's a pretty important detail. What is the deal with Harrigan? Is he hurt? Will he be back for post-season???

My apologies if this has been discussed already and I missed it.

[Titan Q]

I'm going to stop thinking of the 2005-06 Wheaton team as a team that is short of CCIW talent and I hope others do the same.  Yes, Bill Harris has done a wonderful job this season after losing all 5 of his 2004-05 starters, but coach Harris also has good players.  The Thunder may not match up well vs certain teams (Elmhurst and NCC in particular), but Tony Bollier, Jordan Kemper, John Mohan, Michael Fidder, and Andy Wiele can play.  And they've gotten quite a bit better as they season's gone on.

I can't think of an Illinois Wesleyan team that ever stepped on the floor without a lot of talent, even in years following the graduation of a large senior class...and I sure can't think of many Bill Harris Wheaton teams that ever have either.

[Titan Q]

Vikes22, I was just thinking the same thing.  Mike Harrigan, Rick's cousin and an IWU player, told me before the game that Rick wasn't going to play tonight.  I couldn't believe there's not talk of Harrigan's absence all over the board.  Augie without Rick Harrigan is not a great team.

Not an excuse for losing tonight, but IWU also was hit hard by injury tonight.  The Titans played without two of their top 6 -- starter Jason Fisher (back) and 6th man Chris Jones (knee).