MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[voxelmhurst]

It was nice to see Elmhurst come on strong at the end last night to get the win in Bloomington, avenging another loss from earlier in the season. IWU fans are understandably lamenting the late turnovers made by the Titans, though Elmhurst fans could have easily been saying the same, as Elmhurst had about 3/4 turnovers in a row after the 10 minute mark of the second half, which helped Wesleyan regain the lead at 57-54. From that point on, however, it was basically all Elmhurst, who scored the game's next 13 points. When a long inbounds pass from Elmhurst sailed out of bounds after a Wesleyan 3 made it 67-60, I feared Elmhurst was headed to another nightmare ending at Shirk, but the Jays held on.

Wes Hooker returned to the Elmhurst lineup and scored 10, while 4 other Elmhurst players scored in double figures, including Neshat Dalipi, who has been seeing more and more playing time as of late. Elmhurst fans have to like what theyve been seeing from him, a gutsy player that brings some physicality but can also hit the outside shot.

Elmhurst has now won 3 in a row and is at least looking more and more like a team that will be playing in the CCIW tournament.

[iwu70]

Vox, Elmhurst surely played better in those last 2-3 minutes.   IWU went down hill fast after that foul on the made trey, four point play.  Then the TOs and several poor shot selections, empty possessions.   The IWU team just has trouble finishing games off that should be Ws.    Hope they make the CCIW tournament, but it's surely not promised at this point.   Better take care of business at home vs. Carroll, then win at MU on Wednesday.  Ron Rose must be very frustrated and the team must be very angry . . . with themselves. 

'70

[lmitzel]

Should have a pretty packed hangar tomorrow; found out that North Central will be celebrating the football team at halftime of the game against Elmhurst.

[Gregory Sager]

It was nice to see Elmhurst come on strong at the end last night to get the win in Bloomington, avenging another loss from earlier in the season. IWU fans are understandably lamenting the late turnovers made by the Titans, though Elmhurst fans could have easily been saying the same, as Elmhurst had about 3/4 turnovers in a row after the 10 minute mark of the second half, which helped Wesleyan regain the lead at 57-54. From that point on, however, it was basically all Elmhurst, who scored the game's next 13 points. When a long inbounds pass from Elmhurst sailed out of bounds after a Wesleyan 3 made it 67-60, I feared Elmhurst was headed to another nightmare ending at Shirk, but the Jays held on.

Wes Hooker returned to the Elmhurst lineup and scored 10, while 4 other Elmhurst players scored in double figures, including Neshat Dalipi, who has been seeing more and more playing time as of late. Elmhurst fans have to like what theyve been seeing from him, a gutsy player that brings some physicality but can also hit the outside shot.

Elmhurst has now won 3 in a row and is at least looking more and more like a team that will be playing in the CCIW tournament.

Elmhurst is a better team than Illinois Wesleyan: better shooters from outside the paint, much more athletic, more versatile. The early double-digit loss by the 'jays to IWU at Faganel at the end of November is going to go down as one of the stranger outcomes in the CCIW this season. Then again, Elmhurst has had several strange outcomes this season, most of them negative. The Bluejays are a talented team, but they have shown a lot of inconsistency for such a veteran group. But I don't think that anybody really wants to face them at this stage of the season, because this is the time of year when big-game and/or postseason experience counts for something.

[Greek Tragedy]

At this point, looks like NPU will be at the Pool C table fairly quickly. Only Wheaton and Wash U are ahead of them. It may be a long wait in their seat, but at least they'll be there.

[bbfan44]

Elmhurst was a 3 seed in the CCIW tourney last year...and ended up in the National Championship game.  Ya just never know.

[kiko]

NCC sits at 6-6 in conference and gets the other three teams in the log jam of 3rd-6th place at the hangar in the next two weeks (plus a trip to Wheaton to break it up). Won't be easy but I'd rather have them playing those games with me watching from just off center court.

I was checking the Cardinals' schedule to confirm the game time for Saturday, and realized while doing so that North Central has won as many games at Van Male this year as they have in the Hangar.  It will be good to have threeeeeeeeeeee of the four conference matchups in Naperville as we reach the regular season's endgame.

[Next Man Up]

NCC sits at 6-6 in conference and gets the other three teams in the log jam of 3rd-6th place at the hangar in the next two weeks (plus a trip to Wheaton to break it up). Won't be easy but I'd rather have them playing those games with me watching from just off center court.

I was checking the Cardinals' schedule to confirm the game time for Saturday, and realized while doing so that North Central has won as many games at Van Male this year as they have in the Hangar.  It will be good to have threeeeeeeeeeee of the four conference matchups in Naperville as we reach the regular season's endgame.

The Cardinals need to take care of business today vs Elmhurst in order that they avoid the same calamities that befell them vs both Augie and Millikin wherein they were victorious the first time they played those teams, but inexplicably lost the rematches.
For what it's worth, Massey favors EU 76-75.

[kiko]

Tipoff for North Central-Elmhurst is delayed due to an issue with one of the backboards at the Hangar.

In related news, this is the last time Jim Miller lets Lucas practice his dunks before sidling over to the microphone for his gameday duties. 

[lmitzel]

Tipoff for North Central-Elmhurst is delayed due to an issue with one of the backboards at the Hangar.

In related news, this is the last time Jim Miller lets Lucas practice his dunks before sidling over to the microphone for his gameday duties. 

Pregame dunking is fine. Pregame dunking after wallowing in the provided Lou Malnati's is what did it.

[kiko]

At the Hangar:

Elmhurst 72, North Central 61

The Cardinals, who are second in the nation in free throw percentage, shot a perfect 14-of-14 from the line in this one.  And that was probably because those are the only shots that Jonathan Zapinski and the rest of the Blue Jays are prohibited from interfering with.  Elmhurst was stout defensively from stem to stern today, forcing 15 turnovers, blocking seven shots, and making basically every possession a struggle for the Cardinals.  The Jays struggled at times offensively themselves, but it is clear with their fourth straight win that they have started to click and become more akin to the team they were expected to be at the start of the season.

North Central shot just 36% for the game, and just 26% (8-of-29) in the second half.  Their 12-of-26 (46%) first half tally masks the fact that Mitch Lewis did Mitch Lewis things in the final six minutes before the break, hitting his final six shots and boosting a struggling Cardinal offense by scoring the team's final 14 points and single-handedly turning a 26-20 deficit into a 34-31 Cardinal lead that was largely against the run of play.  Notably, all of this was done from outside as Zapinski more or less made the area within six feet of the basket a no-fly zone for the Cardinals.

Elmhurst
John Ittounas 21 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, and one really feathery touch
Ocean Johnson 15 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals
Wesley Hooker 11 points, 4 assists, 2 steals
Tagen Pearson 10 points
Jonathan Zapinski 6 points, 13 rebounds, 5 blocks

North Central
Mitch Lewis 20 points, 4 blocks in 25 minutes
Matt Helwig 12 points, 7 rebounds
John Blumeyer 11 and 5
Shea Cupples 11 points

[CardinalAlum]

Tipoff for North Central-Elmhurst is delayed due to an issue with one of the backboards at the Hangar.

In related news, this is the last time Jim Miller lets Lucas practice his dunks before sidling over to the microphone for his gameday duties. 

Heard TitanQ was there trying to move the backboards closer to the end line! 

[CardinalAlum]

At the Hangar:

Elmhurst 72, North Central 61

The Cardinals, who are second in the nation in free throw percentage, shot a perfect 14-of-14 from the line in this one.  And that was probably because those are the only shots that Jonathan Zapinski and the rest of the Blue Jays are prohibited from interfering with.  Elmhurst was stout defensively from stem to stern today, forcing 15 turnovers, blocking seven shots, and making basically every possession a struggle for the Cardinals.  The Jays struggled at times offensively themselves, but it is clear with their fourth straight win that they have started to click and become more akin to the team they were expected to be at the start of the season.

North Central shot just 36% for the game, and just 26% (8-of-29) in the second half.  Their 12-of-26 (46%) first half tally masks the fact that Mitch Lewis did Mitch Lewis things in the final six minutes before the break, hitting his final six shots and boosting a struggling Cardinal offense by scoring the team's final 14 points and single-handedly turning a 26-20 deficit into a 34-31 Cardinal lead that was largely against the run of play.  Notably, all of this was done from outside as Zapinski more or less made the area within six feet of the basket a no-fly zone for the Cardinals.

Elmhurst
John Ittounas 21 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, and one really feathery touch
Ocean Johnson 15 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals
Wesley Hooker 11 points, 4 assists, 2 steals
Tagen Pearson 10 points
Jonathan Zapinski 6 points, 13 rebounds, 5 blocks

North Central
Mitch Lewis 20 points, 4 blocks in 25 minutes
Matt Helwig 12 points, 7 rebounds
John Blumeyer 11 and 5
Shea Cupples 11 points

I don't understand why we don't run more people into screens to get Matt Helwig open for more shots.  Very puzzling. Also, those uniforms the beloved Cards were wearing tonight are God awful to look at. Very uninspiring crowd. That is all.

[iwu70]

A very enjoyable evening at The Shirk tonight -- with the two wins, a very large crowd for Pink Zone games, with all the funds and fundraising in support of the local Cancer Center.  All good.

IWU played better tonight, leading the Pios by 25 at one point in the second half.  I think Carroll really had trouble with IWU's size and the deep bench tonight.  Ron Rose ran in 10-11 regularly on a longer than usual rotation.  At times Wilmsen and Nathan Bolt on the floor together.  Titans won the rebounding line 44 - 33, with Cody Mitchell collecting 15.  IWU has lots of big bodies with Schneider and Marco Anderson . . .  too.

For CU:
Simpson, the only Pio in double figures -- 13

For IWU:
Heflen, bombing in long treys and getting to the rim - 25
Mitchell 24 and 15
Sroka 13 and 7
7 other players scored

IWU made 10 threes tonight and played pretty good defense as well.

Still looks like IWU is somewhere in the 3-6 seeds for the CCIW tournament, likely playing on the Tuesday, trying to get to Wheaton for the weekend semis etc. 

Titans now 11-10, with four games to go . . . playing @ Millikin on Wednesday.

Great atmosphere at The Shirk tonight . . .

'70

[USee]

Millikin 73
Wheaton 84

Both teams had 4 players score in double digits. Cruikshank the leader of all with 19. Big win for the Thunder who maintain control in the CCIW.