MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

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


Carthage +3
Ill. Wesleyan +2
Augustana +2
Wheaton +1
North Park +0
North Central -2
Elmhurst -3
Millikin -3

Saturday
Illinois Wesleyan @ Carthage
Wheaton @ North Central
Elmhurst @ Augustana
North Park @ Millikin

[usee]

Wheaton 50 Millikin 45

McCrary with 18 and 13

Colby Long w 18 pts for the Big Blue and next highest scorer was 5 pts.

[izzy stradlin]

Carthage 76
North Park 61

* Steve Djurickovic: 36 pts (8-10 3-pt)


North Park sagged back in a soft zone and let Carthage shoot wide open 3 after wide open 3.  The Red Men were 16-35 from 3 (.457)...I'll bet 25 of the 35 looks were wide open.

Given the lack of success nPU had with the zone in the 1st half vs IWU ... I just don't understand why it used a zone vs Carthage???

It was one of the most ineffective zones I've ever seen.  I was just watching on video, but Carthage shooters were firing up uncontested 3's with their feet set and all kinds of time.

I only watched the first 15 min or so of the first half.   When did they switch to man?   I figured it would be after the first timeout, but they stuck with the zone instead.

Nick Williams kept hitting tough shots with defenders right in his face while Carthage shank wide open set shots with more time than you get in the pre-game layup line.

[Titan Q]

IWU/Augustana box...

http://www.iwusports.com/custompages/MBB/MBB2010/HTML/iwmbb18.htm


IWU led the entire game...by 11 at the half and by 20 with 6:22 to go.  But the Titans fell asleep for a long stretch in the final minutes and Augie cut the lead all the way down to 5 with a minute to go...even had a shot to cut it to 3.  

A really bad finish by the Titans, but overall, a good win.

Really good to see John Koschnitzky back.  He was huge tonight.

[wheels81]

One of 2 games that almost were upsets.
Wheaton shoots under 28% for game, Jahns a paltry 67% from line  .  Defense didn't go away thank goodness to preserve the win.  Looks like a fouled three point attempt brings them to sink 3 fts to close game.  Jahns misses 2 fts in last minute of game too  They just gutted this one out being down 5 at halftime and used hardly any bench. 

Other surprising game was NC vs Elmhurst.  Was it really that close?

[Titan Q]

Halfway point standings...

Carthage 6-1
Ill. Wesleyan 6-1
Wheaton 5-2
Augustana 4-3
North Park 4-3
North Central 1-6
Millikin 1-6
Elmhurst 0-7

[markerickson]

TitanQ and Michigander are 100% correct; their assessment can be extended for years.  These NP teams have no clue how to defend the trey, and I've been saying it for years.  Absolutely maddening, as a regular spectator.

Given that the trey option was wide open so often, StevieD did not have to rely on his drive right with the left arm hook.  What bothers me is his incessant whining to the refs that he got fouled on any particular shot.  And why does he have to talk to the student section?  The coach's son had several great flops too, but there was no contact.  Casting the acting aside, he's truly a great player who nails his FTs.  I quibble because I'm jealous.

Nick Williams played very well at both ends of the court.  As I have previously mentioned, PG Russell just does not seem interested in passing the ball to Nick despite his fighting for position or hanging wide open for the trey.

[Titan Q]

And why does he have to talk to the student section? 

According to our friends on the broadcast, the NPU students were chanting the name of Stevie D's ex-girlfriend.  I think when that happens, and you're lighting up the home team to the tune of 36 points, you get to say whatever the heck you want back to the students. 

[Viking Blue]

And why does he have to talk to the student section? 

According to our friends on the broadcast, the NPU students were chanting the name of Stevie D's ex-girlfriend.  I think when that happens, and you're lighting up the home team to the tune of 36 points, you get to say whatever the heck you want back to the students. 

Very true.  I was wincing as the Crazies were laying into the guy who was dropping 36 on us.  Time to find a new target, fellas.

[iwumichigander]

And why does he have to talk to the student section? 

According to our friends on the broadcast, the NPU students were chanting the name of Stevie D's ex-girlfriend.  I think when that happens, and you're lighting up the home team to the tune of 36 points, you get to say whatever the heck you want back to the students. 

Very true.  I was wincing as the Crazies were laying into the guy who was dropping 36 on us.  Time to find a new target, fellas.

Seems like the Crazies "zone" was as ineffective as the teams'

[bigz61550]

I was at the Elmhurst game Saturday at Wheaton and the women played before the men so no JV game that I have been aware of.

I don't think that anyone in the CCIW is playing Saturday JV games. Or are they? Are there any schools out there that are hosting Saturday JV/women/men tripleheaders?

There was no JV game Wednesday night at Millikin... incidentally the Wheaton bus didn't arrive until after 6 pm.  I recall seeing the end of one last year at the Wheaton at Millikin game, but can't remember if it was a Wednesday or Saturday night.  I do remember both trips from Peoria to Decatur included blowing snow storms to make the US 51 drive a lot more interesting.

[Gregory Sager]

Carthage 76, North Park 61

* Nick Williams: 29 pts, 8 rebs (4-7 trey)
* Ro Russell: 14 pts
* Emanuel Crosby: 12 pts, 7 rebs

* Steve Djurickovic: 36 pts (8-10 trey), 10 asts (0 turnovers)
* Malcom Kelly: 18 pts (5-13 trey)
* Max Cary: 10 pts

The second-guessing has already started over Paul Brenegan's decision to use a zone tonight, I see. But step back and take a look at the facts here, folks. Steve Djurickovic, who makes his bread and butter driving to the basket and either finishing, getting fouled, or kicking it out to the open man if the defense collapses on him, went 8-10 from downtown tonight. Let me put that into perspective: Steve Djurickovic, a 36% shooter from downtown coming into tonight's game, tied a CCIW record for single-game trey percentage tonight. Along with Joe Guin of Millikin in a game against Wheaton in 1988, and Jack Ecker of North Park in a 1995 game against Carthage (the game in which Big Jack set the NPU single-game scoring record of 54), Steve Djurickovic is the only player in CCIW history to shoot .800 from downtown while launching at least ten trey attempts.

The zone was not soft. It wasn't fully extended, but for the most part it really wasn't soft. Again, a little perspective is in order here. Malcom Kelly was shooting treys against that same zone -- and Kelly, a .419 trey shooter on the year coming into the game, went 5-13 (.385). Raul Guzman, a .421 trey shooter on the year coming into the game, went 1-6 (.167). As for Djurickovic, he hit most of his treys from a good 23 or 24 feet away from the basket. The two that he hit where he was close to the arc -- coincidentally, the two that he made in the second half -- he hit with a hand in his face. Heck, the last one he hit while falling backwards, for crying out loud.

Bottom line, NPU did what it wanted to do against him -- took away the dribble-drive and forced him to shoot treys -- and he decisively won the "Pick Your Poison" game. All you can do is tip your hat to him. He is an absolutely amazing basketball player.

NPU did plenty of other things wrong that need to be picked apart. Nick Williams, who broke out of his funk tonight by scoring a career-high 29 points and contributing a solid effort at both ends of the floor, had precious little help tonight. Several of his teammates -- Nick Hoekstra, Davone Robinson, Shaun Collins, and Issa Avery -- were practically invisible this evening, combining for a grand total of four points without making up for it at the defensive end of the floor. Emanuel Crosby, for whom neither Tyler Pierce nor Raul Guzman was any match in the low post, didn't get enough touches; he only had five shots from the field and was fouled on three other shot attempts. Carthage simply outhustled and outworked NPU, particularly in a three-minute stretch of the second half in which the visitors went on a 11-2 run to push a 53-51 lead with eight minutes and change left to a 64-53 lead with five minutes and change left. Much of it had to do with ball control, as the Vikings got very sloppy with the rock as the game wore on while Carthage took immaculate care of the ball. NPU never seriously threatened after that run.

It was a weird game. NPU outshot Carthage from the field (49% to 45%), outrebounded the Red Men by a healthy margin (33-26), got to the FT line more often and made more points there than did Carthage, and still managed to lose by double digits. It was all a matter of Carthage's 16-35 (46%) performance from downtown, and the lion's share of that stat was Steve D's amazing performance. As I said, pick your poison with that guy.

Max Cary gave Carthage a huge lift off the bench tonight, as he played a strong game that isn't really reflected in the stats. I was very surprised by it, as Carthage SID Steve Marovich apprised me before the game that Cary had only had a couple of practices under his belt after his long layoff to mononucleosis. He looked fresh and strong tonight, and a healthy Cary makes Carthage all that much more dangerous.

It's been a bad four days for the Vikings. They have to snap back and regroup if they want to stay in the CCIW race, because Millikin is not going to be an easy customer on Saturday afternoon in Decatur.

[AndOne]

Halfway point standings...

Carthage 6-1
Ill. Wesleyan 6-1
Wheaton 5-2
Augustana 4-3
North Park 4-3
North Central 1-6
Millikin 1-6
Elmhurst 0-7

North Central is 2-5, thank you!   

[Gregory Sager]

Nick Williams now has 1,270 points for his career, and he's nine points away from passing former North Park All-American center Marc Horner and moving into eleventh place on the all-time NPU scoring list.

[thunder38]

A real slugfest of a game at the Griz tonight.  A couple of observations from tonight's game:

-Millikin got everything they wanted from the game tonight.  They slowed Wheaton down while the Thunder shot just 28% from the field
-Millikin had a great start shooting 4-4 from downtown but finished 0-7.
-McCrary finished with 18 points but Millikin did the best job on him of anybody in the CCIW thus far by making him shoot 17 shots to do it.
-Millikin was held to just one field goal over the final 11:07
-Wheaton finished with 18 offensive rebounds
-neither team shot a free throw in the first half. Wheaton finished 17-24 from the stripe. Millkin was 7-7.

Just a rough game to watch but one the Thunder can be glad they pulled out.  That would've been a rough ride home if they lost.  Interesting to see if the Thunder can finally snap that skid in the Hangar on Saturday.