MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[shepherd]

I don't understand the Wheaton coach taking out Spencer Peterson.  They controlled the inside when he was in and got out rebounded big time for the time he was out in the second half.  Either the coach was mad at him or didn't resize what he was doing.  He should never shoot from the three and isn't an offensive threat but he was essential in all the time Wheaton lead.  Wheaton had no chance do to the inside match-ups when they took him out.

Why play Jay Spencer all those minutes when he wasn't getting rebounds and constantly fouling?  Jay could be a much better player if he ever learned to put his weight on the balls of his feet and bend from the knees more.  He doesn't have control of were he is moving.  In the off season he needs to play some touch or flag football at the linebacker position while getting coached by a lb coach for body position.

In the I'm-sorry-I-have-to-say-it-but since-you-brought-it-up department:  Someone explain to me why Spencer Peterson, now shooting a whopping 15.3%, that's 4 for 26 folks, continues to shoot 3 pointers( 0 for 2 tonight)?  I don't know why the coaching staff doesn't simply forbid him from shooting anything over 15 ft for the rest of the season, if not for the team then for the sake of the fans?

What Jay Spencer really needs is another 20 lbs of muscle minimum - 30 would be better.  At 180 lbs, technique can't make up for that much less bulk.

Peterson was the only person who could box out Sorenson.  He was getting into his head while he was in.  For this match-up he needed to play 25 plus minutes.  I don't think Gunther was bothering Sorensen that much.

As for more weight on Jay he better get into the weight room also.  That alone will no fix his flat footed uncoordinated body control that gets him into foul trouble every single game.  You must also learn what position your body needs to be in.  When Jay is having a poor shooting night he becomes more of a liability with all those fouls which are mostly bad type of fouls.

[Titan Q]

Pantagraph on IWU/NPU - http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/iwu-holds-off-lake-north-park-for-cciw-victory/article_132d543a-8145-59b6-ac58-529037234d13.html

[lmitzel]

I don't understand the Wheaton coach taking out Spencer Peterson.  They controlled the inside when he was in and got out rebounded big time for the time he was out in the second half.  Either the coach was mad at him or didn't resize what he was doing.  He should never shoot from the three and isn't an offensive threat but he was essential in all the time Wheaton lead.  Wheaton had no chance do to the inside match-ups when they took him out.

Why play Jay Spencer all those minutes when he wasn't getting rebounds and constantly fouling?  Jay could be a much better player if he ever learned to put his weight on the balls of his feet and bend from the knees more.  He doesn't have control of were he is moving.  In the off season he needs to play some touch or flag football at the linebacker position while getting coached by a lb coach for body position.

In the I'm-sorry-I-have-to-say-it-but since-you-brought-it-up department:  Someone explain to me why Spencer Peterson, now shooting a whopping 15.3%, that's 4 for 26 folks, continues to shoot 3 pointers( 0 for 2 tonight)?  I don't know why the coaching staff doesn't simply forbid him from shooting anything over 15 ft for the rest of the season, if not for the team then for the sake of the fans?

What Jay Spencer really needs is another 20 lbs of muscle minimum - 30 would be better.  At 180 lbs, technique can't make up for that much less bulk.

I agree. No more 3's for Spencer Peterson.  He should have been on the floor way more down the stretch, though, when NCC took control of the game.  He was Wheaton's best defender again Sorenson who had several easy baskets in the last 6-7 minutes of the game with Peterson out.  It made no sense to have him on the bench.

Francis had an amazing 3/4 of the game.  He played 38 minutes though and I don't think it's a complete coincidence that his crazy arsenal of jumpers didn't fall towards the end of the game.

I think we were even talking in here earlier this week about how usually Francis gets yanked for about a minute in each half for a quick breather before going back out there. He never left the floor in the second half, and you could tell towards the end. His shots started to fall short as the game neared the end. He also had six turnovers in this one, in addition to needing 26 shots to get to his 31 points in this one.

I'll agree on the whole Spencer Peterson not shooting threes thing. I hadn't looked at his numbers pregame, but I was surprised when he took his couple shots from out there.

Some really bad officiating calls in the game, for both teams I thought.

Agreed.

One of the refs was even telling Mike Schauer with maybe seven or eight minutes left in the game as he was going down the sideline complaining about a call or non-call, "Enough." Schauer kept his cool from that point on, with the exception of one play late in the game. With the outcome all but decided and maybe 30 seconds left, Schauer thought the clock started way too early on a missed free throw and yelled at the table about it, "This happens every time we come here!" referring, I assume, to the shot clock controversy from last year that I still don't think we did anything wrong with. Now, on the video I can't tell if the clock did in fact start too early, but I don't think it would have impacted the outcome.

[Gregory Sager]

I should add, for the sake of accuracy, that Colin Lake's 46 was the biggest regulation total for a Viking since Jack Ecker back in '95. Of course, Juwan Henry used an overtime period to climb up over the 40 mark and end with 47 a couple of years ago in the infamous NPU win over Carthage in the crackerbox that ended with Henry taking an unsportsmanlike uncontested trey at the final buzzer and Bosko launching into a tirade at Tom Slyder in the handshake line.

Nevertheless, this was one of the five or so best individual performances that I've ever seen from a Viking in my nearly four decades of following the team. Unfortunately, it came about in part because Colin Lake felt compelled to do it all pretty much on his own tonight. He simply didn't get enough support, and the unfortunate truth is that that is a same-old same-old situation for NPU in terms of scoring. Billy Kirby made some nice layups off of backdoor cuts in the second half to finally give the Park a second option, but three Vikings played double-digit minutes without scoring a point, and a fourth played 20 minutes and only scored two points. You can't win when you get such a complete lack of offensive production out of so many rotation players. Too much of the time the offense consisted of Vikings passing up shots because they obviously didn't feel sure of themselves, who then spent the rest of the possession standing around watching Colin do everything. Heck, he didn't even get one decent screen set for him by his teammates all night.

The other problem was rebounding, where NPU was outboarded 38-30. Some of that was simply IWU's significant size advantage, but some of it was also lack of hustle on the many rebounds that went deep out onto the floor after missed treys. It seemed as though the Titans hustled after all of them, and the Vikings didn't. It was a shame, too, because the Vikings wasted an opportunity in the rebounding department; Jaylen Beasley, IWU's best rebounder, is a very good player who sometimes doesn't show up for a game, and he was missing in action tonight. And yet the Vikings still fell far short in the carom category.

Brady Rose had an ugly night at the defensive end, where he was saddled with the onerous task of trying to stop Colin Lake and failed at it, but, boy, he certainly had a great night at the other end of the floor. He really impresses me with his ability to stop on a dime in transition twenty feet out and hit a picture-perfect trey. He did that twice in the second half, and a third time when the Titans were in transition he pulled up again -- and all of the Vikings froze in their tracks, expecting another trey attempt, leaving Rose to dump an easy pass down the lane to a streaking Miles Curry for a dunk.

The Vikings made a valiant effort down the stretch; the Titans opened the door by going cold from the field and even colder from the FT line, but it took moxie and self-confidence for the Vikings to step through that door and take advantage. They played some really solid defense and pared away at what had been a 15-point deficit with five and a half minutes left to get the game down to a situation where they had the ball with a chance to win with 2.6 seconds left. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be.

I'd like to say that the Vikings could possibly build on that late rally -- but until they show that they can support their star player better in the scoring department, I'm pessimistic. Great player that he is, the simple truth is that Colin Lake can't be counted upon to be a one-man wrecking crew every night like that. The other Vikings need to step up.

[iwu70]

Greg, very nice job on the call of the game.  I greatly enjoyed your very professional and obviously well-informed broadcast.

Colin Lake is really something -- almost unstoppable tonight.   

'70

[Gregory Sager]

Thanks, Mark!

[Mr. Ypsi]

Greg, I'll agree with Mark.  And do you still have a voice - you seemed rather raspy by the very end of the broadcast!

[If Colin's desperation shot HAD gone thru, I fear your vocal cords would have ruptured! ]

[kiko]

Through Saturday's games...

+1 for a road win
0 for a home win or road loss
-1 for a home loss

+2 Illinois Wesleyan
+2 North Central
+1 Elmhurst
+1 Wheaton
0  Augustana
0  Carthage
-1 Carroll
-2 Millikin
-3 North Park

[AndOne]

Key for Wheaton tonight: Keep Alex Sorenson from scoring 20 and keep Alex Sorenson off of the glass (less than 10 boards), then we'll see what happens. This isy always an entertaining game between to teams (and schools) that do not like each other. If NCC gives Francis enough space to get hot, I see the Thunder coming out of this one with two wins at two of the hardest places to play in the conference in the same week which would be huge.

Obviously NCC has more weapons than Sorenson, but in last year's matchup at King, Sorenson torched us, so minimizing him helps keep the game close when other offensive weapons are hitting for them. Will be in Naperville for the game tonight rooting for a Thunder win!

As much as Sorenson's contributions helped NCC to post a W in the game in Wheaton last year, Wheaton turnovers were responsible for the Cardinals victory. Point maker Aston Francis had 9 TOs, many of which were committed by his doing too much dribbling in attempts to free himself to launch another of his long range missiles. PG Luke Peters generously threw the ball to the Cards (5 times) almost as many times (6) as he did to a teammate? NCC had their own problems taking care of the ball in that game, but the combined 14 TOs by Francis and Peters played a big role in the Wheaties loss.

It will be interesting to see what type of game plan the coaches have in mind for tonight's battle.
Perimeter defense will play an important role in tonight's outcome.
Francis can score about all he wants if the Cards can hold down the Wheaties other players, particularly Samuelson. And, as far as Francis raking up the points, the trick is to make those points what I call "non-efficient." By that I mean make him take an inordinate number of shots to register whatever point total he posts. In actuality, Wheaton has, I believe 3 players who have a higher percentage on their attempts from downtown. For every poor shot (although he makes a lot of the "poor" ones too) Francis takes, that's possibly a good shot another capable player doesn't get.
It might not help, but I also think Mr. Francis will see different defenders throughout the evening.

NCC has won plenty of games where Sorenson hasn't had one of his higher scoring nights. In the game at Wheaton last year, the Cards had 3 other players in double figures, and none of them were Connor Raridon who was out injured.
NCC must win the battle of the boards and limit 2nd chance opportunities for the North DuPagers.

As always in what shapes up as being a very close game, look for the team that plays the best defense and limits mistakes/turnovers to have the most likely chance to come away with the W. (Duh 😉)

Before 1,600 fully engaged fans in a very exciting game that was tightly contested throughout, North Central bested Team Francis, err Wheaton, 75-66 on Saturday night. The win was the Cardinals 8th straight, as well as being it's 5th in a row over the North DuPagers. The Wheaties led for 28:34, including getting out to an early 9 point lead. NCC led for only 7:29, mostly after they dug in and clamped down on defense as they entered the turn and thundered down the stretch to post the victory.

* Aston Francis with 31 (20 in the 1st half) of Wheaton's 66 points. While several of his shots were spectacular, and seemingly launched from another galaxy, its noteworthy that the Cardinals made Francis' 31 points highly inefficient ones. It took him 26 (10/26) shots to get the 28 points he scored from the field.

* After Francis' 26 shots, the next highest number of shot attempts was 7 which were taken by Gunter, Samuelson, and Eichelberger. As I said above, every shot Francis takes means one fewer shot that's available to others who actually shoot a better percentage from distance.

* Francis got 2 minutes of rest in the first half. He didn't come out at all during the second half, and you could see, from the arc and touch on his shots, that he was running on something less than full speed ahead down the stretch. I don't believe he had a FG for the last 5-6 minutes of the game. Additionally, he had a game high 6 turnovers.

* Two Wheaton starters, Jay Spencer and Luke Peters, failed to score a single point. In fact, not only did they not score, but both were virtually invisible. Spencer did not attempt even one shot, and Peters, clearly not much of an offensive threat, was able to free himself for only one attempt. In actuality both were liabilities on both ends of the floor as, in addition to both going scoreless, both also fouled out.

6'8" Jay "Stick" Spencer seems afraid to go anywhere near the basket for fear he'll get broken, and Peters appeared to play very timidly, not seeming to want to attack the basket at all, and merely being content to pass to Francis. This earned him 5 assists, but he also threw the ball away 3 times.
Spencer Peterson, Wheaton's beefy big man, seems obsessed with a need to throw bricks at the basket from far away rather than camping down low and throwing his weight around. He basically wasted 2 important possessions by launching shots from long distance, niether of which ever had a chance in heck of going in.

* Trevor Gunter was the only other Wheatle in double figures with 11. Kobe Eichenberger had 9, and Wheaton's second most dangerous weapon, Ricky Samuelson, the top overall three point percentage shooter in the conference, had only 7 including just 1 of 5 on threes.

* Alex Sorenson led NCC with a double-double of 19 points and 10 boards.

* Erwin Henry had 15, including a perfect 9 of 9 from the line. 6 of those came in the waning minutes of the game to seal the victory.

* Matt Cappelletti had 13 points, and Mike Pollack was NCC's fourth playervin double figures with 11.

* Connor Raridon, 7 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, ZERO TOs

* Aiden Chang & Blaise Meredith were the primary defenders who "limited" Francis to 31. More importantly, they combined to force him to take 26 shots to earn 28 points from the field, to force him into 6 turnovers on the night, and to hold him scoreless for the last several minutes of the game during which time the Cardinals rallied to overcome a deficit and earn a HUGE conference victory.
Overall, the Cardinals defense ultimately carried the night.

Aston Francis seems to think he gets fouled on every shot he takes. He spends many minutes a game begging the refs to agree with his point of view on the subject. 

QUIZ

What's Francis' favorite song?
Hint: It's by Question Mark and the Mysterians. 😊

[iwu70]

AO, great game.  Glad to see WC take their second loss in CCIW play.  Seems NCC is really on a roll now, challenging IWU and Augie for the top dog position in the conference race.

Well, Francis is pretty amazing  -- his song must be "Will you still love me tomorrow?"

Not sure if you watched IWU-NPU -- but Colin Lake was even more amazing -- scoring 46, virtually unstoppable.  I think my Titans very happy to get out of Dodge, out of the NPU Gym, with a win.  Any win on the road in the CCIW is a good win, but the Titans barely scrapped by tonight, didn't play all that well, esp. poor FT shooting.  But, a win is a win, doing just enough, and they now top the standings, alone. 

IWU'70 

[WUPHF]

Before 1,600 fully engaged fans in a very exciting game that was tightly contested throughout [...]

I watched the second half.  If I did not know better, I would have sworn I was watching a game being played on the last weekend in February.

[Titan Q]

Brady Rose stats through 6 CCIW games...

Per game: 25.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists

.510 FG/.514 3-point/.844 FT/1.6 A to TO

[Titan Q]

Before 1,600 fully engaged fans in a very exciting game that was tightly contested throughout [...]

I watched the second half.  If I did not know better, I would have sworn I was watching a game being played on the last weekend in February.

Agree.  I was watching as well - great environment.

[Gregory Sager]

Before 1,600 fully engaged fans in a very exciting game that was tightly contested throughout [...]

I watched the second half.  If I did not know better, I would have sworn I was watching a game being played on the last weekend in February.

If I had to pick one CCIW game in particular that, over the years, has seemed to have more zing to it than all others in terms of being consistently well-attended (when at least one of the schools is in session) and well-contested, it'd be the Wheaton @ North Central game. The NCC @ WC game would be up there, too, but when the game is in the airplane hangar, things seem to turn up a notch. Interestingly, the road team (Wheaton) has had a really tough time getting out of there with a win over the past two decades, but the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance tends to make a barn-burner out of it.

That's the weird thing about Wheaton; it's the school whose athletics supporters regularly complain is plagued by student apathy as far as school sports are concerned, and yet it's part of the best rivalries in the league in football, basketball (both vs. North Central) and soccer (vs. North Park).

[Titan Q]

Ron Rose on Colin Lake's performance - "holy cramoly (sp?)."

http://www.wjbc.com/2018/01/13/illinois-wesleyan-edges-past-north-park-in-cciw-battle/
(WJBC postgame)