MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[CarrollBooster]

Have two questions for the Board after the Carroll/Carthage game Wednesday night:

1.  I don't understand the Massey Ratings - I would have thought Carroll would have gone up more than 2 spots beating a Top 30 Massey team? I am sure I just don't know the ins and outs but that seems odd, especially since Carthage fell 19 slots after the loss.

2.  Why doesn't Julien Campbell play more for Carthage?  He had 16 points in 15 minutes. I realize he is a big guy, and it may be conditioning related, or defense related. But he was scoring at will and I don't think played a second down the stretch. Just curious. He seems to have a pretty unique skill set.

[USee]

Final from Decatur

Millikin 61 Wheaton 65

A gritty win for the Thunder who trailed by 8 in the second half with about 8:30 to go. I thought they were settling for 3's way too often and then Wheaton finished the game on a 23-11 run backed by multiple defensive stops and only 2 Cruickshank made threes among a bunch of drives and foul shots. Cruikshank with 24 and TJ Askew with 15

[GoPerry]

Final from Decatur

Millikin 61 Wheaton 65

A gritty win for the Thunder who trailed by 8 in the second half with about 8:30 to go. I thought they were settling for 3's way too often and then Wheaton finished the game on a 23-11 run backed by multiple defensive stops and only 2 Cruickshank made threes among a bunch of drives and foul shots. Cruikshank with 24 and TJ Askew with 15

Yes - Wheaton escapes with this one.  This felt like jogging in sand the whole way.

The Big Blue were red hot in the 1st half shooting 62% that staked them to a 37-31 lead.  They continued with hot shooting early in the 2nd and the Thunder went ice cold going scoreless for 6 minutes while Millikin got out a 13 pt 46-33 lead.  But Wheaton turned on the defensive screws and MU really struggled from there.  They ended up shooting 47% for the game.

Cruickshank's quiet game on Wednesday erupted for 24 pts on 9/14 shooting, 5 of 7 from trey. 16 points came in the second half with some huge shots from the arc.

Millikin threw it into Cole Laurence and Frazier Ott a lot in the first half and it was working well.  They hardly did that at all in the second and not sure why.

[mr_b]

Final from the Crackerbox: North Park 79, Elmhurst 75

[Next Man Up]

Final from Kenosha

Carthage  69
IWU         48

Illinois Western shot 20 for 63 overall (31.7%), and a robust 1 for 19 (5.3%!!!) from three. 
They committed 18 turnovers while only having 7 assists. Ron Rose must be seeing red!
They did dominate the boards by a 42–31 margin.
Cody Mitchell lead the Green Team with a 15 and 11 double-double.

Carthage, tied for first place in the conference, had 4 players in double figures;

Johnson    22
Bulatovic  16 (plus 10 rebounds)
Campbell  15
Nesbitt     11

[Next Man Up]

Final

North Park 79
Elmhurst   75

Both teams had 2 T's. It must have been an interesting game.
I'm sure Professor Sager will be providing some details.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU 79
EU 75

Kolden Vanlandingham: 19 pts, 9 rebs, 5:0 a:to, 3 stls
Jalen Boyd: 17 pts
Jordan Boyd: 10 pts

Ocean Johnson: 21 pts, 11 rebs
Wesley Hooker: 20 pts  7 rebs
Tagen Pearson: 15 pts, 4:1 a:to, 3 stls

This was a bruising, frenetic, chippy ballgame. The Vikings led for most of the first half, the 'jays led for most of the second, but it was pretty much understood that this one was going down to the wire. The Vikings made the plays, EU didn't; Elmhurst was really hurt by Jonathan Zapinski's fouling out, as he was wreaking havoc at the rim defensively and was EU's best interior option on offense. NPU, by contrast, ended the game with six players having four fouls apiece, but nobody fouled out.

NPU moves to 11-3, 4-1 and stays tied with Carthage and Wheaton atop the league.

[Gregory Sager]

Wasn't much of a game at Carver today, as Augustana stomped Carroll, 91-59. Tyler Knuth led the way for the Doggies with 25, and he was joined in double figures by Chase Larsen with 17 and Dan Carr with 13 and 13. Carroll was paced by Paradisio Dante's 19 and Ethan Balinao's 10.

[Next Man Up]

Pretty  that Carroll beat Carthage.

[Gregory Sager]

This week's games:

Wednesday
Carroll (4-10, 1-4) @ Elmhurst (10-5, 2-4)
Carthage (11-2, 4-1) @ North Park (11-3, 4-1)
Millikin (8-7, 1-5) @ Illinois Wesleyan (6-6, 3-2)
Wheaton (12-2, 4-1) @ North Central (8-5, 3-2)

Saturday
Augustana (4-11, 2-4) @ Illinois Wesleyan
Carroll @ North Park
Carthage @ Wheaton
Millikin @ North Central

Massey sez:

Elmhurst 79, Carroll 66	EU 85%, CU 15%
Carthage 76, North Park 75	CC 50%, NPU 50%
Illinois Wesleyan 70, Millikin 61	IWU 80%, MU 20%
Wheaton 73, North Central 72	WC 52%, NCC 48%

[CarrollBooster]

Embarrassing loss for Carroll today. Same group that looked better wire to wire against Carthage and played Millikin to the last possession in Decatur was not prepared to play today at all. No offensive flow at all. No defensive game plan or adjustment to Knuth who basically took nine uncontested three's.  Augustana shot lights out but that's no excuse. This game and the North Central game, unacceptable compete level for a CCIW team. I was hoping for a turn around based on that Carthage game which wasn't a fluke. I was wrong.

Embarrassing. Non competitive.  I'm hesitant to post when I get excited after a win like Carthage. Crashing back to earth today.

[iwu70]

CarrollBooster, don't worry . . . it happens in the CCIW.  No easy nights.   IWU is crashing down to earth too, after a good win vs. Elmhurst earlier.  Not even sure IWU will make the CCIW tournament.   1-19 from three??   Come on, man!

'70

[Gotberg]

Greg, thank you for your great PBP Saturday, as always. 

Saturday's game against Elmhurst was particularly appreciated because I was driving cross country and I couldn't watch the game, but streamed it anyways to listen to your announcing of the 2nd half.  You paint a great visual picture through your words, similar to a radio announcer and it was very easy to follow along!

GO NPU!

[Gregory Sager]

Thanks! Much appreciated.

[Next Man Up]

CarrollBooster, don't worry . . . it happens in the CCIW.  No easy nights.   IWU is crashing down to earth too, after a good win vs. Elmhurst earlier.  Not even sure IWU will make the CCIW tournament.   1-19 from three??   Come on, man!

'70

'70,

One for 19 from three is certainly something you would think you would never see from the Mighty Titans.
I mean as a certain IWU booster always prophesied, if you wear a Titans uniform you're automatically a star,  and it's difficult to understand how a collection of such good players could ever go 1 for 19. As such, your aghast over the statistic is understandable.

However, I am quite sure that you can put your fears to bed as far as the Green Team making the conference tournament. I believe only a miracle could keep that from happening. However, short of winning the tournament, there just could be a bit of trepidation with regard to their Pool C chances. However, they'll most likely clear that hurdle as well.