January 20th -21st games

[shockem]

The other bigs for the shox have all started out slow but are coming along. We have Morris, Kelly, Wamukota and Nurger. While none are at the level of Carter, between the group, we manage to keep throwing bodies out there that can compete and do some things now an then. They're all solid players.

Who do most of the shocker fans like the most? Who do you think has most potential moving forward?

They all have different strenghts and weaknesses. Early in the season, Kelly and Nurger were in the lead, but Shaq's been pulling ahead as of late. Shaq is a big body and has a nice shooting touch and is a good passer. The knock is his stamina and self-admitted laziness, which he seems to be fending off. Kelly has the ability to be a beast on the boards and has shown the ability to knock down some threes. He's excellent at the putback dunk but sometimes gets lost out there and commits silly turnovers. Nurger needs to gain strength. He has European big man skills, likes to shoot the 3 but must get stronger if he wants to play for 3G. Wamukota is a JC guy so he doesn't have much time left to pull it together. At 7'' tall, he must be a shot blocker and rebounder if he wants to play because his offense is very limited. Brown at 6-6 or 6-7 plays the 3 so he's not competing for time with this group. He's got a huge upside with his skills.

[Khan4Cats]

game really was the epitome of one time down the court just breathing was a foul and then the next time down the court you could have taken a lead pipe to a guys knee cap and it wasn't going to be called.

Sounds like the WSU /MoSt game as well. Mugging allowed under the basket, called every little foul away from it. Just odd. At least they were consistent in their inconsistency.

Pretty typical Valley game, 8 fouls were called in total in the first half (2 on InSU, 6 on UNI). I mentioned to my sister-in-law sitting next to me that she could probably expect 20 some fouls in the second half and she thought that would be crazy. I was off, they called 29.

[2livewu]

UNI went cold in the second half...something like 6-19 from the field.

The game should never have been as close as it was. I don't know what it was in the second half but UNI just couldn't hit a shot and ISUb went through a stretch it seems like no matter what they threw up went in.

The officials allowed Gant to get all up inside Tuttle on post defense and it took him too long to get "over it" in the second half. The officials were strange both ways. This game really was the epitome of one time down the court just breathing was a foul and then the next time down the court you could have taken a lead pipe to a guys knee cap and it wasn't going to be called.

The fight UNI showed when it got rough in the second half was something the teams of the last couple season was missing. Last year's UNI teams loses that game by 12

ISU played a great game. They had a good plan defensively and executed it well. They outplayed UNI for much of the game. UNI is fortunate Bohannon knocked down the shots he did, because that was the difference in the game.

Its beyond me how this team went 4-8 out of conference.

The Syc's did play very well. They were also very fortunate UNI shot 6-19 in the second half or it could have been a 15-20 point win

I see UNI fans have their collective swagger back. Thank God the Trees were able to keep from being blown out by that juggernaut from Cedar Falls. Even a great game for ISUb is no match for the Panthers.

I couldn't believe the contact late between Tuttle and Gant especially. Both kids were just crashing into one another. It was a serious man's game in the paint. I didn't realize Tuttle had gotten that strong. WSU is in for one long night with their foul prone post men when they meet UNI.

There was an AWFUL charge call against ISU late on Etherington (sorry if I didn't get the name right). Didn't decide the game, but it pretty much took away any chance ISUb had to win.

[Championz]

Yah, saying "if we only would have shot better", is a pretty lame excuse. No sh**? You shoot better, you would've won by more. You don't say?

Do you think Indiana State had anything to do with that? I'm sure Sycamore fans are saying if they would've shot better, they would've won.

And as a side note, I don't recall UNI being a torch-the-nets type of shooting team anyways.

[Snuvvy_D]

Yah, saying "if we only would have shot better", is a pretty lame excuse. No sh**? You shoot better, you would've won by more. You don't say?

Do you think Indiana State had anything to do with that? I'm sure Sycamore fans are saying if they would've shot better, they would've won.

And as a side note, I don't recall UNI being a torch-the-nets type of shooting team anyways.

Agreed, "if we would've shot better" is a lame excuse.

But, to your last paragraph, I will point out that UNI is ranked 27th nationally in FG%, and 24th in eFG%. so they kinda have been a torch-the-nets kind of shooting team this year

[Championz]

Wow, that's surprising. That's what I get for assuming. Thanks for the info.

My original point still stands though.

[rlh04d]

Yah, saying "if we only would have shot better", is a pretty lame excuse. No sh**? You shoot better, you would've won by more. You don't say?

Do you think Indiana State had anything to do with that? I'm sure Sycamore fans are saying if they would've shot better, they would've won.

And as a side note, I don't recall UNI being a torch-the-nets type of shooting team anyways.

Eh. Sometimes you just don't shoot that well, regardless of the defense.

Creighton is a good example, with McD ... they had nights where the best defense in the world wasn't holding them under 50% from the field. And they've had nights where the worst defense in the world would hold them under 35%. Remember that top 25 defense we had in 2012-13 that Creighton shot 70% on at home? A few games later they barely shot 30% against a worse Duke D.

[valleychamp]

Yah, saying "if we only would have shot better", is a pretty lame excuse. No sh**? You shoot better, you would've won by more. You don't say?

Do you think Indiana State had anything to do with that? I'm sure Sycamore fans are saying if they would've shot better, they would've won.

And as a side note, I don't recall UNI being a torch-the-nets type of shooting team anyways.

Agreed, "if we would've shot better" is a lame excuse.

But, to your last paragraph, I will point out that UNI is ranked 27th nationally in FG%, and 24th in eFG%. so they kinda have been a torch-the-nets kind of shooting team this year

Its not a lame excuse if its true. Sometimes you just dont make shots.

That certainly was not the case last night, however. Ind St played a great game defensively and there simply werent many great shots to be had for UNI.

[UNIFanSince1983]

ISUb had a great game plan. Obviously, they have the horses to be able to execute that game plan. Both Gant and Kitchell are big and good interior defenders. They made it tough for Tuttle all night. The Trees played well, and in the 2nd half we didn't shoot as well. We missed some open shots, but also didn't get the looks we did in the first half.

It is nice to see that we can win in totally different styles. Versus MSU we couldn't make an outside shot to save our lives. Then versus ISUb we can't get anything going inside. We definitely need to shoot free throws better too.

Very nervous about this game at RBA this weekend.

Go Panthers!

[Snuvvy_D]

Yah, saying "if we only would have shot better", is a pretty lame excuse. No sh**? You shoot better, you would've won by more. You don't say?

Do you think Indiana State had anything to do with that? I'm sure Sycamore fans are saying if they would've shot better, they would've won.

And as a side note, I don't recall UNI being a torch-the-nets type of shooting team anyways.

Agreed, "if we would've shot better" is a lame excuse.

But, to your last paragraph, I will point out that UNI is ranked 27th nationally in FG%, and 24th in eFG%. so they kinda have been a torch-the-nets kind of shooting team this year

Its not a lame excuse if its true. Sometimes you just dont make shots.

That certainly was not the case last night, however. Ind St played a great game defensively and there simply werent many great shots to be had for UNI.

Right, it happens, I agree. Wasn't trying to call out UNI fans, I just hate when fans blame losing on their team just not hitting shots.

Because first of all, duh. If you make all your shots of course you're going to win, it's not even worth saying. Second of all, it trivializes the efforts of the other team.

Not a big deal at all though, just a pet peeve. I'm done being pedantic now, promise