Post Game: IUPUI

The team after Remy hit the game winner.

This was probably the most exciting finish to a game that I have ever witnessed in person.  After a back and forth second half, WIU found themselves down 55-54 with 4.7 seconds left.  They had control of the ball on their half of the court, so not the worst situation to be in.  The inbound went to Ceola Clark, who was the one intended to take the shot.  However, he got double teamed immediately and was forced to dish it to the first man he could find...true freshman Rem Roberts-Burnett.  Remy, with a man in his face, took the shot and absolutely DRAINED a three pointer to make the final 57-55!  The place went crazy, our arena packed in a little over 1800 people, the largest crowd at Western Hall since 2005.  It was quite simply, incredible.

If you want to see the shot, as covered by our very own WIUTV3, you can see it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8QhjgMAOZ8

OR, you can here my partner Beau Spencer and I call the shot at this link:
http://chirb.it/rD61JM

Ok now for some of the final numbers in this heart-stopper of a game.  The Leathernecks finished the game shooting 51% as they hit 22 of their 43 shots.  That's the second consecutive game they have shot over 50%.  They were 7 of 8 at the free throw line and also hit 6 of their 13 three pointers, for a mark of 46%.  Pretty good numbers all around.  They also only committed 10 turnovers, but the thing about that number was that they had committed 8 in the first half, which means they only had 2 turnovers in the entire second half.  That is a pretty darn good number. 

Individually, WIU had four guys finish in double digits.  Ceola lead the team with 20 points on 7 of 11 shooting, including going 4 of 7 from the three point mark.  He has been lights out all year on his three's. He filled out the stat line in this game, he also had 9 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals and a block.  So he came extremely close to having a triple double which would have been awesome.  As for the rest of the team, Terell Parks had 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists.  Remy finished with 11 points and was 5 of 7 shooting from the field.  The last man in double figures had 10 points and that was none other than Obi Emegano. 

Meanwhile IUPUI hit 50% on 23 of 46 shooting from the field and 6 of their 8 free throws.  They also made 3 of their 9 three pointers and turned the ball over 11 times.  They were lead in scoring by their super-star Alex Young who lead all scorers with 22 points on 9 of 18 shooting, made 2 of his 3 three pointers and also hit the same numbers on his free throws.  They only had one other man in double digits and that was Christian Siakam who had 16 points. 

Like I said, this was probably the best basketball game I've ever seen in person.  It had everything, lead changes, highlight dunks, big time shots, and of course a heart stopping finish that brought everyone to their feet.  It was a big win for us because WIU had not beaten IUPUI in some time.  It improved our record to 12-8 overall and 6-5 in the conference.  IUPUI dropped to 8-15 and 2-9 in the conference.  I can not say enough about how proud I was of this team and their ability to stick through the adversity and come up with the shot they needed to make.  Ceola had an incredible game.  The head coach, Jim Molinari said after the game that to win these types of games, your stars have to play like stars and Ceola did just that.  He gave this team a lift every time they needed and on the last play he had the sense to realize he did not have the best shot and gave it to a teammate with a better one.  That assist may be the biggest of his career to this point.  WIU's next game will be right back at home this Thursday versus the IPFW Mastodons.  I'll do my best to get a preview for that one up as my schedule is lighter this week.  Until then, here's some pictures my mom took during the game.  This was the first time my parents have been able to make it to a game this season, so they picked a pretty good one to come to.  Also, you'll have to excuse my eyes in these photos.  The day of the game I woke up with what turned out to be an infection in both my eyes and it was pretty hard just to keep them open, especially with the bright lights in the arena.  I had to tough it out in this one...

Us getting everything set up...

Still setting up...

Apparently I make a bunch of faces during the games (according to my mom).  I never even think about it because during the games, all of my thoughts are dedicated to the game.

Me sticking my tongue out.

After the game it was all smiles from Beau and I.

I'm glad my mom took this cause it was cool.  Before the game we were giving to technical free throws because IUPUI was dunking during warm-ups...ended up being the difference in the game.

The starters taking the floor.

 

UNO Pictures

Hey everyone!  Sorry it's been awhile since my last post, after we got back from our road trip I had a bunch of school stuff to get taken care of and I'm just now getting everything sorted out.  I'll post some post game thoughts about the big win the team got over IUPUI on Saturday a little bit later, but first here are those pics...

Part of UNO's campus.

This was the entrance to their arena.  It was pretty cool looking.

Some of the guys walking in.

Their arena wasn't the best, but they are planning to build a new one.

The view from where we broadcasted from.  First time since the Michigan game that we had a set up like this.

Always makes me feel important.

The team warming up.

Right after starters where announced.

And finally right before the opening tip-off.

For those who don't know WIU did win this one 81-70.  It was the first time they had scored 80+ points versus a D1 opponent this year.  It capped off a pretty successful road trip and was their second win in a row.  We got back Wednesday morning at around 3am after the six hour bus ride.  I'll get my IUPUI post game stuff up real soon, but that's all for now!

Game Preview: Nebraska-Omaha

The Leathernecks finish off their three game road swing tonight when they face off against the Mavericks of the University of Nebraska-Omaha (UNO), a team that will be joining the Summit League next season.  Coming in, WIU sits at 10-8 and 5-5 in the Summit and as you may recall, just ended a three game losing streak with a close win over South Dakota on Saturday.  They currently are tied for fourth in the conference with Oakland and Southern Utah.  They still maintain their number one defensive ranking in the Summit and are now giving up just 59.8 points per game, good enough for 27th in that nation.  We are also still number one in turnover margin at +3.1 (26th nationally).

Individually, WIU has a couple guys who rank in the top 35 nationally in field goal percentage.  Terell Parks is unoffcially ranked 7th in the nation (he's .06 made field goals per game off being officially ranked) which puts him at second in the conference.  He's shooting 62% this year from the field.  Obi Emegano, our true freshman forward, is 35th in the nation (9th in the Summit) and is shooting 55% this season.  Obi's mark is especially impressive because most of his shots are mid-range jumpers.  Ceola Clark is still ranked 5th in the nation in three-point field goal percetage.  He is hitting 48% of his three pointers.  

UNO is in their first year of transition into Division I and they have been struggling a bit.  They do not play a full D1 schedule yet (only 12 of their 21 games are vs D1 teams) and when they do, they have not done too well.  They are just 1-11 vs D1 opponents.  Their only victory came against NIU 77-72 back on December 3rd.  In those games, they are giving up 87 points and scoring 72.  That being said, they have competed in some of these games.  They lost by three on OT vs IPFW, by two at South Dakota, and by three at UMKC.  All games included this year, UNO is scoring 73 points per game and giving up 78.  They have really struggled over the last month as they have gone just 1-6 in their last seven and currently are riding a three game losing streak.  Their last win was at Johnson & Whales University 81-68.

UNO's best player is Mitch Albers who is averaging 18 points per game, shoots 47% from the field and hits 78% of his free throws.  He will undoubtedly be the focus of the WIU defense. Another guy for the Leathernecks to look out for is John Karhoff, a 6'8" sophomore center who averages 13 points per game, shoots 58% from the field and is making 74% of his free throws (a pretty good number for a big man).

Even though the Mavericks have been struggling, WIU cannot fall asleep against them.  This will be UNO's first home game since December 19th , you know they are going to be excited to be playing back on their home court.  Plus, like I said earlier, they have competed in some of their games.  The Leathernecks will have to come out ready to play and not overlook these guys, because if they do they could find themselves in a fight.  They need to come out strong, fired up, and with the same intensity the had against South Dakota.  Tip-off tonight is set for 7pm and as always, GO 'NECKS!!!

On The Road: Omaha, NE

One of the first things I saw in Omaha:  The stadium where Creighton plays their ball games.

We've been in Omaha for two days now and I must say, it's a heck of a lot better than South Dakota.  There's actually a few things to do here, as compared to SD where there was virtually nothing.  Sunday night we went with the team to dinner at Famous Dave's, which I had never been to before.  I must say, it was pretty darn good.  The hotel is a lot nicer than the one in SD as well, not surprising because we are staying in yet another Marriott.  Not that I'm complaining because I've grown used to these Marriotts, especially because their beds are typically SUPER comfortable.

Our hotel room (that's my broadcast partner/voice of the Leathernecks Beau Spencer in the background).

Our lovely view of the hotel parking lot.

Sunday night we had a little fun with our sideline reporter, Josh Gleason, who is on his first road trip this season.  We hid his Lucky Charms in the hotel lobby and laughed while he tried to find them (excuse the sideways video, blame Beau for that)...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=-oUaFmaUBT4

Earlier this trip they had stolen my wallet and phone, hidden them in my room and used a series of twit-pics to give me clues about where they were (a game they called Twitter hie-and-seek), so it was good to watch someone else suffer.

Last night the other media guys (Beau, Josh, and our Sports & Information guy Kyle) and me went to eat at Granite City Brewery which was another place I had never been to and rather enjoyed.  Then we hopped over to the nearby mall and walked around for a bit.  That was a good way to pass the time, because we had spent the majority of the day in the hotel.  Beau bought a new suit in one of the stores at the mall...if you come to next next home game this Saturday vs IUPUI, you'll be able to see it...it certainly screams Western Illinois.

Overall I've enjoyed Omaha, it's been good to just chill out for a couple days after being on the move constantly early in the trip.  I'll have the preview for the game tonight coming up here in a couple hours...GO 'NECKS!

Post Game: USD

The Leathernecks right before tip-off.

Leathernecks won 47-45 and brought their three game skid to a hault!  It definitely got a little too close for comfort at the end, but as the say "a win is a win."  They dominated most of the first half and held a 32-21 lead at the break.  In that half the boys shot 54% from the field while holding South Dakota to just 34%.  However, in the second half South Dakota refused to lay down and kept fighting.  Plus, the Leathernecks went ice cold from the floor and ended up shooting just 23% in the second half.  It came down to the last play of the game.  The Coyotes had the ball at their end of the court, down by two.  They inbounded the ball to their best player, Westbrook, who was hounded by the D of WIU.  Krogeman ended up with the ball and he tried throwing up and desperation three as time was running out but it was blocked by Western's Terell Parks!  It was pretty exhilarating.

Some final stats:  WIU ended up shooting 39% for the game, was 3 of 8 from three point (37%) and 8 of 13 at the free throw line (61%).  They also forced 13 turnovers while only committing 9.  True freshman Obi Emegano led all scoring as he dropped 21 points on 7 of 14 shooting and was 7 for 9 at the free throw line.  Ceola Clark added 11 points, had 3 assists and a steal.  Terell Parks stole the show though.  He pulled down 13 rebounds, had 5 assists and 4 blocks, none of which were bigger than the one that saved the game at the buzzer.     

South Dakota shot just 36% from the field and was atrocious from behind the the arc...they made just 2 of 19 three pointers.  They were also pretty bad at the free throw line as they went just 7 of 14.  The coyotes were lead in scoring by none other than Charlie Westbrook who had 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 steals.  Krogeman added 11 points and 6 rebounds but was 0 for 9 on his three point attempts.

Overall, Western looked MUCH better than they have in the last two games.  They came out much more intense than they had been in the last two games combined.  In the end, yes they could have played better but like I said earlier, a win is a win.  Fact is that we needed a win VERY badly.  It didn't matter if we won by two or twenty.  At the end of the day, our number one ranked defense earned it's name in this one.  They came up with clutch stop after clutch stop and were relentless all game long.  This looked much more like the team I've grown accustomed to seeing this year, but they still have room for improvement.  We just arrived in Omaha, Nebraska and we'll be taking on the University of Nebraska-Omaha on Tuesday.  So we have a couple days to relax and get ready for this one.  I'll of course have a preview of that game as it gets closer to game time, but right now here's the pictures I captured while still in South Dakota...

The other media guys and me went to lunch at a local bar & grill on game day.   We found it funny to see these kids sitting at the bar.

The Leathernecks entering the DakotaDome (sorry it's not the best picture).

Their dome doubles as their football and basketball stadium, this is the view when you first walk in.

These are the guys who broadcast the WIU Women's games.  Their names are Mike Broskowski (right) and Ryne Thorson (left).

The guys warming up.

Another view of the stadium (there's a lot of empty space during basketball games).

My personal view of the court.

The team's bench was right next to us which was really cool.

Game Preview: USD

Before I get going with the preview for tonight's game, I just wanted to say that I'm not going to be posting about what it's like/what we did last night here in Vermillion, SD.  The reason for this is there's not a whole lot to do here.  To give you an idea of what it's like, here's the view from our hotel window...

...as you can see, there's not a whole lot here.

Ok, let's get this rolling.  We've already played South Dakota once this year.  We beat them in Macomb by the score 67-44.  In that game, the guys struggled a bit in the first half but then went on to rout them in the second after they regained their focus.  In fact, they outscored them 39-17 in the second half and held the Coyotes to 24% shooting.  Obi Emegano went off for 20 points on 9 of 12 shooting, plus two free throws.  Ceola Clark managed to outshine him though, he had a great game as he dropped 19 points, was 7 of 10 shooting (including 5 of 7 from behind the three point line), had 7 assists, and also grabbed 3 steals.  Not too bad of a game if you ask me. 

Meanwhile, the Coyotes were lead by their main man Charlie Westbrook who dropped 18 points on 8 of 12 shooting.  While he did have himself a good game, the Leathernecks did a good job of making sure no one else hurt them because no other Coyote player had more than six points.

Now, despite the fact that the Leathernecks may have ended up routing the Coyotes last time, they can't come in to this game with the mentality that they're gonna do it again.  Especially after the way they've played in the last two games and considering the fact that USD is coming of a big win on Thursday when they beat IUPUI (a team we lost to earlier this year).  They need to really focus and get back to playing Leatherneck basketball.

This is the site for tonight's game:  The DakotaDome.

Entering tonights contest WIU sits at 9-8 (4-5 in the Summit) and is tied for fifth in the conference with Southern Utah.  USD is 7-11 (2-7 in the Summit) and is tied for last place in the conference with UMKC and IUPUI. Western still owns the best defense in the conference as they are only giving up 60.6 points per game.  They are still last in offense and are averaging 64.7 points per game.  South Dakota has both the seventh ranked offense and defense in the conference.  They score 69.9 and give up 74.1.

The guy to look out for is going to be Westbrook once again.  The other night against IUPUI he dropped a career high 32 points.  He's averaging just over 17 points per game and is the sixth leading scorer in the Summit League.  He is also third in the conference in steals and averages 1.8 steals per game.  The Leatherneck defense will need to do their best to lock him down.  The coyotes also boast the man who is leading the Summit in blocks this year, Ricardo Andreotti who is blocking an average of 1.6 shots per game. 

Game time is set for 7:30pm tonight following the Women's game.  GO 'NECKS!

Postgame: UMKC

The guys warming up before the game.

The Leathernecks ended up losing this one 72-50, making this their third loss in a row.  Before I get to my personal thoughts on the game, I'll first go over some of the stats from the game...

The biggest stat of the game is the fact that UMKC made 13 of 21 three pointers, which is pretty insane.  Overall they shot 25 of 41 for a total of 61% shooting for the game, which is also pretty insane.  They were lights out all game long.  The high scorer for either team was UMKC's Reggie Chamberlain who went and INCREDIBLE 7 of 10 from behind the three point line.  He ended up with 23 points.  In all, the Kangaroos had four players in double digits while WIU only had two.

While UMKC was undoubtedly scorching hot from the field, Western did not help their own cause as they shot a woeful 19 of 53 for shooting percentage of just 36% (their second straight game shooting under 40%).  Our high scorer was Tommie Tyler who dropped 11 points.  Meanwhile Ceola Clark III was the other man in double digits, he had 10.  About the only stat that WIU had the advantage in was turnovers.  We forced 13 while only committing 10 ourselves.  However we did not take advantage of those opportunities as we only had 8 points off those turnovers.

A few positives from the game:  Ceola officially broke the all-time steals record as he ended the day with two steals.  He also moved into sixth all-time for assists.

Western is now 9-8 and 4-5 in the Summit League.  My immediate reaction to the game was frustration.  The reason for this is not only have we lost three in a row, but this is now two games in a row that we have lost to a team that I 100% believe we are better than.  The guys just haven't been playing like the team I saw take Oral Roberts (who is now 9-0 in the conference) all the way to the wire.  I'm not sure what's been going on but hopefully they can get it figured out fast.  I know they are better than what they've shown in the last two games because I've seen them play better.  Every team goes through this part of the season; the part where nothing seems to go your way.  I've been a part of something like it in high school.  Hopefully they can find themselves and get this thing back on track.  If they can get back to playing like they did against Oakland and Oral Roberts, they are gonna be one tough to beat.

Right now we're on the road headed for Vermillion, SD where tomorrow we'll take on the South Dakota Coyotes for the second time this season.  I'll have a preview of that game tomorrow, but for now here are some of the other pictures I got in KC...

What we saw upon entering their arena.

Another one of the guys warming up, only you can see more of there arena.

This was their soccer field which I was really impressed with.

The front of our hotel.  They had a valet service and also a shuttle service which was pretty cool.

Game Preview: UMKC

Before I get into the the details of this particular game, I'll catch you up on how the team has done so far.  We currently sit at 9-7, 4-4 in the conference (for those who do not know our conference is called the Summit League), and have lost our last two games after winning three in a row.  One of the losses was to Oral Roberts 71-70 in double OT.  ORU has yet to lose a conference game and while that loss was tough to take, our guys definitely proved they can play with anyone in this conference.  The other loss was two days later to Southern Utah 65-55.  That was a frustrating one because we are definitely better than them.  You could tell that we were a little hungover from the ORU game.  The intensity we had vs ORU just wasn't there during the Southern Utah game.  Despite those losses, we're still in good shape.  Especially considering last year we only won seven games the whole season.  This team has a lot of potential to make a ton of noise in the conference.  After that ORU game I truly believe that we are in the top four teams in our conference.

 Ok, now that you have a good feel for the team, I'll get to today's game vs the Kangaroos of UMKC.  The Kangaroos enter the game sitting at 7-13, are 1-7 in the conference, and have lost they're last eight games.  Those numbers might not be that impressive, but this is still a very important game for us.  It's always tough to win on the road, but we're on a two game losing streak so we need to get back in the win column.  If we win this game it'll go a long way in creating some momentum for the rest of this trip.

UMKC's best player is a senior by the name of Reggie Chamberlain.  He averages about 16 points per game, is an 85% free throw shooter, shoots 44% from the field and is hitting 42% of his three pointers...all pretty good numbers.  He's the guy we need to watch out for, but we usually do a good job of slowing down the other teams top players.

As a team UMKC is averaging 65.9 points per game while we average 65.6.  We're the two lowest scoring teams in the conference, but offense isn't the Leathernecks game.  WIU is home to the best defense in the conference as we only give up 59.9 points per game.  We're number one in that category by four points.  Meanwhile UMKC is giving up 72.8 points per game, putting them at number six in the conference.  Western always plays a slower game that is designed to take opposing teams out of their element and force them to play our style of basketball.

I also want to note that our point guard Ceola Clark III is currently tied for the all-time career steals record at WIU.  So if he can grab another tonight he'll be all alone at #1!

My man Ceola Clark III putting his lock down D on display and grabbing another steal vs Oral Roberts.

To wrap this one up, I really believe that all three games on this trip are winnable.  The team needs to focus and not have the flat performance we saw vs Southern Utah.  It all gets started tonight at 7:05pm vs the Kangaroos.  As always:  GO 'NECKS!!!

On the Road: Kansas City, MO

We safely arrived in Kansas City around 8pm after a 6 hour bus ride.  The hotel we're staying in is yet another Marriot (we've stayed in at least 4 of these so far) and it's pretty nice.  My only remote complaint is that the place is like a maze, I feel like I get lost trying to find anything.  I don't have any pictures of the rest of the place yet, but here's our room...

...it could definitely be a little bigger considering how nice the rest of this place is, but the bed is super comfortable.

I've never been here before so I was curious as to what it would be like, and I've been impressed.  We decided not to eat with the team in the hotel like normal and took a walk down the street about a mile to Gates BBQ, which is supposed to be an extremely good BBQ joint.  To sum it up:  it was.

This is the platter the four of us shared.  Every bite of it was nothing short of delicious.

Absolutely one of the best BBQ places I've ever been to.  The meats were good just by themselves, but then add in the sauce and it put it on a whole different level.  Plus the fact that it was all on WIU's bill made it that much better.  If you're ever in Kansas City, I highly recommend you stop in here.  We passed a bunch of other restaurants and so I'm sure we'll be stopping in somewhere else later today.  The rest of the city looks nice...but it's no Chicago!

Thought I'd throw this in and give my favorite city some love!  When we played UIC we stayed in the Intercontinental on Michigan Ave...probably the best hotel I've ever been in.

 
I finally got to sleep at about 3am...pretty typical of me on road trips or any other night for that matter.  Today is game day vs UMKC, so a little later on I'll post a game preview, until then GO 'NECKS!

First Blog

I've created this blog for several reasons.  One is that I'll be chronicling my adventures with WIU's basketball team.  For those who do not know, I am the color commentator on the radio which covers all the games and so I travel with the team for away games.  I'll post pictures from the road, talk about our opponents, and other things like that.  The season is already halfway over but I figured better late than never.  I also traveled with the football team earlier this year, but I'll be posting about them later.  Another thing I'll be doing is just posting about random things that catch my interest, like big sporting events, music, books, or if I just have a cool story to tell or picture to share.

I'm writing this entry on the bus on the way to Kansas City, MO for the teams longest road trip of the year.  We play UMKC (University of Missouri at Kansas City), then travel to play University of South Dakota, and finally go to play the University of Nebraska at Omaha.  In all it's a week long road trip so it'll be long and grueling on the team but I'm confident we can have a lot of success on this trip.  I'll post more about the team later and also post a game preview the day of each game.

That's it for now, I'll leave you with a picture from one of our early road trips when we played at #17 Michigan...