Post Game: SUU

The team after starters were announced.

 WIU fell in this game 60-44.  This was one of the more frustrating games of the season because they had every opportunity to win this game, but went ice cold from the floor in the last four minutes.  It was pretty close before then, but the Leathernecks failed to score a point from the field in the last three minutes.  The Thunderbirds used that opportunity to pull away down the stretch and improve their record to 13-12 and 8-7 in the conference.  WIU fell to 13-10 and 7-7- in the conference.  Along with that, SUU now owns the tie-breaker against us if we should finish at the same spot in the Summit.

Some final numbers for WIU:  they hit 35% of their shots from the field and made just 2 of their 7 three pointers.  The biggest stat is the fact that they only made 55% of their free throws (12 of 22) which is the second straight game they have hit under 60% of their free throws.  This is probably their worst stretch of the season on the free throw line so they will need to improve that quickly.  They were also out rebounded 23 to 33 which certainly did not help their cause.  One positive note was the fact that they only turned the ball over 7 times in the game.

Individually, we were lead was again by Ceola Clark in scoring.  He did struggle a little bit though as he had 15 points on 5 of 12 shooting, including going 2 of 7 on his three point shots.  That is pretty uncharacteristic of him.  The real uncharacteristic number though was the fact that he did not have any assists.  That is not surprising because the team only made 35% of their shots.  It's hard to get assists when you aren't making shots.  Obi Emegano added 18 points on 4 of 11 shooting and just 6 of 10 at the free throw line.  Tommie Tyler also hit in double figures as he had 10 points on 4 of 7 shooting but continued to struggle at the free throw line because he was just 2 of 5, making him 8 of 18 in the last two games.

Looking at SUU, they ended up shooting 50% from the field in the game after only shooting 39% in the first half.  They also made 85% of their free throws and outscored WIU in the paint 22 to 14.  They were just 1 of 5 on their three pointers, but this is not exactly a three point shooting team.  They did turn the ball over 11 times, but ended the game with 19 assists.  That's not surprising because they usually have a lot of assists.

As for their individual numbers, they had three guys finish in double figures.  Stevenett had a double-double as hit put up 22 points and also pulled in 12 rebounds. He was 8 of 11 on the floor and 6 of 7 at the free throw line.  The other guys with ten or more points were Massey who had 19 and Heuir who had 10. Massey was also 7 of 11 on the floor.

In the end, it was SUU's ability to make shots and their free throws in the second half that killed Western in this game.  It's really hard to win a game when you shoot just 55% at the free throw line, especially when the other team is making theirs.  WIU is now tied for fifth in the conference along with Oakland while Southern Utah is along in fourth.  We have a BIG game tomorrow when we take on Oral Roberts in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  ORU came away with a thrilling victory against IUPUI in OT on Thursday so they are still at number one in the conference.  I'll have a preview of that game sometime tomorrow and I'll also post about the night we spent in Las Vegas.  A quick summary:  it was pretty freaking awesome.

For now, here's the rest of the pictures I got in Utah...

The outside of SUU's arena.

The view basically right outside our hotel.

What you see when you turn around in the last pic.

The guys warming up before the game.

Right before taking the floor for the tip-off.