Game Preview: UMKC

After a very hard fought loss to Oral Roberts last Saturday, the Leathernecks are looking to get back in the win column tonight when they take on UMKC at home.  WIU comes in with a 13-11 overall record and sits alone in 6th place in the Summit with a 7-8 conference record.  They have also lost three games in a row.  Meanwhile, UMKC enters with a 10-17 overall record and is tied for last in the conference as they are currently have a 4-11 record in the Summit. 

UMKC did defeat the Leathernecks earlier this season in Kansas City 72-50 in what was a very tough game for WIU.  They were never able to get anything going.  However, the Kangaroos were red hot and made 13 thre pointers in that game.  Reggie Chamberlain led the charge as he was 7-11 from the field.  All of those shots were three pointers and he ended the day with 23 points.  WIU only managed to have two guys in double digits and shot just 35% for the game.

WIU looks to avenge that loss tonight and come in still boasting the best defense in the Summit  as they are giving up just 60 points per game, good enough to put them at 30th in the nation.  They also own the best three point shooting percentage in the conference at 38.9% (I put in that extra .9% because UMKC is not far behind as they shoot 38.8% from three).  WIU also has the best turnover margin in the conference at +2.75 which puts them at 37th in that nation.  Also, the Leathernecks come in turning the ball over just 11 times per game, good enough to put them at 11th in the nation.  Despite their three game losing streak, they have continued to take great care of the ball.  The thing that has really hurt Western in that past few games is their free throw shooting.  They are now shooting just 68% from the line this season and have not hit over 60% in their past three games.  They NEED to do better at the line.

Ceola Clark is still 2nd in the Summit in three point percentage, but is only .1% off the lead.  He is currently connecting on 47.5% for the season, good enough for 5th in the nation.  He is number one in assist to turnover ratio and is third in steals and assists.  Meanwhile, Terell Parks is still sitting at 2nd in field goal percentage in the conference at 62% and is leading the Summit in rebounds (8.8 per game).  Obi Emegano is shooting 51% this year and is 13th in the conference in that stat.  However, he has struggled a bit the past couple games and will need to play better tonight.

As I mentioned earlier, UMKC is 2nd in the conference in three point percentage, something that really hurt us in the first game.  They are just ahead of WIU in points per game at 65 points per game (Western averages 63) and are 6th in scoring defense, giving up 71 points per game.  They are not much better than Western at free throws as they are 8th in the Summit and hitting 69% of their free throws.  The Kangaroos ave struggled to make shots (other than three's) this year as they are 9th in field goal percentage and making just 43% of the shots.

As for individuals, they are led by the aforementioned Reggie Chamberlain who averages 17 points per game.  That puts him at 7th in the Summit League.  He is also 3rd in free throw percentage (86%) and tied for 5th in three point percentage (46%).  Containing him is a big key tonight.  He really hurt us in the last game and when he is on, UMKC is tough to beat.  North Dakota State (currently 3rd in the conference) found that out the hard way when UMKC beat them last week.

This is a very important game for a couple reasons.  One is that we are on a three game losing streak and have a tough finish to the season, so etting a W tonight would be huge for us.  Another reason is that a win would lock us up a spot in the Summit League Tournament at the end of the season.  Locking up a spot now would be great because then we can focus on getting a good seed in the tournament.  The Leathernecks have GOT to do better at the line tonight.  60% at the free throw line is just not going to get it done and we found that out the hard way in the past three games.  Hopefully Western Hall will pack it in again tonight and give these guys the home court advantage the deserve.  That'll do it for now...GO LEATHERNECKS!!!  

Game Preview: ORU

Tonight the Fighting Leathernecks take on the Golden Eagles from Oral Roberts University in a rematch of a thrilling double overtime game in which WIU ended up falling 71-70.  That game had the feeling of a Summit League Tournament game and was as close as one too.  ORU sits in first place in the Summit as they are 22-5 overall and 14-1 in the conference.  They are coming off a thrilling overtime win against IUPUI on Thursday.  WIU enters having lost their last two games and are 13-10 overall with a 7-7 conference record.  We are currently tied for fifth in the Summit.

The Leathernecks still have the best D in the conference as they still are allowing just 60 points per game.  Their three point field goal percent fell a little bit and they are now 3rd in the conference and hit 38% of their three's.  They still own the best turnover margin in the conference but their assist to turnover ration fell a bit after they stuggled to get assists against Southern Utah the other night.  They are now 2nd in the conference in that stat.

Terell Parks is the best rebounder in the Summit, he averages 8.8 rebounds per game and he is still 2nd in the conference in field goal percentage as he hits 62% of his shots.  However, he is no longer eligible to be ranked in the nation in that stat.  If was he was he would be in the top ten.  Ceola Clark, who struggled a bit in the last game with his three's, is now third in the conference in three point percentage.  He is still 6th in the nation though.  He does continue to lead the conference in assist to turnover ratio which is currently at +3.1.  His ability to control the ball this year has been hug for this team.  Obi Emegano is still shooting a high percentage from the field as he is hitting 52% of his shots.  He is 12th in the conference and 52nd in the nation.

As for ORU, they are probably all around the best team in the Summit League.  There is a reason they are/have been in first place the whole season.  They own the 3rd best scoring offense in the league as they score around 74 points per game.  Their defense is solid as well, in fact they are 2nd behind the Leathernecks as they give up 66 points per game.  They are the second best free throw shooting team in the conference and also number two in field goal percentage.  Their numbers in those stat lines are 76% and 49% respectively.

Individually, the Golden Eagles are home to one of the best players in the conference.  That man is named Dominique Morrison.  In the lost game against us, he scored 27 points and also hit the game deciding free throw with about a second left in the second overtime.  He averages about 20 points per game and is the 4th leading scorer in the conference.  Containing him tonight will be a big key.  Morrison is also 4th in the conference in free throw percentage.  He hits about 84% of his free throws.  ORU has two other guys who typically score in double figures, Warren Niles scores 12 points per game while Michael Craion scores 11.

This is a big time game for WIU.  We are on a two game losing streak and getting this win at Oral Roberts would be HUGE.  It should be a great atmosphere tonight because it's ORU's homecoming.  Word is that they are expecting about 7000 people in the stands tonight.  The Leathernecks will need to get off to a fast start and make sure that this big crowd will not be a factor.  Another thing is that they will NEED to be better at the free throw line tonight.  In the last two games they have made just 27 of their 47 free throws (57%).  That has really hurt their ability to win the last two games.  They will have to come out confident, fired up and ready to play.  Game time tonight is set for 7:05pm...GO 'NECKS!!!

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.

Game Preview: SUU

Tonight's match-up versus the Thuderbirds of Southern Utah is an important game.  We're really starting to come down the stretch in the season and so teams are beginning to lobby for position in the upcoming Summit League Tournament which will decide who represents our conference in the NCAA Tournament.  We played SUU earlier this year two days after that heartbreaking loss to Oral Roberts and ended up losing that game 65-55.  We really struggled throughout and I do not think that they had the same focus in that game that they have in the past few games.  I remember being very frustrated by that loss.  Right now WIU is 13-9 and 7-6 in the conference while SUU is 12-12 and 7-7 in the conference.

The site for tonight's game, taken during practice last night.

Looking at WIU, we still have the number one scoring defense in the Summit as we only give up 60 points per game.  The nest closest team to us in that stat is Oral Roberts who gives up 66 points per game.  that is good enough to put us at 27th in the nation in scoring defense.  So our defense is pretty stout.  We also have the best three point percentage in the conference as we make 39% of our three's.  Our turnover margin continues to be awesome, we lead the Summit in that category as well as in turnovers per game as we only commit 11.2 turnovers per game and our turnover margin is +2.9.  That is really good, we always do a great job controlling the ball.  Especially in the second half.  

Individually, we are still being lead in scoring by true freshman Obi Emegano who averages 14.3 points per contest.  Ceola Clark is not far behind though as he averages 14.1 points per game.  Emegano's field goal percentage is still really good, he hits 53% of his shots which puts him at 50th in the nation and 11th in the conference.  Terell Parks makes him look like a fool though as he is at 5th in the nation in field goal percentage as he hits 64% of his shots.  That puts him at 2nd in the conference.  Ceola continues to nail his three pointers, he makes 48% of his three's which is good enough for 4th in the nation and 2nd in the conference.  He also has an awesome assist-to-turnover-ratio which sits at 3.06.  The puts him at 4th in the nation and 1st in the Summit.

As for Southern Utah, they sit in about the middle of the conference in a bunch of stats.  But they are the worst three point shooting team in the conference as they only make 29% of their three pointers.  However, they do have the 2nd ranked three point percentage defense.  They only allow teams to make 32% of their three's.  Their rebounding defense is good too, they are second in the Summit in that stat.  They really like to share the ball and as a result are 1st in the conference in assists per game, averaging just short of 15 assist per game.  When it comes to taking care of the ball, they are the complete opposite of WIU.  They are last in the Summit in turnover margin as they are -1.2 for the season.

As for individuals of the Thunderbirds, they are lead by Jackson Stevenett who averages 13.6 points per game, but they do have three other guys who average double digits.  Those guys are Ramell Taylor (12.8), Damon Heuir (10.2), and Ray Jones Jr. (10.1).  So while Stevenett may be their best player, the Leathernecks cannot sleep on these other guys.  In the last game Heuir and Taylor were the ones who hurt us.  They scored 22 and 21 points respectively.  The entire Leatherneck D will need to play well against their men.

Like I said, this is an important game.  We currently sit at 4th in the conference, but SUU is tied for fifth with Oakland.  A win for us would mean that we have a shot to tie for third in the conference (if North Dakota State losses), but a loss would mean that the Thunderbirds gain the tie-breaker on us and so they would be alone in fourth.  We will need to focus and come out firing.  Hopefully the guys have moved past that tough Oakland loss and are ready to play tonight.  Tip-off is at 7pm Mountain time (8pm Central) so as always...GO 'NECKS!!!

On The Road: Ceder City, UT

Well it took roughly 17 hours, but we finally got to our hotel in Ceder City at about 12:30am last night (Mountain Time).  We had left Western Hall at 8:30am Central time.  It was a long day to say the least, and here is how it went down:  bus to Qud Cities Aiport, flight to O'Hare, two hour lay-over, flight to Vegas (a little under four hours), bus to Ceder City (about two hours), straight to practice facility for practice, dinner at a local restaurant (more about that to come), and finally arrived at the hotel.  We were all pretty exhausted.

The hotel is pretty nice, and has a interesting room set-up...

As you can see, the TV is right in the middle of a wall basically, and there is a couch behind Beau that I am typing this on.

...I like it though.

I said that I have more to say about the restaurant, they stayed open late so that we could eat there and the food was really good.  Started with a salad, then a pork/mashed potatoes/veggie entre, and finished with some pretty good cheesecake.  They funny party was that the whole time we're eating, the speakers in the place are playing hip-hop/rap type music.  This seem like a pretty nice place and so it was freaking hilarious that they were playing this music.  Some of the players were bobbing back and forth while eating.  Hysterical.  To put this in perspective, one of the songs they played was "Young, and Wild, and Free" by Wiz Khalifa & Snoop Dog.  If you don't know the song, here it is...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa5B22KAkEk&ob=av3n

...it was awesome/hilarious at the same time and I wish I'd have filmed some of it.

I like Utah so far and I really liked the parts of Vegas we saw. After the game tonight we'll be driving back to Vegas and spending the night there so I'm SURE I'll have some good stories about that.  I'll be posting my preview of tonight's game against Southern Utah soon, but right now here are the rest of the pics I've gotten so far on our trip, enjoy!

First thing we saw after getting off the jet-way in Vegas.

And then we get in to the actual airport and the first thing we see is slot machines...don't know why I didn't expect this.

Only decent shot I got of Vegas while we were driving out.

This is not (unfortunately) the view from our hotel room as I was not fortunate enough to be on the mountain side of the hotel, but it is the view from the work out room.  Pretty cool.

 

Closer view of the last pic.  I wanted to get a good look of those houses because I thought that my parents would love to live in those houses.

Post Game: Oakland

Hey all, sorry I keep falling behind but we'll be back on the road this week and I should be a lot better about posting...

Anyway, this Oakland game ended up being a tough loss 74-70 in double OT, our second loss in double OT of the season.  Western actually had a chance to win the game in regulation.  They had the ball with under 22 seconds left in a tie game but were unable to get off a good shot, resulting in the overtime sessions.  After a back and forth first overtime, Oakland was able to build a four point lead in the second overtime after Travis Bader hit a three pointer right at the end of the shot clock on what could only be called a miracle shot and that ended up being the dagger for WIU.  The loss dropped our record to 13-9 and 7-6 in the conference while Oakland mproved to 13-13 and 7-7 in the conference.

Some final stats, WIU finished the game shooting 44% on 24 of 54 shooting on the floor.  That included going 7 of 18 from behind the arc.  They shot just 60% at the free throw line, that really hurt them because they cold have had a chance to have the lead late in the game had they made their free throws.  Neither team shot very well at the free throw line.  The Leathernecks only committed 9 turnovers in the game, 8 of which were in the first half.  That means that they only committed ONE turnover in the entire second half and overtime which is INSANELY good ball handling. 

Ceola Clark finished with 22 points on 8 of 14 shooting, including being 5 of 9 from three.  He also pulled in 7 boards and had 5 assists with only one turnover.  His assist to turnover ratio in the past two games has be 15 to 2, which is pretty darn good to say the least.  Obi Emegano has 18 points on 6 of 12 shooting.  He was about the only Leatherneck who was consistent at the free throw as he was 6 for 6.  Two more guys hit in double figures, those guys were Tommie Tyler with 11 and Terell Parks with 10.  Tommie Tyler just 6 of 13 at the free throw line, which was really odd for him because he usually makes about 70% of his free throws.  Parks was in foul trouble most of the game and actually fouled out in the first overtime.  Him not being able to go 100% most of the game really hurt this team, but I thought David Gebru did a good job stepping up when they asked him to.

Oakland finished shooing 43% on 24 of 55 shooting and made 14 three pointers.  It was incredible some of the threes that they made.  They made just 46% of their free throws which is just not very good, especially considering they usually make about 73% of them as a team.  Even their best player Reggie Hamilton, who usually makes just over 90% of his free throws, only made 5 of his 9 attempts (not that that hurt his numbers).  They also committed 14 turnovers.

All of their scoring came from just four players.  Hamilton scored 40 points (yes, 40) on 13 of 24 shooting.  He made 9 of his 14 three pointers.  To say he was on fire is an understatement.  Bader ended up with 19 points on 6 of 14 shooting and made 4 of 10 three points, including the miracle three in the second overtime.  The other two guys who scored for Oakland were Drew Valentine with 10 and Lavel Lucas-Perry with 5.

Like I said about Hamilton, to say he was on fire is an understatement.  He was making just about everything he threw up at the basket.  The man guarding him was our best defender, and one of the best in the conference, Ceola Clark.  It wasn't that Ceola did a bad job guarding him, he was right there to defend basically every shot.  Hamilton, who is one of the best players in the conference, was just playing one of, if not his best game of the season.  He could not miss.  It's tough to win against this team when he plays like that.  I though Ceola played like a hero.  He made so many big shots and refused to let his team give up.  This whole team played their hearts out, but in the end you can't shoot 60% at the free throw line and expect to beat a good team like Oakland.  It's tough for me to see these guys lose a game like this because I know how much work they put in.  Hopefully they can learn from this game and get back on track Thursday when we travel to play Southern Utah.

That'll be all for now, I should be better about posting once we get on the road so look for more soon!  

Game Preview: IPFW

Tonight the Leathernecks try to make it four wins in a row when they take on the Mastodons from IPFW (Indiana Purdue-Fort Wayne) at 7pm in Western Hall.  WIU enters the game at 12-8 (6-5 in the Summit) while IPFW comes in at 10-11 (4-8 in the Summit).  The last time they played, WIU was able to come away with a good win 75-65 over in Fort Wayne.  In that game, Jack Houpt lit it up from behind the acr as he nailed 7 three points totaling 21 points which was a career high for him.  I know he has the capability to do that now and then but that performance was just incredible.

WIU currently is allowing just 60 points per game, which is good enough to put them at 28th in the nation for scoring defense and number one in the conference.  The Leathernecks still are ranked last in the conference in scoring offense as they only score about 64 points per game.  They also rank 20th in turnovers per game as they only turn it over 11.4 times per game.  That mark also has them at number one in the conference.  As for some individual numbers, Ceola Clark is now ranked 3rd in the nation in three point percentage as he hits 49% of his three pointers...unreal.  Meanwhile Terell Parks is 5th in the nation in field goal percentage as he hits 64% of his shots from the floor...another great number.  True freshman Obi Emegano is not far behind as he shoots 54% from the floor which is good enough to put him at 37th in the nation.  That number is very impressive because most of his shots are not easy ones.  He takes a lot of mid-range jumpers that most guys will not hit 54% of for a season, but he has be a beast on his shooting this year.

IPFW is scoring around 70 points per game this year, which puts them at number six in the conference.  Meanwhile they give up nearly 75 points per game, a number which sits them at number nine (second to last) in the Summit.  The Mastodons are lead by their main man Frank Gaines who is scoring just over 20 points per contest this season.  He also shoots about 43% from the field and makes 75% of his free throws.  The last time these two played, Gaines was able to drop 30 points in a losing effort.  Unfortunately for his team, he was the only one with more than 10 points.  Regardless, WIU will definitely look to shut him down better in the game tonight.  Coming in to tonight, the Mastodons have lost five of their last six games, including a big loss last week to South Dakota State 74-43.

While IPFW's numbers may not be all that impressive, WIU cannot come in too confident.  IPFW has the ability to play very well.  They will need to try and focus on stopping Frank Gaines as best they can and make sure he does not have a huge impact on the game.  This game is the start of a very important stretch because after tonight, they will play Oakland on Saturday (again at home) and then hit the road for a long trip to Southern Utah and Oral Roberts.  I hope that the fans will once again be out in full force tonight.  The last game had such a great atmosphere and I know that really got the players going.  In college basketball, a good home court advantage can really do you well so hopefully Leatherneck Nation will represent tonight.  That's it for now, as always...GO LEATHERNECKS!!!