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ORU at South Dakota


theeagleman5

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We hit the road for the first of 3 straight away from Mabee Center.....this is where we see which direction the season is headed and unfortuntely, TheEagleman isn't optimistic.....USD lost at home last night to IPFW and now have dropped 3 of their last 4 games.....the Coyotes are 10-12 overall and 4-4 in the Summit...this teams' season has gone a lot like ours....lots of ups and downs and right now they are like ORU on a downer....so which team will right the ship tomorrow afternoon?....South Dakota has some big guys but their top scorers are in the backcourt...they average 69 points a game just like ORU....they don't shoot or rebound particularly well....but TheEagleman is not sure that they will lose a second game in a row at home.....honestly, I find it difficult watching this ORU team any more....the games are just tortureous....not much fun to watch....TheEagleman hasn't watched a game since we defeated Omaha a couple weeks ago.....I don't think that this game will be much different....this is a game we really must win if we expect to stay in the top 3 in the Summit....but I expect ORU will hang around but lose another close one in the end.....I have totally lost confidence in this group sorry to say....because TheEagleman loves his ORU basketball....but I am calling this one..............South Dakota 73  ORU 70...... :|

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Denell Henderson saved ORU's conference season with clutch FT shooting.  tough shooting night for Korey, but he rebounded well and ORU came away with a road win.

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ORU has a small but athletic roster that is trying to play Summit-style, rather than exploiting the advantages they have.

 

For example, when was the last time ORU pressed full-court just for the hell of it, instead of in desperation when trailing in the last minutes?  Did you see how bad the press looked the last of couple of possessions against SDSU?  No one knew what to do or where to go, because they never run it!

 

Why not "release the hounds" with all these little quick guys??  Just sayin'...

 

Just sayin', indeed!

 

I wasn't able to listen to the game, but following it on Twitter, am I to understand that ORU was down by as much as double-digits in this game until full-court pressing the final 8 minutes to win it?

 

Maybe I should send these guys an invoice for consulting fees... 8)

 

And here's some more free advice:  DO IT ALL THE TIME!

 

ORU could be the THE team in the Summit League that speeds up the game with high-pressure, full-court DEFENSE, ala Arkansas' "40 Minutes Of Hell" under Nolan Richardson (and unlike Omaha, who wants to speed it up offensively, but does not play defense).

 

It would freak-out most other conference teams, since no one else in the league does it, and since most are not (for the most part) equipped to deal with it (Alexander at NDSU being the notable exception - he's got handles.)

 

Until ORU has a more Summit-like roster, why the heck not?  They've got the personnel and the depth, and it might result in more easy transition buckets (something this team desperately needs), and get the guys to play a little looser.

 

Again:  just sayin'...

 

P.S.  Great win, any way you can get it.  All road wins in conference are precious; especially trailing by 10 at the half.  I just hope Korey buys Denell's dessert tonight:  KB risked being the latest late-game goat after an 0-for-2 trip to the line with :08 left and ORU up by one, but Henderson saved Billbury's bacon by blocking USD's lay-up attempt at the buzzer.

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TheEagleman NEVER bets against his beloved Golden Eagles but getting the home team +1.5 was just too tempting today.....and thanks to Korey Billbury's 2 missed FTs in the final seconds I got the best of both worlds....cha-ching!!!....ORU comes from 11 down with nine minutes to play to win 73-72....at least we found one guy who can make FTs in the clutch....Henderson gets 14 points to go with Obi's 24,,,,,and Owens chips in 11....seems the freshman can play a little...so apparently this ORU squad does have some life left and some heart....not easy coming back late from double digits on the road....TheEagleman is impressed as this was a much needed win with IPIUI and IPFW coming up on the road..... :clap:

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Also....TheEagleman agrees with OT....we should be playing up tempo basketball and pressing as much as possible....Coach Sutton has 10 guys he can play regularly so I see no reason not to employ that strategy as much as the game dictates....it surely can't hurt because these Summit teams are mostly killing us in the paint....again, I feel a lot better after this win...didn't see the game but we obviously played below par for most of the first 30 minutes...but the last 10 was special....ORU outscored South Dakota 25-13 in the last 9 minutes to get this huge win....and in addition to the game winning FTs....Henderson apparently had two blocks in the final seconds to preserve the victory.....Go Blue!... :clap:

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Wasn't able to listen to the game, but what a huge win! Sweet, sweet victory coming from behind. Gutsy W.

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I was on pins and needles when Korey missed both of those free throws. Denell came up huge with his free throws and blocks. This should give the team confidence. They could win the next 5 if they can hit their stride.

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This was a crazy outcome.  We led for less than two minutes of game time - and NEVER led by more than one point.  We received the benefit of a questionable call (on the road, no less) to bring Denell to the line with 23 seconds left, and a no-call playing defense on the last USD possession, after Korey missed both free throws.

 

We've had several games this year that we lost when we should have won (at Weber, at Denver).  This is one that we won when we should have lost.  Turnabout, fair play.

 

Classic Geoff Haxton call as Obi pulled down the last shot to secure the win - "Winner, Winner, Coyote Dinner"...

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TheEagleman would love to hear that final call by Hax...maybe even the final 30 seconds of the game if somebody can post it.....and only 6 turnovers.....wow....when ORU only turns it over that many times we usually win....but poor shooting under 43% can offset that stat a lot of the time....this team is still a heart attack.... :sweat:

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here ya go eagleman...

https://t.co/Said2vgYia #orumbb @ORUMBB This is how radio sounded down the stretch at South Dakota. @tulsaanimal971

— Geoff Haxton (@GeoffHaxton)

February 1, 2015

 

 

video:

USD flop/block call....LINK

 

Henderson late game block...LINK

 

missed FT and final play...LINK

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Thanks, Alum...Hax is the best!..... :clap:

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Geoff's call of the end of the game was great!  I watched the game on the South Dakota Internet video feed, which had their radio announcers calling the game in the audio.  They couldn't believe a couple of those calls in the last minutes ... i.e., the Henderson call with 23-seconds, and the no-calls at the end.  So Dakota played well enough to win, but got no home-cooking from the officials.  For a game in the Dakota's, we got a good crew calling the game, that seemed to show no obvious bias.  The end of the game was an adrenalin rush for anyone watching or listening to the game.   What made this game so much more dramatic was the outcome in our favor ... recently these just haven't gone our way, and with Korey missing those 2 free throws at the very end, it seemed like "same song, next verse" with a likely SD 2-pointer at the end to close it out. 

 

You could see Scott Sutton's emotions building as the game got close at the end, with timely called time-outs to keep the comeback on-track, and that post-game interview with Geoff was a display of his emotional exhaustion and joy with the outcome.  They cut the TV feed off at the end of the game, so I couldn't hear their coaches post game interview (although, he gave a great pre-game interview that was Highly complementary of ORU players, coaches, team, etc.  He was pointing to this game as a "prestige victory" for their program.)   After watching the gals get crushed earlier, this game was a needed win to redeem the day.   That snowy bus ride home will be a lot more tolerable now!

 

Now ... If we can just keep the magic going for this week's road games ... the complexion of the end of the season would be a whole lot different and exciting!

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Referees for the game were Todd Von Sossan, Bret Wegenke, and Tyler Ford. 

 

All three have been calling their share of Summit League games this year, but typical of a disturbing trend I've noted before, only one of them has called a game in Tulsa this year (Wegenke called the Omaha game at the Mabee Center). 

 

Von Sossan and Ford have each officiated over 15 games this season, but none further south than Macomb, IL.  Von Sosson called the ORU-NDSU game earlier in the year in Fargo; Ford was seeing ORU for the first time this season.

 

Amazing that ORU was able to get the benefit of the calls late on the road, considering those three refs have no familiarity to speak of with the team and staff.

 

Just thankful John Yorkovich wasn't there:  no doubt he would have called a charge on Denell for that last-minute post move, with his usual histrionics.

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ORU's lineup down the stretch...

 

Billbury

Emegano

Word

Webber

Henderson

w/Conley sprinkled in a few possessions

 

interesting to note that none of ORU's 3 PGs were on the court for the comeback win.

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Another note of interest:  after both of their laughers at home vs. non-Division 1 opponents, ORU has gone on to win a tight road game (at Detroit following Haskell, and at USD following Tabor).

 

Coincidence?  Don't know, but I won't be surprised if Scott Sutton schedules similar "scrimmages" next year if there's an open week before a big solo road game.

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