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ORU vs. St. Thomas


ORUTerry

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Tonight's game will be interesting from a coaching stand point, do we just get into a 3 point shooting contest? that's a 50-50 preposition at best on the road. Do we play our best perimeter defenders- Carlos and Kareem or our "better shooters" who may not be our best defenders? Do we go big and try to pound the ball inside against a smaller team? the bigs may have trouble defending the smaller team.

When you play a team that runs its stuff well you have to be disciplined on defense, cant overplay passing lanes or you'll get back doored, going for the steal will often times result in a lay up or open shot against you. You have to keep your man and the ball in front of you and play a lot of team D with good communication on the picks and consistent weak side help!    

We'll have to play smart tonight, I think it's a game where we'll need to rely on our veterans like Kareem, Carlos, Lacis and Weaver along with Max for the most part!

Go Eagles!!

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37 minutes ago, ORU40 said:

Tonight's game will be interesting from a coaching stand point, do we just get into a 3 point shooting contest? that's a 50-50 preposition at best on the road. Do we play our best perimeter defenders- Carlos and Kareem or our "better shooters" who may not be our best defenders? Do we go big and try to pound the ball inside against a smaller team? the bigs may have trouble defending the smaller team.

When you play a team that runs its stuff well you have to be disciplined on defense, cant overplay passing lanes or you'll get back doored, going for the steal will often times result in a lay up or open shot against you. You have to keep your man and the ball in front of you and play a lot of team D with good communication on the picks and consistent weak side help!    

We'll have to play smart tonight, I think it's a game where we'll need to rely on our veterans like Kareem, Carlos, Lacis and Weaver along with Max for the most part!

Go Eagles!!

It is a fascinating match-up; you can really make a case for a lot of different approaches, and I bet we see all of them in the first half.

Coach Mills has shown a propensity for riding whatever is working, once it becomes obvious.  The second half will likely feature a heavy dose of whatever was most effective in the first 20 minutes.

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This is really good stuff and TheEagleman appreciates reading all the various opinions of posters who understand the game of basketball......one doesn't get this type of analysis over on the TU board.....😉

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You have to play defense on the road. While we are a good three point shooting team, so are the Tommies - and they are used to their home court. Their propensity to establish big leads in the first half and then relinquish some/all of that in the second half could indicate that they do not have a deep bench. St. Thomas does have a lot of senior leadership & experience. 

This will be a big game for them and we will have a target on us. The guys have to play hard - and smart. 
 

 

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The next two games will be very important to ORU’s placement in the Summit League final standings.  
 

Tonight, ORU faces a new conference opponent on the road in a game that SHOULD result in a win, but is one of those potential “gotcha” games.  Surviving tonight’s game will keep ORU as a legitimate contender for the regular season title.  

Saturday, ORU will travel to meet the “up-and-down” Leathernecks, who performed admirably against a challenging non-conference schedule, but have fallen flat on their faces since the start of Summit play.  This would have been considered a coin-flip game two weeks ago, but is now an opportunity to knock the ‘Necks out of the Summit race with a convincing win on their home court.  
 

There’s very little margin for error this weekend.  A sweep would be huge for this team, a split would be acceptable (though disappointing), and two losses would be devastating.  

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TheEagleman couldn't have said it better, TrueBlue......well done, sir!   :shield-logo:

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It is early in the conference season but tonight's game is basically a battle for second place in the Summit League.  St. Thomas has two guards that average 35 points together and ORU will need Carlos and Kareem to slow them down.  The Eagles played well on the South Dakota roadtrip, so hopefully they can kept that going on this next three game road trip.  Coach Mills did not seem too excited that someone scheduled ORU for 5 of its first 7 conference games to be away from the Mabee Center.  Who would be?

ORU's quick guards should be able to get the basket agaisnt the Tommies.  St. Thomas has no shot blockers (only average one block per game), so the Eagles can make a living driving to the basket.  Then Lufile or Weaver should be open for a dunk or layup.  I would run Max and McBride driving all night until St. Thomas slows that down.

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7 minutes ago, Keenan Henderson said:

 ORU's quick guards should be able to get the basket agaisnt the Tommies.  St. Thomas has no shot blockers (only average one block per game), so the Eagles can make a living driving to the basket.  Then Lufile or Weaver should be open for a dunk or layup.  I would run Max and McBride driving all night until St. Thomas slows that down.

For all the talk about perimeter shooting, shots at the rim - and preventing them at the other end - will be a key factor. 

Neither of these teams take mid-range shots; they look for threes or cuts to the basket.  Protecting the rim with the likes of Lacis, Lufile, Herron, etc. while getting offensive rebounds and stick-backs with the Tommies on defense, will all be critical.

Really looking forward to this game!

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Line has dropped to ORU -4.5......sounds like OT may have laid some serious money on the Tommies.....😎

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Good guys by 11 at the half. And looking a little sloppy, to be honest. But, they seem to have the Tommies a little intimidated so far with their athleticism.

Game is by no means in the bag, but losing this one at this point would be a travesty. 

P.S.  The Tommies announcer, who is simulcasting radio and TV both, is convinced Max’s last name is “Acemuth”.

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Tommies have no answer for Mad Max.... Pile it on, baby!!!:shield-logo:

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Until that last three with 10 seconds to go ORU was holding St. Thomas to what would have been their season low (63)... after the made three by Riley Miller the St. Thomas score of 66 was the Tommies' third lowest of the season.

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55 minutes ago, Old Titan said:

P.S.  The Tommies announcer, who is simulcasting radio and TV both, is convinced Max’s last name is “Acemuth”.

I guess it’s an honor to have your name mispronounced to be rhyming with the inventor of the game you play. 

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58 minutes ago, Old Titan said:

P.S.  The Tommies announcer, who is simulcasting radio and TV both, is convinced Max’s last name is “Acemuth”.

He kept switching back and forth between that and the correct pronunciation. 🤣 Couldn't quite get it. 

Decent game. Very impressed with St. Thomas. Not the most talented team we'll play but they do a lot just about everything the right way. Bjorkland had a heck of a game. I suspect they will fade pretty heavily as the conference season wears on. 

On to Western Illinois!

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Glad Max is finding his groove.  

Lufile is shooting 66% from the field and averaging 5 points and 5 rebounds over 12 minutes per game.  Give him 25 minutes a game and he will average a double double.

Great shooting and rebounding effort tonight!

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38 for Max and ORU easily covers....no bad beat tonight (check out Miami/Syracuse last night)...Good Guys 10-6 and bring on the Leathernecks!!....:tb-blue:

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Break out night for Max. Should help his scoring average. Eli is making a big difference.  Not only is he scoring but his inside strength is giving us rebounds and the ability to alter their shots. The Tommies are a really disciplined team but they haven't faced a team like us so far. We are starting to play well together 

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It seemed like our defensive game plan was to defend every three point attempt at the expense of opening up some easier (although still contested) shots in the paint.  It worked, as the Tommies never really caught fire from beyond the arc until the very end.  UST shifted their approach in the second half to having the shooter attempt the three from right behind the screen, very similar to what Denver did (successfully) in the second half last week.  The coaching staff will need to work on defending this before we meet up with DU and UST for the second time.  Actually, sooner than that, as I’m sure other Summit teams will play copy-cat until the Eagles figure out a way to stop it. 

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