ORUTerry Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 The Bison visit the Mabee Center Saturday. If NDSU hopes to capture the 2nd place slot, they need to win this game. Here is a link to their stats: Link NDSU is 3-3 in league play and have lost their last two games (WIU at home and UMKC on the road) Conference stats: PPG: 81.0 FG%: 46.6% 3pt%: 38.2% Reb Margin: +2.0 Assists: 8.7 Turnovers: 12.5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 NDSU is very experienced but have an injury to the big man Nelson and that is probably a major reason why they have lost the last two games. Also, as True Blue 82 said in the conference games post, the Bison tend to turn the ball over too much. They do not have a true point guard and usually have the 6'6 small forward Griesel handling the ball. Rocky Kreuser was a big problem in the championship game last year, as he scored over 30 and dominated the second half. The Eagles really need to have Lufile available tomorrow night to try and slow Rocky down, otherwise he may have another huge night. Nothing against Weaver but he cannot guard Rocky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EagleManiac Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 19 minutes ago, Keenan Henderson said: Rocky Kreuser was a big problem in the championship game last year, as he scored over 30 and dominated the second half. The Eagles really need to have Lufile available tomorrow night to try and slow Rocky down, otherwise he may have another huge night. Nothing against Weaver but he cannot guard Rocky. Kreuser will put 40 on us tomorrow night if DJ is asked to defend him all night. If Eli is out, I wonder if Plet/Clover will get some big minutes? They may not produce anything on the offensive side of the ball, but I think one of those two, together with maybe a little bit of strategic double teaming, could prevent him from going off on us again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 ORU is -7....O/U is 154.5.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 ORU knows this is a big game and should come out with some fire in their belly. They started very slow against North Dakota, down 11-2 early. UND was 0-5 in conference and just hard to get for but tonight will be different. As long as Rocky does not put up 30, the Eagles should win by say 5-10 points. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUJason Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 Lufile is the key to defending Rocky Kreuser. He has been tough for us to defend every year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle88 Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 If Eli is back tonight it should be a boost for us. Kreuser is a load and we need to slow him down. I predict we will be focused tonight and we will shoot the ball well. ORU- 75- ND State 68 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 Hard to believe that the Good Guys will put up another stinker at home in back to back games....this is a huge one tonight...beyond big.....and a decisive victory will send a message to the entire Summit League.....TheEagleman is optimistic that Max and the lads will put up some big numbers tonight....we have to go out early and seize the momentum.....cut their hearts out......feeling real good about this one.....ORU 87 NDSU 77.....GO BLUE!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 When ORU scores 80 or more they are 12-1 this season. So, it is still a race to 80 for the Eagles to win. NDSU is struggling on defense in the last few games, so let's hope that continues tonight. ESPN gives the Eagles an 87 percent to win. Got to like those odds! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 No Coach Mills tonight, out with some non covid illness. Max struggling with 1-9 shooting, yet ORU only down by 3. Hopefully the Eagles can get it going in the second half. The guys still seem a little out of sync. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EagleManiac Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Brutal. Really bad defense with the game on the line. Not sure who's at fault on that one. I think maybe Carlos? In other news,that was a very very very very very poorly officiated game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Sam Griesel hit the big time shot and ORU falls by one. That is having ice water in your veins from Sam. Last year, Lacis blocked his shot to help ORU win and this year the young man redeems himself. Good for him. It will be interesting to see how ORU bounces back after two off nights. The old question every year for ORU is: can they beat SDSU and NSDU? The Eagles did last year but this year they are 0-2. This team is experienced and should be fine. Still think they can go 14-4 in conference play and finish second. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmg1984 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Two thoughts: Max's shot is real off since 2nd half of N D game and herron did awesome in the short time he was in there him not playing more is a mystery to me and one extra thought the D just let's the guy go down the court to score close on a tough shot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBlue82 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Absolutely hate to lose one at home. But, as we have said many times, this team “lives by the three and dies by the three”. Tonight, with Max making only 2 of 13 from three (and the team 8 of 31), it’s surprising that the Eagles even had a chance to win it with a last second shot. Hopefully, the team will learn from this, and return the favor next month in Fargo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmg1984 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 3 minutes ago, EagleManiac said: Brutal. Really bad defense with the game on the line. Not sure who's at fault on that one. I think maybe Carlos? In other news,that was a very very very very very poorly officiated game. Yeah these refs are sad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBlue82 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 19 minutes ago, jmg1984 said: Yeah these refs are sad Saturday night in the Summit… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 I think this could be a good loss in that it shows the guys that they still have room to improve. Every season has its ups and downs, highs and lows, ends and outs (we get the picture ). It kind of felt like they peaked after winning three straight games on the road, so these last two games are definitely teaching moments for Coach Mills and company. Still a long way to go and ORU will bounce back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Bummer....tough tough loss.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Great call with two seconds left and Carlos throws length of the floor pass to Lacis who then flipped the ball to Max for the three. Even through it was too strong, the play design was top notch. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmg1984 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 8 minutes ago, Keenan Henderson said: Great call with two seconds left and Carlos throws length of the floor pass to Lacis who then flipped the ball to Max for the three. Even through it was too strong, the play design was top notch. It was! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBlue82 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 We now have two losses at home this season, both ending with ORU missing a buzzer-beater that would have turned the loss into victory. As with the loss to OkState, this one will sting for awhile… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle88 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Here are a couple of takeaways from the game last night: first NDState played their A game and we did not and we lost by 1 point. They shot around 41% from 3 we shot around 24%. Secondly we had been riding a nice winning streak and perhaps the players were getting a little overconfident so now the coaches can send the message that there is room to improve and the players listen. Much better to peak in mid-late February and really peak in the conference tournament. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ORU40 Posted January 23 Popular Post Share Posted January 23 Last night we saw our opponents execute their scouting report, first- on offense they used the entire shot clock on most possessions, teams want to slow us down, they don't want the game in the 80's. Secondly, a lot of ball and player motion and when ready to shoot they played inside out, either going into the post or driving for good inside looks or kicking it out for good open 3 point shot attempts. NDSU actually missed several very easy inside shots. Defensively- don't let Max beat you, make the other players score. Play Max tough, double on the picks and help when he drives! Try to force the other guys into either contested 3's or ideally force us to drive, obviously we are much better when we can launch open trees from anywhere we want. We are not a great finish off the drive team, we want to shoot 3's. One thing I did not see us do once last night, and the one adjustment I think would add a new weapon to our offense is passing into the post! we did not post up a big or any size mismatch one time last night. Just to show it, lets every once in a while post someone up- make a post entry pass and either make a move to the basket or if they drop a defender for the double team- pass it out of the post for an open 3 (an inside out- our entire offense is run off the 3 point line and every team in the league knows it). We all see what Lufile has done in minimal minutes and Herron not playing more I just don't understand!! I've said it before, but I just don't think that 3 small guard line up is our best unit and I don't see it winning the conference or the conference tourney!! It's now the 2nd half of the conference schedule, it's money time!! Let's not just hope we shoot the 3's well. We have good, talented athletic bigs... lets start banging these teams around- offensively and defensively a little bit!! Go Eagles!! 1 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle88 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 I really agree with your analysis ORU 40! Well said. Hopefully they will do this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 Random observations: This loss could be big in terms of conference seeding. ORU is one game ahead in the league, but still has to travel to Fargo to play NDSU…. which becomes really important because a Bison win would give them the tiebreaker For the second game in a row, we missed multiple layups and open three pointers. A lot of our shots were short and we looked tired at times. We did better on the boards (40 rebounds vs their 33) and second chance points (11 vs. 5) NDSU typically did not initiate their offense until around 10 seconds were left on the shot clock. As ORU40 said, the Bison played inside-out and got several of our post defenders (Lacis, Lufile) in foul trouble (2) in the first half. Would have liked to see more minutes from Herron and Lufile - especially in the second half. I think Lufile grabbed a couple of offensive rebounds when he was playing - which would have been helpful in the second half. We obviously were out of synch from the three point line. Lots of misses that were open, but others that were contested and probably should not have been made. Our guards also dribbled the ball too much - which (I think) resulted in numerous turnovers. We had 12 (resulted in only 5 Bison points) and NDSU had 9 (resulting in 6 ORU points). I wonder what Mills’ absence had on us? I continue to be impressed by our out of bounds plays and plays out of time outs - including the last second look by Amas. How about those officials? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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