#4 WIU vs. #5 St. Thomas

[Texasgrip]

Should be a good game, and ORU gets the winner.  Who would you rather see tomorrow?

[ORUJason]

It might be hard to say but probably Western Illinois because even though St. Thomas is a little undersized, they are a fairly scrappy bunch on both defense and offense.  

[dave]

Doesn't matter. Same result as long as the Eagles are on their game and in an agressive mind set.

[Old Titan]

Not a lot of defense being played in this one; Western seems to have the advantage in the paint early, but their short bench may pose a problem late.

[Eaglefan 21]

Give me a Western Illinois team that virtually only plays 5 players on a back to back and only has two true 3 point threats. The Tommies might get red hot from the 3 and make it way more interesting than we would like also, the aforementioned scrappiness. 

[jmg1984]

W I dominant inside. We'll see if Tommies shoot the 3 better in the 2nd half. I'd rather have ORU face W I

[theeagleman5]

WIU up 5 midway through the 2nd half....TheEagleman doesn't care who we play.....ORU will crush either one......

[MrsSmith]

I'm for a close game - overtime - then WI winning. 

[SonofaLegend]

I think I'm going for the more classic purple, the Leathernecks. 

[ORUJason]

I think I saw "LakesBison" in the crowd.  Rooting for Double Overtime.  I do love the intensity of single-elimination college basketball tournaments.  You can see the anxiety on both of the head coaches' faces.

[Old Titan]

Man, I will say this about the Tommies:  they are not all that athletic and in some games they have run out of steam late, but they play hard the full 40 minutes, and like the turtle racing the hare, they have taken the lead over WIU with 3:00 to go.

[ORUJason]

Yes I agree.  They are scrappy.  And if they win the whole tournament, ORU will get the autobid, so I guess I should be rooting for the Tommies.

[ORUalum11]

We have to defend the 3 and make them beat us inside. 

[Old Titan]

Tommies do not take great care of the ball; defense like ORU played Saturday night should turn them over a bit and consequently force them to foul in transition.

Get Rhode and/or Bjorkland in foul trouble, and they have few other options on offense (no one else on the team with more than four points Sunday night).

[ORUTerry]

Game was won at the free throw line. Tommies were 11/15 while WIU was 1/5. 

St. Thomas made 24/54 field goals (8/19 from 3pt) and WIU made 27/63 field goals (5/17 from 3pt)
 

 

[jmg1984]

I guess W I ran out of gas. Bring on the Tommies!

[Old Titan]

1 hour ago, Old Titan said:

Not a lot of defense being played in this one; Western seems to have the advantage in the paint early, but their short bench may pose a problem late.

"Giving it up to myself!"  #Traberisms

 

[Otis 83]

15 minutes ago, ORUTerry said:

Game was won at the free throw line. Tommies were 11/15 while WIU was 1/5. 

St. Thomas made 24/54 field goals (8/19 from 3pt) and WIU made 27/63 field goals (5/17 from 3pt)
 

 

Minnesota is a neighboring state to the Dakotas so, absent a team from the Dakotas, the league must have instructed the refs to give St Thomas “The Dakota Treatment.”