ORU vs. Drury 11/2/10

[Bogus Smith]

Anyone else noticed the spelling of Jake Lliteras's name on his jersey tonight? I thought it was a misspelling until I just looked him up on the Roster and in the Box Score. I never knew that his last name started with a double "L"!! Now we're going to have to get his spelling right when we talk about him (which will be a lot in the next four years).

[Bogus Smith]

1st off..Warren has improved in every aspect of his game 22pts...it was Drury...but he played an awesome game...DOMO did alright..not bad.....did anyone else notice McClintock wasnt on the bench?? or was he there an i jus didnt see him?...also Ken played a good game...13 pts I think...Craion had a few bad passes down low that turned into turnovers

Hunter was there tonight. He will play Saturday unless something more happens to his groin injury. He will progress slowly, but is still going to factor in to the team later this year.

Drury was a very good DII team. Hats off to them as they played much harder than we did. I know that they didn't come to Tulsa for a moral victory, but they did play better than we did. A game with Kelly Self in the officiating crew = lots of fouls with no flow to the game. I really hated the fact that they didn't allow the guys to play and get some rhythm to their game - especially for an exhibition game.

I have to believe that practice over the next couple of days will be tough for the good guys. We'll be OK for Saturday, but we have our hands full with MSU and Tulsa as openers to our season. We have as good a chance of starting 0-2 as we do 2-0 by this time two weeks from today.

[EagleFanatic]

We are definitely lucky we escaped with a win. We gave Drury confidence early and were not able to shake them or disrupt their flow. Personally I thought Holdman looked like he was fatigued or something, very uncharacteristic of him, and our guards didn't seem to value the ball. Our defense lacked intensity and they knocked down the shots we gave them. We didn't ever seem to get in a groove(besides the first four minutes of the game) and DU made us work hard for all of our points. They were a very impressive squad and executed at a much higher level than we did. That being said, it didn't look like we were really running much of an offense? Though we saw an AC-pick-up-game style of play tonight, I thought this team looked LOADED with potential. Roundtree is already ready to play at a very high level, I can only imagine what he will be like a few months from now. DoMo didn't have his best shooting night ever, but most of those shots he created himself and drew some contact. Didn't see very many screens for him. Warren Niles is a SUUUUUUPER STAR!!!! I can't wait for this season!!

[theeagleman5]

Niles and Roundtree were ORU's best players on the floor from what I saw....Craion, DoMo, Holdman and DBH didn't play well at all....when they do....we will be tough....TheEagleman expects a lot more from those four....

[ron]

Niles and Roundtree were ORU's best players on the floor from what I saw....Craion, DoMo, Holdman and DBH didn't play well at all....when they do....we will be tough....TheEagleman expects a lot more from those four....

Knowing who to play is going to be very tough! I think these guys are givens so far, but I had the feeling that Lliteras could have lit it up with more playing time. I'm hoping that Scott can bring him more. He is a clutch shooter (and probably the rest of the time as well).

Niles

Roundtree

DoMo

Craion

Holdman

Pearson

I'm hoping that Sutton did not want to beat his coaching pal with a longer bench and that we didn't see some other players for that reason. Again, hopefully Morton is the missing piece to replace Roundtree at this point. DBH, in spite of his height/weight advantage was not pushing guys around. He looked to be having trouble establishing himself down low. Angsomwine was better than expected.

I'm guessing that we see Stokes, Morton and McClintock on Saturday, if health is not an issue. A 13-person rotation does not a normal game make, and I think that was a goal somewhere in there.

Drury played well. They have some good players. I don't think Rogers State will be any tougher than they were.

[tmh8286]

I've got a box score from your SID...let me know what you want to know.

Great showing by DU for the first game...we can be pretty darn good. We missed some cripples, and the 2 missed front-ends of 1 and 1's late killed us. Oh, and the non-call on the mugging Holdman gave Lockhart after Lockhart picked his pocket with a couple minutes left and the non-call on the Bell-Holter goal tending didn't help.

Don't know what any of you all thought...but I thought our point guard, Lockhart, thoroughly outplayed Holdman. He's just a sophomore. Sutton had some nice words for him after the game.

Roundtree is going to be a hell of a player. He's head and shoulders above Bell-Holter.

Your team played very well, DUPanther. ORU was very fortunate to escape with the win. That game could have VERY EASILY ended with a different result. With five minutes left in the game, and Drury up by 8, I thought sure it would.

[ron]

I've got a box score from your SID...let me know what you want to know.

Great showing by DU for the first game...we can be pretty darn good. We missed some cripples, and the 2 missed front-ends of 1 and 1's late killed us. Oh, and the non-call on the mugging Holdman gave Lockhart after Lockhart picked his pocket with a couple minutes left and the non-call on the Bell-Holter goal tending didn't help.

Don't know what any of you all thought...but I thought our point guard, Lockhart, thoroughly outplayed Holdman. He's just a sophomore. Sutton had some nice words for him after the game.

Roundtree is going to be a hell of a player. He's head and shoulders above Bell-Holter.

I wouldn't mind knowing Lliteras' points and minutes played. Thanks for the offer. Great playing by your boys, by the way. They certainly didn't look out of place on our floor. If someone gets hot shooting the three, I'm guessing you guys can do some serious damage at your level.

[LongTimeFan]

Oh boy, not what we wanted to see. ORU struggles at home against a D2 opponent. Granted, Drury is one of the best D2 teams in the nation and they went 23-7 last year. Yeah, but what does a win prove? That ORU would really compete well in D2?

I was hoping ORU would be better than our 20-13 team last year, but last night sure didn't show it. We really need Craion to stay healthy. Let's hope that we gel in the next few games.

[tmh8286]

Ron (and others), the box score of last night's game is available here.

[bballmangc]

Niles

Roundtree

DoMo

Craion

Holdman

Pearson

I think you add Stokes and Hunter to that and you have your top 8. Morton and Nassarre might only play sparingly and I think Angsomwine plays over them.

[DUPanther]

I wouldn't mind knowing Lliteras' points and minutes played. Thanks for the offer. Great playing by your boys, by the way. They certainly didn't look out of place on our floor. If someone gets hot shooting the three, I'm guessing you guys can do some serious damage at your level.

Lliteras: 1-1 FG (1-1 3), 2-2 FT, 5 pts, 1 BLK, 7 minutes

Huge 3 by him towards the end. ORU likely loses if he misses that one. On the other hand, our outside shooting was cold. Alex Hall, our starting 2 guard, can really shoot it. He put up about 3 air balls on open shots in this one though...very uncharacteristic. He was one of the leading 3 pt shooters in the nation in D2 last year.

I'm excited about our team...especially since we started 3 sophomores and our freshman forward (Ian Carter) had 10 points and 2 rebounds in 7 minutes played. He stepped up big in crunch time in his first collegiate game and even flushed one along the baseline.

I've always been of the opinion that we're as good or better than alot of lower level D1 teams...teams like UMKC and Western Illinois. I think we proved that to be correct. Give Hesser 3 more scholarships like D1 teams get and we could move up and compete in the Summit.

Don't fret, though, ORU fans. Hesser is a hell of a coach with a long track record of playing more talented teams close. You've got a lot of talent...I wouldn't want to be Rogers St.

[oruvoice]

Drury is as good/better than several Summit League teams. Well coached. High B-ball IQ.

It was a good test for an exhibition. But, we run only base offense and defense in these games. Plus, we had no intensity last night. Meanwhile, Drury was playing with their pants on fire. Don't get too worked up about the result, eagle fans.

[Golfdad]

Glad they came out with a victory. We got some calls that even the home team had to feel bad for getting, but that is the game. That Drury team had some of the nicest interior passing I have seen in a long time. They really have a nice team. Thankfully, I have seen our guys start totally ragged like this, and somehow, Scott Sutton molds them into a much better team than we saw last night. Have become a big Scott Sutton fan in the last couple of years, and I have faith he will get the kinks worked out of this team as well.

[ORUTerry]

We lacked intensity and focus. Way too many turnovers - especially by our point guard who were very lax with the ball. Our point guards did not look good. They did not get their teammates into the games; saw several times that they failed to get the ball to the open man or into the post. The only entry pass into the post that I saw was made by Roundtree into DBH.

Niles and Roundtree looked good. Roundtree just needs to not commit silly fouls.

I hope Craion's foot is okay.

Sutton has lots of things to show the players to work on.

[ORUIsbig]

Disgraceful. We cheered at the end like we had just beaten Missouri again. the win only masked the horrible showing that ORU made. Sloppy. Silly fouls/foul outs. Coach said they had a higher opinion of themselves than they should and it showed. Defense was terrible in the second half. three Coach suttons on that bench and we couldn't stop them from making jumpers and get a rebound?

Most interesting observation was the lineup. Most of the game they played Holdman, Pierson, Niles, Domo, (whoever wasn't fouled out). Not much PG controversy if both Ken and Rod play together.

By the way, we have no beef. Our points in the paint were nearly 0. And DBH has no intensity. Somebody wake that guy up. Kyan Brown was giving the bench the business for their lack of intensity. I thought he might pop a vein or punch DBH in the face.

[LarryL]

One beyond-the-arc shot of losing to a DII? Oh boy . . .

[MrsSmith]

Kyan Brown was giving the bench the business for their lack of intensity. I thought he might pop a vein or punch DBH in the face.

Kyan was telling the bench that they better be cheering or they would be doing a lot of running. They immediately got into the game.

I don't think I've ever seen Kyan so intense. He's such a nice guy.

[bballmangc]

Posts definitely need to step it up but we really don't have much beef, craion can score but isn't that big, I actually liked roundtree's performance on offensive (not the fouls). Big year for DBH.