MBB this week NKU and WSU

[Penquin68]

Two very tough road games for us.  Both teams have good players and big and capable inside players, and have won a lot of conference games.  We need to somehow slow down their inside game to have a chance.  I think John Sally can hopefully be the person to do it.  He doesn't fit well with man defense and the running game, but could be effective with a zone defense in my opinion. And we need Q to continue to play as strongly as he has and the team to really work on defense.  Lets hope for good games.  Who would have thought we could win 6 straight conference games?

[ucfpengbuck]

Two very tough road games for us.  Both teams have good players and big and capable inside players, and have won a lot of conference games.  We need to somehow slow down their inside game to have a chance.  I think John Sally can hopefully be the person to do it.  He doesn't fit well with man defense and the running game, but could be effective with a zone defense in my opinion. And we need Q to continue to play as strongly as he has and the team to really work on defense.  Lets hope for good games.  Who would have thought we could win 6 straight conference games?

I'll be watching although I'm not optimistic playing the two best teams in the league on the road.  I think Salley might be able to match up against the big man for WSU  since he's a big body who is mainly a low post pound it in type.  As long as John plays smart and uses his length from correct distance to avoid fouls and still alters shots.
McDonald from NKU is a tougher match up since he can step out and shoots it well from distance.  Noe might be better suited for this assignment .   Both teams have the experience factor and our young Penguins need to stay mentally tough with the home crowd getting loud every time these team have a run and the runs will come.  Playing with house money so hopefully we're loose and not feeling pressured.

[mudclods]

WOW YSU is a 14.5 point underdog to NKU.  I realize they are undefeated at home & tied for first, but that seems pretty high against a team that's won 6 in a row & our worst loss in league play has been by 15 to UIC.  I really thought maybe around 9. 

[ucfpengbuck]

Lose by 7 at NKU .    Quisenberry  tweaks ankle 30 seconds into the game and tried to gut it out to no avail . Hard to beat a good team at their house when they live at the foul line but they earned them.
Dead even game around the 3 minute mark and our offense had terrible execution and that's being polite.

NKU is a great team but not sure they want to see us in Indy in the Horizon tournament.  Guys played their rears off and have to bounce back with the same intensity on Saturday in Dayton.
Naz looked great attacking the basket and needs to keep that up and he'll be another threat that teams need to account for.  2 games left and the guys need to believe they can win them both.

[YsuPride]

How serious is the injury quisenberry?

[ucfpengbuck]

How serious is the injury quisenberry?

I think he's been dealing with the ankle most of the season .  One of those problems where it's tender though Q has been able to deal with it.   I'm guessing he'll play Saturday.

[YsuPride]

I think we played good enough to win even without our best player. Win Lose or Draw on Saturday against Wright State the Cleveland State game will be a must-win. One thing we have to stop is letting the other team get to the free-throw line so many times. We need more of an inside game. Hopefully we can upset Wright State but they are playing great right now.

[mudclods]

Definitely played hard.  In a way it kind of reminded me of the UIC game until the end where we really didn't play the greatest, but gave ourselves a chance to win.  This was probably more similar to earlier in the season where we didn't play good down the stretch and gave it away.  A couple poor possessions late on offense.  Didn't understand the long 3 by Covington and Morgan forced some things inside.  Also we had the momentum and Coach called a timeout then we gave up an easy basket and they controlled after that.  Even the announcers questioned that. 

Nonetheless to only lose by 7 basically without Quisenberry to a team that hasn't lost at home when we were a 14 point underdog says a lot about where we've come.  I think everyone knows this team can beat anyone anywhere.

Really need to beat Wright St now and close out at home against CSU to go into the tourney with momentum and not fall to low seed.

[ytownchief22]

No Q, no chance.

[Penquin68]

Quisenberry saved us in the UIC game at the end.  He is the go to guy in difficult situations and we didn't have him.  With him we have a great chance to win. He can drive to the basket and if they play off him, shoot 3's. A tough matchup for sure.  I don't think NKU wants to face us in the tourney at full strength.  As crazy as it sounds, we could win the tournament and go to the NCAA for the first time in school history.

The inside game really hurt us.  I was hoping John Sally could slow them down, but he only played a few minutes and I guess the coach didn't think he would work out. We can't stop a good inside game.

Hope Q can play and be somewhat healthy Saturday.  We need that win.

[mudclods]

Coach said in the post-game interview that Quisenberry will probably be out Saturday.

[Double ET]

If we can qualify for the tournament without him, we might as well keep him out till then.
With us at full strength, we might be able to make a run in the neutral court.

[mudclods]

Looks like Quisenberry gets the start & going to see how he feels.  Sure hope he doesn't hurt it worse.  Really need him for the tournament.

[ucfpengbuck]

Got smacked in the mouth early and never got off the canvas.  Not much to  say other than Wright state is really good.

[mudclods]

Got smacked in the mouth early and never got off the canvas.  Not much to  say other than Wright state is really good.

Yes.  Not sure if it was just a letdown of giving it all against NKU, but we didn't really look ready to play & Wright St played about as good as you can.  This was just about our worst performance of the year. It seemed like games earlier in the season where we looked lost on offense with no inside game.  On the other side, Wright St just killed us inside.  All we can do is foul, foul, foul and they make foul shots.

Anything can surely happen in the tournament, but after watching Wright St beat NKU and watching us play both over the last few days, Wright St looks like the team to beat.

Just hope not for a great performance next Saturday against CSU, get to .500 in the league and hopefully avoid falling to the 7th or 8th seed.  It's going to be a tall task for anyone to go to NKU or WSU and win on the road.