YSU - PFW MBB

[mudclods]

Just finished watching the replay of the game.  YSU came out flat with no energy and was down 14 early.  They fought back and had the ball down 4 right before half and had a killer turnover that resulted in a 3 by PFW and was down 7 at the half.  YSU came out sharp in the 2nd half and quickly tied it.  But they just could never get over the hump.  And just like the game at YSU, the final losing by 11 was deceiving. 

Will Dunn was tremendous off the bench scoring 20 points and not missing from the field.  Olison had a hell of a game with 17 making 5 of 6 from 3.  But the same old story, turnovers were brutal with 27 of them and they turned that in 29 points vs 15 for YSU.  They were also 11-14 from the FT line compared to YSU at just 3-7.  That was the story of the game despite YSU shooting 57% from the field and 57% from 3, and even outrebounding them.

Cohill added 12, but had 5 turnovers.  Everyone else was non-existent.  Myles Hunter only played 3 mins.

Moral of the story of the story is this team plays hard, competes and is in every game, but lacks the leadership to win games in the league.  CSU & PFW are 2 of the oldest teams in the country. 

YSU has fallen to 8th in the league and only a 1/2 game up on 10th.  Next 4 against GB & Milwaukee at home then IUPUI and UIC on the road so YSU better find ways to win at least 3 of these.

[Dmorton]

So much for fourth place! 

[Wick250]

We have several players that can dazzle with their offensive abilities.  Unfortunately, we have very few players who can or will play defense for 40 minutes. Until that changes, we will never climb out of the second division, even in a league as weak as the Horizon is right now.

[Dmorton]

In the last two games we played solid defense in the second half for five or ten minutes to either tie the game or go ahead!  Both times we ended the game with defensive gaffes to let the other team regain momentum!

[chezmustache]

     The Penguins must play defense for anything good to happen. 

     Defense the last three games has been abysmal.  58 points allowed during the second half at West Virginia.  35 points allowed in the second half versus Defiance.  50 points allowed during the first half at Oakland. 

     The top three players in Oakland had dreadful +/- statistics.  Akuchie -21, Olison -25, and Cohill -20.  These players were the Penguins leading scorers.  They yielded twice the points they scored. 

     The Penguins will win when team defense becomes a priority again.       

     Same story, different day and location. 

     Purdue Fort Wayne scored 50 points in the second half. 

     The Penguins shot better than 57% from the field and more than 57% beyond the arc.  Nevertheless, Penguin core players squandered their offensive production.  Disappointing +/- statistics exposed the quality of defense played, Akuchie -11, Olison -13, Cohill -12, and Rathan-Mayes -16.

     Is the coaching staff getting the message to the players?  Is there a lack of accountability for players not with the program?  Whatever the dynamics, the coaching staff must get control of the situation, or you will get this same result, time after time after time.   

[ucfpengbuck]

I was just checking the schedule and see a lot of winnable games coming up so i'm hoping to see a run of wins.  The team needs to stay together after a bunch of close losses,hopefully the coaches and seniors can keep the team from not getting down. 

Will Dunn.  Can he show that type of performance going forward or was that just one of those games where we see a guy play great in one game and then never see it again ?   It's nice having another big in there to go along with Akuchie.

I follow college wrestling and there are guys on Iowa and Michigan who are in their 7th season.  Redshirt,olympic redshirt,covid red shirt.   It had me wondering if we could get one more season out of Tevin Olison.

[mudclods]

I was just checking the schedule and see a lot of winnable games coming up so i'm hoping to see a run of wins.  The team needs to stay together after a bunch of close losses,hopefully the coaches and seniors can keep the team from not getting down. 

Will Dunn.  Can he show that type of performance going forward or was that just one of those games where we see a guy play great in one game and then never see it again ?   It's nice having another big in there to go along with Akuchie.

I follow college wrestling and there are guys on Iowa and Michigan who are in their 7th season.  Redshirt,olympic redshirt,covid red shirt.   It had me wondering if we could get one more season out of Tevin Olison.

I think this team will be fine if they can string together some wins going forward; they need to taste some success. 

And I wondered that too about Olison.  Sounds like Chicone will be back next week according to Coach Calhoun tonight.  Also sounds like Will Dunn will be starting this week.  I've been a little surprised Will hasn't gotten more PT this year as he seemed to play more last year, but always figure the coaches see these guys on a daily basis.  His size has created some havoc on defense at times when he's guarded the ball up top and when they've pressed.  I'm hoping he follows a similar path as Akuchie and gets better every year.