Wichita State vs Southern Miss Game Thread

[SB Shock]

I guess we can get rid of the notion that playing at Intrust is good thing for all the fans who can’t get to Koch arena. Only 9356 tickets sold.

[pinstripers]

Taylor Eldridge@tayloreldridge



Attendance at Intrust Bank Arena: 9,356.

[Aargh]

Attendance was pretty good for a mid-level (or lower) MVC game at IBA - and that's about the level of ball that was on display at IBA today.

[wusphlash]

I guess we can get rid of the notion that playing at Intrust is good thing for all the fans who can’t get to Koch arena. Only 9356 tickets sold.

The only thing I read into 9356 is that you need a product and an opponent to draw big numbers. I'm sure part of the 9356 were not Koch regulars. I would also bet that next year's game against OU will be close to a sell out. Nothing wrong with an annual trip to IBA.

[N Crestway]

Some people have been saying that this year is a rebuilding year so don't worry... next year will be better. But next year will also be a rebuilding year due to the youth factor. The positive for this year will be a core of decent freshmen to build around going forward... Burton, Stevenson, Udeze, Dennis, and Brown. Too many question marks regarding Chandler, Moore, and Midtgaard at this point. I think it's going to be a longer climb back than most people here want to acknowledge.

[pie n eye]

Thanks for registering your opinion.

[Dave Stalwart]

Surely everyone in charge realized scheduling Southern miss for this game would basically draw about what it drew last time. 9000 is no surprise whatsoever. In fact it’s pretty good given that we got 9000 last time and the team was much better then. Not saying it’s great. Just completely obvious and predictable and frankly I’m glad we managed to schedule the best team we could still beat. If we’d have have gone with a big matchup we’d have lost by 30. Today was just fine.

6-4 with the shot at escaping non conference at 7-5 or even 8-4 is as good as I could have hoped for after how November went.

[ShockRef]

To me he sounds more exasperated and frustrated than pissed and maybe a bit befuddled as to what he can do to improve this team.

He needs to get to work and better not wait until Monday. The weak excuses about a young team is lip service that is old and tired. We are two plus months into the season and they are not progressing.
USM throws out a simple 2-3 zone and WSU acted like it was a new and freak defense just invented today. High school teams adjust better to what was being played. It was embarrassing.

HCGM has stumbled in the past when it comes to game time adjustments and tonight was another example. It was a basic zone and they didn't score or even threaten to attack like a D-1 team for over 5 minutes.

Seriously.

Houston, UC or Temple would have beat this team like a drum tonight. Hell, throw in SMU, Tulsa and Memphis into that group.

HCGM needs to get this team playing like a group that shows development and growth each and every time out. Tonight was anything but.

That is all.

[shoxplode]

Southern Miss actually beat SMU 74-64 in early November. They will have K-state on Wednesday.

[pie n eye]

Yeah, let’s fire HCGM and bring in someone who really knows what they’re talking about like ShockRef.

[proshox]

Quick add - by coaching get better I mean assistant coaches. HCGM has areas he is hyper focused on. The assistants have to be focusing and actively participating on gap areas. Too many of them are still quietly participating.

Kellen was really coaching Morris up when he was getting ready to check-in late. Pretty interesting - he was in full coach mode. Loved it.

[asiseeit]

1. and player of the game goes to......................JE again
2. I was starting to believe in RT until later in the second half
3. ES never looked right from the start. This was his worst game but came up big the last 5 min
4. SHJ played really great, all around, for the first 30 min but ended up with his usual stat line
5. Really missed DD's defense after he went out
6. JE can't carry this team in the AAC nor can our starting guards
7. AR was a big big loss for us
8. Our team D was pretty darn good the first 30 min and pretty darn bad the next 7-8 min
9. Shocks are the only game in town for me. Still think 17 W's is achievable but it will be a grind

[Dan]

ES only plays good at Koch Arena. We should’ve known he would have a down game today.

[1972Shocker]

HCGM needs to get this team playing like a group that shows development and growth each and every time out. Tonight was anything but.

While I agree the guys are not progressing as well as many of us had hoped and perhaps expected they would I think some ups and downs were to be expected but you want the ups to outweigh the downs. Not sure we are getting that. I think 3G's challenge with this group is magnified by the fact that his two senior leaders are themselves pretty up and down in their play as well and 3G himself has said he doesn't have a floor general that can act as a coach on the floor. Hopefully, we will see some of the development and growth next time out and then go from there but expectations are no doubt much lower now than before the season started for most

[choida]

They shot the lights out of IBA tonight...

[WSUwatcher]

This was a horrible game. The shocks played MTXE. More turnovers and extra errors.

Pretty good description, although not a good way to revisit MTXE -- going from up 16 with 11 minutes left to darn near blowing the game is not a sign of progress. Good thing Erik came back to life with a few big plays when it mattered most.

[BOBB]

Let me preface by saying that I have a fairly limited understanding of basketball. Our zone offense has, for a decade, appeared to be pass the ball around the outside and shoot a deep three over the top of it. This isn't an issue with this year's team. I have never understood why every team we play doesn't run zone exclusively. It takes bot bad offense and defense to give up the kinds of leads we've seen the past couple of weeks.

[WuShock16]

I repeat that the low attendance can entirely be blamed on the price structure. You CANNOT charge the same prices for Southern Miss that you did the past two years against OSU and OU. That’s just arrogant to take your fan base for granted like that. The entire upper level should have been $10. If that happens and a similar turnout appears, then you can call out the bandwagoners.

[Dave Stalwart]

Noticed WSU’s rpi is really not too bad at all.

[shoxlax]

Let me preface by saying that I have a fairly limited understanding of basketball. Our zone offense has, for a decade, appeared to be pass the ball around the outside and shoot a deep three over the top of it. This isn't an issue with this year's team. I have never understood why every team we play doesn't run zone exclusively. It takes bot bad offense and defense to give up the kinds of leads we've seen the past couple of weeks.

If we are prepared for a zone and have some idea the other team will play it (at least in the past) we shred it. If not, we get caught in the standing around mode wondering what to do. I have no idea if USM played much zone this year but if they did, we should’ve been more prepared. If not, then it’s kind of like facing a knuckleball from a fastball pitcher.

Same thing happened to Providence against us. They stood around clueless for much of the second half.