Vs. Illinois State game thread

[shockmonster]

We played in spurts. ISUr is a very talented team. Moore (FR) is quick and he got hot tonight. However, I think that he'll be very inconsistent this year. He'll have some great games and some not so good. When he's on, with Brown, Carmichael, Ekey, and some roll players, they have a nice team that'll compete with anyone.

[WstateU]

Note to the band playing the low brass cheer when WE are the ones getting the hell beat out of is NOT a good play.

+ 1,000,000,000

[1972Shocker]

A 80-50 win would make it easy

Apparently the team was thinking just like you.

[1972Shocker]

Now we play the "low brass cheer" when we re getting hell beat out of us.

I could not believe that either. Does whoever make the decisions what to play and when have any idea what is happening on the floor?

[forevershockerfan]

It is human nature to become complacent when on the mountain top. Thus, we had to visit the valley to "hang on to a Valley win" that should have much easier. We let our guard down and the flood gates came rushing with a beating in the 2nd half by a young but talented team that never gave up tonight. We can thank our lucky gray stars that we hung on for the win.

[1972Shocker]

Wow what a shakey win! I guess a win is a win

Not sure I agree. Win or lose I think it important to play well for the majority of the game. Any by playing well I mean playing hard and smart. The kind of 2nd half play we have shown against Creighton, Evansville, SIU and Illinois State just won't cut it. That will eventually cost us dearly if it continues.

Of course, to correct that you need to admit you have a problem. I think Toure more less admitted that was a problem that needs correcting not sure the Coaching staff is there yet, although that may just be public posturing.

[1972Shocker]

Obviously I wasn't here and couldn't watch on SN.

But have to ask the question - what the hell was Ragland thinking fouling during a 3 point shot/heave with 5 seconds left?

Any witnesses who can elaborate on that little nugget will be appreciated.

Simply an All-American brain cramp.

[shox1989]

What's he supposed to do when the perimeter guys pass it to each other 3 times and then shoot a 3?

I'm afraid this team has a bit of a "we're up - so I'm going to pad my stats" mentality. That is a real close relative of the "we're down, so I'm going to be the hero" mentality.

TM was a warrior once the game was on the line, but he was anything but that while the Shox were blowing the 19-point lead.

+1000

Even so, Stutz finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. A pretty good night in my book. He also showed some leadership, at the end of the game by daring the Ill. State guys to foul him and then making both FTs when getting to the line to shoot the 1 and 1.

TM also came through at the crucial crunch time although that last TO was pretty scary.

[RallySquirrel]

I'll take the win. Shockers got lazy in the second, but this will have to stop eventually. I'd like to see Kyles or Murry take a game over, they both have the ability. But for now, I will enjoy the win and get ready for a second run at the Bradley Braves.

[1972Shocker]

Toure pretty much did take over the game late, thank goodness although he almost cancelled that out by fumbling the in-bound pass with 0.8 seconds left. Still without his clutch shooting down the stretch the Shocks would have lost this game.

Garrett he a couple of huge free throws but I thought he generally had a Fifi game offensively. So many point blank shots missed. Granted a number of them were with contact but a guy as big as Garrett should be able to power throught that and hit those 1 and 2 footers and get some and 1's. He probably made the toughest shot he took tonight, but just was not a strong finisher tonight overall.

DK were are you.

Right now the trend is not our friend. We are missing something. Mental toughness, killer instinct, basketball IQ not sure but whatever it is we need to eliminate the second half fog that seems to descend on us whenever we build a comfortable lead.

[JCole200]

When Carl Hall is out of the game the team seems totally out of sync. I would have liked to see Carl inserted sooner, Marshall finally put him back in with 30 seconds left in the game. Ben Smith wasn't able to produce any offense from inside the arc and wasn't a threat on the offensive boards either. Stutz has to play better than he did tonight. He looked great early but was mediocre the rest of the game.

I'm Shocked... SHOCKED that someone finds a way to think that Stutz' double double was not good enough. 12 and 10 and 4 blocks and he just 'has to play better.' While Hall was just the glue that held us together with his 3 pts and 2 rb and 4 fouls tonight. Ridiculous. It's like you were watching a different game than I was.

[ShockerFever]

Again, this team has the worst basketball IQ in the world, and I still think some of it has to come down to coaching.

We nearly buried ourselves again with lazy, moronic 3-pt shooting. Our offense just went stagnant in the second half. We had no idea what we wanted to do, especially inside of about the 8 minute mark. We were just begging for the Redbirds to come in and take it. We even tried to giftwrap the game at the end by passing the ball to Murry with under 3 seconds left. WHY WAS THAT PASS MADE? A simple lob over midcourt to anybody near our basket would have likely ended the game or at worst forced Illinois State into an off-balanced 3/4 court shot. I just cannot believe we hung on.

TM is an enigma to me. He makes great plays at times and then fudges things up at others. He made a few excellent drives in the first half to the basket, something I wish he did more of. He made a couple of EXCELLENT passes for layups in the second half. He is a solid free throw shooter down the stretch. Those are the things I wish he'd concentrate more. Every time he shoots a 3-pointer though, it's basically an automatic turnover. Why, especially down the stretch in games, does that shot always end up going up? Have we ever had success from there yet? The last 6 or 7 times we've done that we've come out with losses, notably home L's. We escaped tonight. I don't even wanna bring up the pass to him that was fumbled out of bounds with .8 left. That absolutely CANNOT happen. That pass again should have NEVER been made.

Williams gave good minutes. Rags was good when he drove. Kyles and Smith went missing. Stutz needs to learn how to dunk. The bunnies he misses are unbelievably frustrating. Hall got whistled for another phantom foul call that changed the entire makeup of the second half.

Nic Moore is indeed gonna be a Valley killer. He sank those free throws down the stretch like they were nothing, like he does that all day long in hostile environments. And he has an amazing shot. The Redbirds' future looks bright with him. They will finish upper-half this year for sure.

With all of that said, and after looking at other games tonight, a win is most definitely a win. Creighton barely hung on at home. Same with Suckamore State. Top 25 teams got thrashed by inferior opponents. So to look at that way, we will take the ugly win. This one could have buried our at-large chances. One can only hope we can play a more complete game against Bradley.

[shockfather]

I'll take the win. Shockers got lazy in the second, but this will have to stop eventually. I'd like to see Kyles or Murry take a game over, they both have the ability. But for now, I will enjoy the win and get ready for a second run at the Bradley Braves.

Agreed! A win is a win and even though it wasn't a pretty win for the Shox, it still counts.
Having that said, it would trouble me to see the same thing happen vs. Bradley on Friday night (a team that we slaughtered at their place!). I mean, it's like last season never ended!

[Zardoz]

In the second half we decided to forget how we got ahead and thought that firing up shots from long range without working the ball inside was a good idea. Maybe the coaching staff can pound it their heads that this is not a good idea, it's already cost us one game and will cost us more if the team can't improve it's basketball IQ.

[shockfather]

In the second half we decided to forget how we got ahead and thought that firing up shots from long range without working the ball inside was a good idea. Maybe the coaching staff can pound it their heads that this is not a good idea, it's already cost us one game and will cost us more if the team can't improve it's basketball IQ.

Yes! This conference has already proven it will be one of the toughest in the nation and for the Shox, if they want to dance in March, this means they cannot afford to commit the same mistakes they made last season. Let this game be a warning to the Shox that they need to play consistent basketball BOTH halves!