***OFFICIAL*** Game Thread - Evansville

[ABC]

I think Wessel has some quickness. I think it is John Riggins' kind of quickness, not Walter Payton. But he stayed with Ballentine fairly well.

[forevershockerfan]

Even Wiggy got his shot to guard their rising star. The rising star in this here Valley is Not Ballentine, but rather FVV. It will be between FVV and Cle for MVP in the Valley.

[Dave Stalwart]

wants some laughter go read MVCfans and read the whiny Evansville fans say the only reason they lost was cuz of the unfair officiating LMAO

We got so many ridiculous calls in the first half that apparently they forgot about. The refs looked lost at times.

We had some of the loudest ref booing of the season in that first half. UE fans must be forgetting

[1972Shocker]

This. The mid game shut down of Balentine it was when Evan started to guard him. Evan was awesome on D tonight. And then he added some good cuts and rebounds and hot damn - I loved his game tonight.

I thought Nick was pretty effective also the few possessions he was on Balentine as well. Perhaps putting a little size on Balentine is one way to slow him down. Not that Tekele and Ron did a bad job. For the most part I thought Balentine was well-defended even when he scored.

[wsushox1]

No question FVV is the most valuable player. Is the Valley award for the MVP or the MOP?

It will not be Fred.

Is it possible Cle's contributions to this team are undervalued on this board? Answer, yes

[wsushox1]

I thought Nick was pretty effective also the few possessions he was on Balentine as well. Perhaps putting a little size on Balentine is one way to slow him down. Not that Tekele and Ron did a bad job. For the most part I thought Balentine was well-defended even when he scored.

Length is one of the biggest deterrent towards shooting.

[60Shock]

By the time ESPNU put our game on due to an overtime, we were behind by 11. When it went to 15, I poured three fingers of JD into a glass and miracuously, the tide quickly changed.

A lot of teams getting that far behind would have paniced. But not our guys.

[AndShock]

Thornton is keeping Duke in the game, back-to-back-to-back 3s.

[forevershockerfan]

We beat the Cuse at the Dome many moons ago. Thus, maybe Duke can do the same? Stay tuned.

[1972Shocker]

That was the Evansville Womens team sitting in 118. Actually they were kind of humorous and i think they even joined the "Daddys Boy" chant when Simmons was shooting free throws..

Hopefully, the Evansville WBB team won't be in a very festive move after taking on the Lady Shocks tomorrow afternoon. My money is on the Lady Shocks to extend the combined men's and women's basketball winning streak to the
Big 40

[CBB_Fan]

I think this game was a mental battle as much as it was a physical one. The Evansville players came in with the same mindset as they did last year: Make your shots, and you will win. As long as they believed that, and were able to stay loose they were able to score and build a lead. Then midway through first half Baker broke that belief with his steal, and they finally started to miss shots. We forced our mental image of the game onto them, and erased any thoughts Evansville had of repeating their upset bid with fluky shooting.

By the time the second half started, Evansville was a broken team. Not physically broken, but mentally. Their narrative was broken and we stole their script from them. Once that happened, it started to be a normal basketball game, and we are a much better basketball team.

[I_Vector_Wu]

I hate falling behind by 15 to start, but man that got me fired up. RB's steal and bucket (IMO) is what turned things around. Great atmosphere once again, had a blast yelling and screaming most of the game. Apologies to the fans in front of me though.

EDIT: Props to the Band and Students again, great effort. Special honors to the gentleman who sang the National Anthem, it gave chill bumps to Republicans, Democrats and Independents alike.:welcoming:

[MadaboutWu]

Nick and Cotton combining to go 4-4 from 3 was the stat I liked most.

[Steeleshocker]

Nick and Cotton combining to go 4-4 from 3 was the stat I liked most.

That type of production will be needed come tournament time.

[SB Shock]

Evansville runs illegal screens on every offensive possession and literally grabs all five of the other team's players on every defensive possession. We did not get the benefit of the whistles, they play disgraceful basketball and should be whistled on basically every possession on both ends. Refs will never do that, so we get what we got.

According to Evansville fans they were robbed and homered by the refs, otherwise they would have had a chance to win this one.