Illinois State/Indiana State Road Trip

[1972Shocker]

Shocks took on league leading Illinois State tonight and took it on the chin about as expected losing by a score of 77-57. Shocks drop to 7-59 on the road under Coach Albright. Coach Albright called it a moral victory and she was really proud of her team and very encouraged.

The Shocks were actually right in the game at halftime trailing by only 4 at 28-24. That's a pretty good defensive effort against the explosive Redbirds. Unfortunately, the Shockers went scoreless from the 12 minute mark to the 4 minute mark of the 1st half and did not take advantage of their defensive effort.

That apparently irritated the Redbirds as they blitzed the Shocks with a 29-6 run over the first 9 minutes of the second half to take a 57-30 lead and they cruised from there, clearing their bench with about 5 minutes to go.

Next up for the Shocks is Indiana State one of their 3 MVC victims this year. Indiana State going to overtime at home against Missouri State with the score tied 68-68 at the end of regulation. Hopefully, they get wore down a little tonight as they have less than 2 days to recover before the 1:00 pm start against the Shocks on Saturday.

Update: Indiana State 86 - Missouri State 77 in overtime.

[molly jabali]

'moral victory'.....

7-59.......

'no one better than me out there(paraphrase)'......

hhhhmmmm......

[rrshock]

losing by 20 and giving up 79 is a moral victory? This gal is crazy as a loon if she thinks that.

[WSUfan1975]

Jane - The Great Motivator

What a great moral victory!

What a great coach Jane is!!! Here is what she said BEFORE the game...

"We really want to compete," Albright said. "We'd love to get one on the road, but I don't think it's the end of the world if we don't. We'll do the best we can and if we don't, then we don't."

What kind of confidence and motivation is she giving her team with these statements IN THE PAPER FOR EVERYONE TO SEE!!!


On a side note....did anyone catch Kirk Seminoff's comments on his blog about Kaczka's desire to coach at WSU? He said "She talked a few weeks ago about wanting to coach here someday; I hope she gets her chance. I think she could still average 12 and 10 in the Valley."

Apparently he interviewed her and she said she wanted to come back to WSU and coach.....I wonder if anyone has any news on this???

[Snapshot9]

Jane is still 'spinning' things her way. She just needs a quiet exit.

[SubGod22]

I'm not completely against moral victories, but losing by 20 doesn't qualify as one no matter how you look at it. Maybe if a HS team could keep it within 20 of a good college program that'd be a moral victory. But between two college teams that should never be accepted.

[molly jabali]

well, it IS a moral victory compared to the 40 point losses earlier in the year! :D

[1972Shocker]

One of the things I like about Jane is that she has always been a positive thinking person and has not let things get her down. However, everything has its limits and her PMA approach may have morphed into a "whatever we do is good enough, and it's not important whether or not we win".

If that is the message seeping into the team's psyche then it becomes a negative.

I'm sure Jane is trying to keep her team from getting down too much and maybe cashing it in on her. I think she knows Illinois State is simply a superior team and perhaps she was just being realistic about their chances in that game. We have been outscored by and average of 24.2 PPG on the road this year and we lost at 2nd place Evansville by 34 a couple of weeks ago, so Jane was no doubt worried about a much worse outcome. From that perspective maybe it was a moral victory.

If the Illinois State game was a moral victory, then that should blossom into a real victory at Indiana State on Saturday. Otherwise, it will become just another loss in a 20 game road losing streak.

The Shocks match up pretty well with the Sycamores, although the game in Wichita was pretty close throughout until the Shocks pulled away with Free Throws late.

One more loss, which is almost inevitable with our remaining schedule, and the Shockers will clinch a game in the play-in round of the MVC Tournament. Indiana State on the other hand, currently in 7th place and 1/2 game out of 6th, has a very realistic chance to pull itself out of a play-in round finish. Not sure which team will have the greatest motivation.

I think the Shocks have a decent shot at breaking their 19 game road losing streak at Indiana State, although their confidence level on the road can not be real high at this point.

[rrshock]

I just don't see it happening.

Shox on the road = bad
ISU needs a win to move up = bad
Jane as coach = bad

Just not looking good.

[1972Shocker]

I just don't see it happening.

Shox on the road = bad
ISU needs a win to move up = bad
Jane as coach = bad

Just not looking good.

Well I'm definitely not running out and betting my paycheck on it happening either.

I will add that before Indiana State's overtime win at home over a so-so MSU team last night that they lost by 12 at Bradley, by 3 at UNI and by 35 at home to Illinois State. So Indiana State isn't exactly a feasome team this year either. It is a winnable game.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks hanging in with Sycamores trailing by 30-24 at the half.

The Shocks size advantage on the inside seems to be giving the Sycamore some trouble.

Shocks have been a better team in the second half this year so they are still very much in the hunt today.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks give up a 13-0 run to open the second half and Indiana State cruises to a 69-50 win.

Shocks lose their 20th consecutive road game and fall to 7-60 on the road under Coach Abright.

Shocks have now guaranteed themselves a spot in the play-in round of the MVC Tournament.

Might as well give the younger players as many minutes as possible over the remaining 3 regular season games especially Sam Smith and Jenn DeGarmo. Wouldn't hurt to give Shantel Pointer and Jadhon Kerr some decent minutes two since we have already blown redshirts for them.

[1972Shocker]

I just don't see it happening.

Shox on the road = bad
ISU needs a win to move up = bad
Jane as coach = bad

Just not looking good.

You called it.

[1972Shocker]

This was our 4th 2-game road swing in the MVC this year. We have one remaining road game at Missouri State.

We lost by 20 to Illinois State and by 19 to Indiana State on this week's 2-game swing. Believe it or not the combined 39 point losing margin is the most competitive we have been on an MVC road swing this year. The other three road swings resulted in combined losing margins of 73, 45 and 46 points.

Our average losing margin in our 8 MVC road games this year is 25.4.

Winning on the road is not easy in college basketball, although none of the environments we play in are particularly large or hostile crowds with perhaps the exception of Missouri State who we still have to play on the road. But we are not just losing the games, we are not even being competitive. This in a league where the bottom 6 teams have a combined overall record of 58-93 (0.384) this year.

Maybe it's just a lack of mental toughness. I don't know for sure. I do know the road has been very unkind to the Lady Shockers over the past 5 years. With a Senior and Junior dominated team and a relatively weak league I suppose there was hope that we would be better on the road this year. Unfortunately, that has not been the case to say the least.

It is very disconcerting to say the least.

[1972Shocker]

Not that it probably makes any significant difference one way or the other at this point, but Bradly upset Creighton in Peoria today 52-51.

That drops the Lady Shockers into sole ownership of last place (10th).

On the other hand, maybe there is a slight ray of hope for a win when the Shockers play Creighton at home in a couple of weeks.