Shockers at Loyola (Friday, 7pm) and Bradley (Sunday, 2pm)

[flyingMoose]

The Shockers head out on the road again for two games in Illinois.

On Friday, the Shocks play the Ramblers, a preseason pick for eighth in the Valley. However, they are the lone undefeated team (3-0) in conference with an overall record of 7-7. Their wins are at Bradley, Evansville and Southern Illinois. Their current RPI is 131. Loyola are led by Taylor Manuel, averaging 15.6 ppg, and Taylor Johnson, twice Player of the Week, who averages 14.6 ppg.

The Rambler game notes are here. The streaming video is here. The live stats are here.

The Shocks have a current RPI of 301. Their conference record is 0-4 with a record of 3-12 for the season. Leading scorers are Rangie at 13.4 ppg and TaQuandra with 11.9 ppg.

The Shocker game notes are here.


I had not seen this before, but walk-on Hannah Mortimer has been awarded a scholarship for the second semester.

[1972Shocker]

Loyola is an early surprise in the Valley. Interestingly they are only 1-4 on their home court while they are 6-3 in road games. They are coming off 6 consecutive games on the road.
They lost the first game of that road stretch to a very good Green Bay team but followed that up with 5 consecutive road games including an 88-75 win over a good DePaul team plus Valley wins at Bradley, Evansville and SIU. The wins over Bradley and Evansville were not particularly noteworthy but the 69-68 OT win at SIU was a very good win for Loyola.

If you want to know where the beef is in the Valley it can be found at center for Loyola in the form of 6-2 RJr Taylor Manuel (who transferred from Purdue). Manuel could easily be mistaken for an offensive lineman. I'm guessing she could easily tip the scales at 250 and that may be kind. Nevertheless she has pretty good ball skills for a player of her girth although I think it is possible you can wear her down if you can make her run up and down the court and make sure she doesn't fall on you. Taylor Johnson is a 5-7 RJr guard who seems to have found her scoring touch in recent games.

Interesting weekend for the Lady Shocks to see if they can respond better to being on the Valley road better than they did at INS and ILS. They will be decided underdogs against Loyola but they are capable of pulling the upset if they shoot the ball well (something that has been problematic in Valley play). A win at Loyola is not probable but not impossible.

I think the Shocks are better than Bradley but that is what I thought about Illinois State as well and that didn't go very well. Nevertheless, I am going to predict a Lady Shocker win over the Gargirls.

[flyingMoose]

Shockers take a 17-10 lead after the first quarter at Loyola. They are 4-6 from the field and 8-8 from the line. But seven turnovers are too many. Taylor Manuel, the Rambler post, has two fouls.

[flyingMoose]

The Shocks score the last six points of the quarter after losing the lead to lead 29-24 at the half. Loyola pressure caused some more turnovers with the Shocker total now at fifteen. Rangie has eleven and Taquandra has ten. The Shocks are shooting 58.8% from the field with 10-17.

[flyingMoose]

After three quarters, the game is tied at 39. The Shocks were 4-14 in the third quarter and the Ramblers were 6-11. The weak-side defense as Loyola swings the ball has been a problem in the second and third quarters. The easy baskets by the Shockers when breaking the press in the first quarter have disappeared since. Rangie and TaQuandra each have thirteen. The Shocker turnover total is now eighteen.

[flyingMoose]

Taylor Manuel does a great job of dumping the ball off to cutters from the low block, a skill that Rangie has not developed. (See weak-side defense - or help-side as the commentator calls it.)

[flyingMoose]

Rangie fouls out with four minutes to play and the Shockers trailing by four.

[flyingMoose]

Loyola 60-55 Shockers

Aundra hit a three at the buzzer to make it a little closer than it was. The defensive intensity battle over the whole game was won by the Ramblers as they created more difficult shots than the Shocker defense. Loyola was led Nieka Wheeler with eighteen points on eight shots. Team Taylor added 32, seventeen for Johnson and fifteen for Manuel. For the Shockers, TaQuandra had eighteen and Rangie had sixteen. Marija has quit looking for her shot - someone else has to score. The Shocks finished with 23 turnovers while creating only 13.

There was progress exhibited in this game, but much progress is still needed.

[trshock]

Taylor Manuel is Shocker alumni superstar Angela Buckner's cousin. Clearly great basketball DNA in that family gene pool.

[flyingMoose]

Other Friday Scores (no surprises)

Drake 80-55 Indiana State

Bradley 44-55 Missouri State

Northern Iowa 65-51 Illinois State

[1972Shocker]

Loyola 60-55 Shockers

There was progress exhibited in this game

Agreed, especially in comparison to the Indiana State - Illinois State road trip two weeks ago.

A win over 0-4 Bradley on Sunday would move the 0-5 Shocks out of last place. I think they will get it.

I think a reasonable goal for the Shocks at this point is to triple their win total from 3 to 9 by the end of the regular season.

[ShockdaWorld]

Agreed, especially in comparison to the Indiana State - Illinois State road trip two weeks ago.

A win over 0-4 Bradley on Sunday would move the 0-5 Shocks out of last place. I think they will get it.

I think a reasonable goal for the Shocks at this point is to triple their win total from 3 to 9 by the end of the regular season.

Any chance they improve enough to make any noise at the MVC tourney?

[Shox1979]

Any chance they improve enough to make any noise at the MVC tourney?

I think this would be a big stretch with our lack of depth. Given the right matchup we could win game 1. If Rangie and Mike got hot the same game and anyone else stepped up offensively, maybe they'd have a chance at a second game. But 3 games in 3 games would be tough. Crazier things have happened. And if higher seeds get upset elsewhere in the bracket, and the MVC is definitly a league that a low seed could slide through, then who knows. I don't see there being a heavy favorite this year.
I just can't see this group coming they far that fast. Or having the legs to pull off 3 straight. We may play 8-10 girls some games, but no where near that many really contribute.

[1972Shocker]

Any chance they improve enough to make any noise at the MVC tourney?

I think @Shox1979 has summarized it pretty well. However, they would have to win 3 games in 3 day but only if they finish 6th or better in league play (which make take some doing at this point). If not they would have to win 4 games in 4 days. In 2012 Drake made it to the Championship game as the #7 seed but ran out of gas in the finals and in 2009 Evansville won the Valley Tournament as the #9 seed winning 4 games in 4 days. So while not very likely, not impossible if you get hot at the right time plus the Valley is not exactly loaded this year.

However, if the Shocks did happen to catch lightning in a bottle and somehow win the Valley Tournament they would probably be a 15 or 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament and that might not end pretty.

[flyingMoose]

The Shockers travel to Peoria to take on Bradley on Sunday at 2pm.

The Braves are 0-4 in the Valley and 4-11 overall. One of those wins is against a D-III school and two more are against teams with an RPI greater than 300. Oops, the Shocks have an RPI of 303 after Friday's games. Bradley, a preseason pick for ninth in the Valley, has an RPI of 274. Anneke Schleuter is the only player averaging double digits (11.1) with over 60% of her field goal attempts coming from behind the arc. Tamya Sims (8.7 ppg) is their inside presence.

The Shockers, led by Rangie (13.7 ppg) and TaQuandra (12.2 ppg), are now 0-5 and 3-13.

The Bradley game notes are here. The streaming video is here. The link for LiveStats is not posted yet.