The Indiana Statesman Blog
February 2nd, 2007
2-2-07, postgame ISU women vs. Southern Ill.
By on February 2nd, 2007
The ISU women’s basketball team was able to fend off the Southern Illinois Salukis and record a 74-69 victory.
This was a very impressive win for the Sycamores, to say the least.
Leah Phillips recorded a career-high 23 points for the Sycamores despite an injured thumb. She really jump started the ISU offense, which shot 58 percent in the first half.
The second half was a bit sloppy for the Sycamores, but they were still able to use some solid defense to hang on to the lead. It didn’t hurt that SIU committed 25, that’s right, 25 fouls which allowed ISU to go to the charity stripe 28 times. It’s hard to lose when you have that many chances at some easy points.
Another thing that impressed me was the games ISU’s freshmen players had coming off the bench, notably Maria Olsthoorn. In just 15 minutes of action, she recorded nine points and six rebounds. When you get that kind of production out of a freshman bench player, good things are bound to happen.
Laura Rudolphi also played a huge role in the ISU victory, recording 16 points and two blocked shots.
Well, that’s all for now. Look for another blog by me Monday when the men’s basketball team takes on Northern Iowa at 7:05 p.m.
-Matt Douthett
February 2nd, 2007
2-2-07 Halftime, ISU women vs. Southern Ill.
By on February 2nd, 2007
The score at halftime is 40-30 in favor of the Sycamores.
Sophomore guard Leah Phillips impressed me during the first half. She scored the first seven points for the Sycamores and really seemed to jump- start the offense. She is the leading scorer at halftime for the Sycamores with 10 points.
As I mentioned in my pre-game blog, SIU is a team that normally has a very good defense. A casual fan would not know that by watching this game.
A big reason the Sycamores have a 10-point halftime lead is that the Salukis committed 12 fouls in the first half.
Junior center Laura Rudolphi culminated a strong defensive showing from the Sycamores in the first half by swatting away a shot at the buzzer that could have cut ISU’s lead to eight.
Well, that is all for now. Check back in a while for a post-game blog.
-Matt Douthett
February 2nd, 2007
2-2-07 ISU women vs. Southern Ill. pre-game
By on February 2nd, 2007
Well, this is a strange feeling for me. I have not covered a women’s basketball game in almost two years. It’s good to be back.
The Salukis of Southern Illinois are off to a surprising 8-1 start in the Missouri Valley Conference after posting just a 4-7 non-conference record to start the season. SIU is second in the MVC behind Illinois State. The Salukis are on a six-game winning streak and have posted victories in nine of their last 10 games.
Carlai Moore, a 6-foot-1 senior forward paces the Salukis with 15.3 points per game. Just like the SIU men’s team, the women’s team prides itself on defense. They have only let one team (Northern Iowa in a 79-74 SIU victory) score over 70 points this season. An even more impressive statistic is that the Salukis have held opponents under 41 points three times this season.
The Sycamores are going to have to find a way to cut through the SIU defense with easy lay ups and good shot selection. Junior point guard Angela Phillips will need to do a good job of finding open Sycamores for easy baskets.
Well, it’s almost game time. See you at halftime.
-Matt Douthett
February 1st, 2007
Statesman Staffers pick Super Bowl winners
By on February 1st, 2007
I wanted to put this in the paper but didn’t have the room
Me: 21-13 Colts
Alex Brown, editor in chief: 24-19 Bears
Matt Douthett, staff writer: 31-27
Clay Cunningham, assistant news editor: 28-24 Bears
Jodi Lemmon, assistant features editor: 31-27 Colts
Lowell Torres, features editor: 34-27 Bears
Joel Dale, photo editor: 20-14 Colts
Rachel Turner, assistant sports editor: 28-13 Colts.
January 24th, 2007
1-24 ISU v. Evansville Men’s Bball postgame
By on January 24th, 2007
I apologize for not having a pregame and halftime blog. There was a miscommunication between my editor and I.
Anyway, this was one of the sloppiest games I’ve ever seen. Evansville narrowly defeated ISU 50-49. The only good offensive statistic in this game was Evansville’s three-point field goal percentage. The Purple Aces won this game solely because they shot 41 percent from beyond the arc.
ISU’s offense lacked any sort of consistency in this game. Shot selection was, to put it nicely, less-than-stellar.
When I asked ISU head coach Royce Waltman if anything positive can be taken from the game, he interrupted me mid-sentence and simply said “No.”
If there is anything positive that can be taken, in my opinion, it is the play of Adam Arnold. He ended up with 11 rebounds, eight of them defensive. If it weren’t for Arnold crashing the boards, this game probably wouldn’t have been close. ISU did outrebound UE 33-28, but when you have no offense, that really doesn’t matter.
ISU shot just 36 percent from the field, and when the majority of your offense revolves around the outside shooting game, that simply won’t cut it.
Well, that is all for now, and I apologize again for not having the first two blogs.
January 19th, 2007
GAMETIME! women’s basketball v. Illinois State 1-19-07
By on January 19th, 2007
The Sycamores lost 89-81.
The Sycamores gave up 50 points in the first half and scored 50 points in the second half. The difference in scoring was that the Sycamores scored 39 points in the first half as opposed to Illinois State’s 39 in the second half.
Head coach Jim Wiedie was obviously displeased with the team’s effort and wondered when the team will mature to the point to where the team does not need to get down by 23 points for the light to come on and the team to play well.
The Sycamores shot 77 shots in the game, which was 15 more than the Redbirds and they made three fewer shots.
Both teams had five scorers in double figures. For the Sycamores it was: senior center Rachel Maenpaa with 17, junior center Laura Rudolphi with 18, junior guard Angela Phillips with 15, sophomore guard Annie Bankhead with 11 and sophomore guard Leah Phillips with 12. Maenpaa made eight of her 27 shots from the field for a field goal percentage of 29.6 percent.
To me it seemed like Redbird forward Nicolle Lewis ended up on the ground after every play. Sure, some of those falls were warranted, but I felt like she was trying to get calls by flopping. I bet her elbows are bruised.
Also, the Illinois State bench was rather annoying. They kept cheering after shots even when the team was up by 20 in the first half. It just seems like bad sportsmanship to me. I understand them getting excited when the Redbirds made a shot in the second half that could potentially put the game on ice. Maybe they just wanted some face time for FSN Midwest.
5,588 people attended the game. Nice.
The next game I will be blogging from is Wednesday’s men’s basketball game at home against the Evansville Purple Aces.
-Ben Corn
January 19th, 2007
GAMETIME! Women’s basketball v. Illinois State 1-19-07 pregame
By on January 19th, 2007
I will not be able to blog at halftime due to laptop problems and my post-game blog will take longer than usual to post because of the same problem.
The Sycamores are playing the Illinois State Redbirds who are 6-0 in conference play and the top team in the standings. I don’t think I have to say it, but this is going to be a tough game for ISU.
The Sycamores were hitting on all cylinders last game, so they should be able to ride the momentum from their 96-63 shellacking of the Wichita State Shockers. That’s right, I used the word “shellacking.”
I still think the strategy for beating the Sycamores is to shut down the perimeter shooting and take care of the ball.
All tickets for this game are going to be $1.00 each. This should help attendance. Hey, you can’t beat a night’s worth of entertainment for a buck.
If the Sycamores are able to win this game, it will go a long way in helping them climbing the standings and gaining confidence.
Check back after the game for my impressions,
Ben Corn
January 18th, 2007
Men’s basketball at Drake 1-18-07
By on January 18th, 2007
The Sycamores lost their second game in a row 74-68.
I did not go to the game since I was putting my pages together for Wednesday, so check those out.
By looking at the box score, the first thing that grabs my attention is that junior guard Gabe Moore played in all 40 minutes of the game. This means head coach Royce Waltman did not have the faith the Sycamores could score or defend without him on the floor. Moore does not mind playing these kinds of minutes because he is such a leader, but this has to be wearing on his body. He is averaging over 30 minutes per game. That could wear down anybody. Moore scored nine points, recorded three rebounds and nine assists.
This was supposed to be a win the Sycamores could grab and get their confidence back after losing to Bradley Saturday. The win improves the Drake Bulldogs to 2-6 in the Missouri Valley Conference and puts them in ninth position in the conference standings.
It seems the Sycamores need to have the lead at half to win the game since they are 8-0 when leading at halftime and lost this game after trailing 35-32 at the break. The simple explanation for this is that the team is young and the players can get down on themselves if they do not do well early in the game.
The loss drops the Sycamores to 4-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference and third place in the standings.
This conference sure is exciting.
Be sure to drink your ovaltine,
Ben Corn
January 13th, 2007
GAMETIME! 1-13-07 men’s b-ball v. Bradley final
By on January 13th, 2007
Final score:76-59 with Bradley coming out on top.
Ok, it’s later now, so here’s the rest of the blog.
The Sycamores need to learn from this game. It is just one loss, but it is a Valley loss and Valley losses are huge. Luckily, it is early and they have plenty of time to climb back up in the standings.
The pace of this game was set early. The Sycamores were unable to break the Bradley zone and the three-point shots were not falling. As junior guard Gabe Moore said, they fell in love with the three-point shot. The Sycamores shot 26 three-pointers and made five of them which translates to 19.2 percent.
I characterize the shooting of Bradley as Gilbert Arenas-esque in the way they could shoot from anywhere with anybody defending them and drain it. A prime example of this came with 1:57 left in the second half when the game was well in hand by Bradley. Bradley guard Will Franklin shot an NBA-range three-pointer on the left wing and was heavily-guarded and fouled by Sycamore freshman guard Harry Marshall and threw up the ball and it hit nothing but the bottom of the net. This was just Bradley’s night.
One thing that annoyed me during the game was a Bradley guy (I don’t know if he was a fan or someone important) on press row. I was on the third row next to him and he kept shaking the ground under my table. He tried to restrain his excitement, which I appreciate, but it is ridiculous that he should get excited about the second dunk in two minutes at the 1:20 mark in the second half by Bradley forward Zach Andrew with Bradley up by 20 points. Maybe I just have sour grapes.
I guess I’m rooting for the Patriots now so that the Colts get a home game. Ech.
January 13th, 2007
GAMETIME! 1-13-07 men’s b-ball v. Bradley halftime
By on January 13th, 2007
The score at the half is 22-37 in favor of the Bradley Braves.
I think the only thing the fans here at Hulman Center have really cheered about is when the announcer announced the Colts won.
This game has not gone the Sycamores’ way at all so far. ISU just cannot hit a shot and are having trouble getting the ball inside to the post players.
The biggest problem the Sycamores are having right now, though, is the fact that junior guard Gabe Moore has two fouls. He had to sit out the last four minutes of the half and the ISU offense stagnated in that period of time. At times it seemed like the Sycamores had no play set and were just playing intramural basketball. I’ll tell you what: this is not a team that can win by playing isolation.
Currently, the Braves are shooting 60 percent from behind the three-point line while the Sycamores are shooting 20 percent from downtown.
I think the student section is stunned about the score because they have not moved at the break, there is no way they are all that interested in little kids shooting at a small basketball hoop, which is the halftime entertainment.
Check in to see if the Sycamores can make the comeback,
Ben Corn
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