On the Road this Week

What a game against Coe on Saturday afternoon.  A total of 28 3 pointers made in the game, in fact, together we shot 28-53 from the arc, which is over 50%.  If you are not on our team, and you are just a fan, it was a real fun game to watch.  Plenty of drama and plenty of made shots.  The end of the first half was quite the ending.  Brian Brungard makes a 30 footer, Andre Wagner makes an 18 foot fader, and Coe throws in a ¾ court shot at the buzzer.  Now that is drama all in the last 30 seconds of the first half.  The second half went as I thought it would.  The game would come down the paint.  Coe had made 10 3’s in the first half, and I knew it wouldn’t keep coming at us like that all night.  Kyle Kuenstling was the difference.  He scored inside and got to the FT line too many times in the last 10 minutes.  And we did not make our FT’s in the last 5 minutes, which is something we have done very well in the month of January.  So, we look at it as one of those nights, where Coe played a real nice game, and our defense was not great, but not terrible.  This is college basketball, and all teams are capable of beating you.  On this night, the game belonged to Coe.  We will not make excuses however.  We can play better, and we will work to be more consistent.

What a great crowd though.  1,800 people in the stands, and the game was an awesome game.

We now travel to Wartburg.  They have had some injury problems, but they have now had a week off to get ready for the last run.  We expect them to come out playing with a lot of focus and expect them to play well.  However, we expect to play well also, and we will play together, and fight it out.  It will be a great game, and one we are looking forward to.  Mitch Eslick, who is an outstanding freshman, is out with a knee injury, and that hurts them, but they have one of the most exciting guards in the league in Cashes Mason.  Cashes is a play maker, and our team better get ready for his dribble drive.

Here is a good trivia question for you.  How many teams in the 43 conferences in DIII, are undefeated in just conference play.  That means you have probably played 13 conference games at the most in league play.  The answer is exactly 6.  That is not many, and it also tells us how tough it is to win on a consistent basis.  This is a hard business.  And winning is tough to come by at times, so it is important to enjoy the whole process and see how well we can do.  Attitude is everything, and I love our guys’ attitude.  We will continue to play well, and try to improve. 

GO Beavers!!

Coach VH