I mean running the table was the only hope for an at large bid in the first place. Losing to the next best ranked team metric wise in the Valley isn’t the end of our chances. If MSU keeps winning, this loss won’t look that bad.

Another double-digit comeback in the second half - 14 points! Unfortunately, we were down by 20 when we started.

I'm curious about Uguak playing only 7 minutes in the first half. He needed to spend some time on Mosley. I believe guys like Lucas and Aher should play with two fouls in the first half, especially if they share the most difficult guarding assignment. Still, I doubt anyone was going to stop Mosley today.

It seems to me that assists has been a good indicator of how smooth our offense looks. So in looking at what's changed recently, I compared assists per made field goals before and after we resumed conference play on January 8. For the year, the proportion of assisted field goals is .591, .616 before January 8 and .531 after, .510 if you exclude the Bradley game. As a friend of mine used to say, torture the data and they'll confess to anything, but maybe it's showing too much one-on-one play. I'm looking at you, Ryan Schwieger.

Facts are simple. We somehow came back to win in consecutive home games against a pair of mediocre teams. Today, it caught up. Staff needs to figure it out in a hurry.. plenty of time left in the season, but the shine is off. We have nobody that can create a shot consistently and that hurts in today’s college game.

Not the same team that we saw in November— maybe it was the covid break, but we’re not gonna scare anyone going forward in Valley play.

The bad news - we lost. 30 game home win streak – gone. 23 game home win streak in the valley – gone. Top 25 ranking - gone.

The good news is - it’s a lineup and strategy problem, and not a talent problem. It can be fixed. The second halves of the last 4 games prove we can run teams out of the gym if we had a first half lead. If Drew doesn’t want to try and fix the first half problems now - fine. We still have one more conference loss left before we are completely out of at-large bid territory . But if/when that next loss happens, it’s time for Drew to fix the minutes and the lineup. It’s tough to criticize when we are winning, but when the losses start to come, you have to retool your in-game strategy to see if you can correct the issue. The talent and depth on this team should amount to a 10 point halftime lead against any team in the Valley - and we’ve yet to do that once in the first 6 games.

Hutson gave you 0-4 from 3 in the first half, and 2-6 shooting with ZERO rebounds and 1 assist in 16 minutes as a starter. That’s not mentioning how passive he was on interior defense, which led to easy baskets. Meanwhile you have Knight playing about half the game and giving you 6 points on 3-5, and 4 rebounds. He never looks fatigued. You play him 36 minutes and he probably gets you a double-double. Also - you obviously have no confidence in Hutson - as you sat him the last 9 minutes of the game, down by 20. You sat him against ISU in the second half. You sat him in the second half of Valpo. At some point, when do you make a strategy change with him?

Right now you have:
Norris - great

Kennedy - good

Williamson - great

Uguak - good (great defensively); and

Hutson - bad.

On the bench you’ve got:
Schwieger - good
Clemons - capable
Knight - great
Welch - good
Saint Thomas - by all signs, capable.

You cut a 20 point lead to almost six in 6 1/2 minutes without Hall or Hutson ever seeing the floor. The ability is there … it’s how you use it. If you trust Hall and Hutson so much for big minutes and you don’t think they hurt you, why don’t you play them down the stretch???? Drew is making great second half decisions, and horrible first half decisions, and it’s almost cost us at lease 4 games.

We’ve now developed a history of slow starts with the current lineup we’re running in the first half. If you didn’t want to change it because you were still getting wins - fine. But now? Why not experiment to see if you can do things better in the first half? 5 games and no changes…

Run Norris, Kennedy, Uguak, Williamson, and Knight to start the game - and press every made basket to dial up the intensity to start the game and see if you can cause turnovers. Don’t let teams scheme against you as the leader of the conference to start games - rather, try and throw something at the other team that THEY don’t see coming.

Hutson can be a valuable asset off the bench if you give him instructions to protect the rim and foul if he gets beat, instead of giving up baskets. He’s good for 10 hard minutes off the bench. Tate Hall can give you 10 minutes of some good plays and some bad plays. He’s a filler. Neither of those guys are winning games for us though.

Just manage the depth:

Norris - 36 mins (guard)
Kennedy - 30 mins (guard)
Williamson - 30 mins (forward)
Uguak - 30 mins (forward)
knight - 30 mins (center)

All the guys up top are more than capable of giving you high level basketball with those minutes, particularly in the first half, to build you leads. You’ve trusted them at the ends of second halves - ride them in the first. You’ve only got 44 minutes of relief to fill.

Hutson - 10 (center)
Schwieger 20 (forward)
Clemons - 7 (guard)
Hall - 7 - (forward/guard)
Welch - 7 - (center/forward)
Thomas - 5 (guard)

That’s more than enough help off the bench, and if you build a lead early enough, you can probably get those starters’ minutes down for rest in the second.

Also, playing Hutson and Hall at the same time really seems to stifle the offense.

I still think this team is the best in the conference. They just need to figure out a way adjust the lineup to get the most productivity, particularly in the first half. They are capable of outscoring teams by 15 to 20 points in a 10 minute span (we’ve seen it), but Hutson is never on the floor when we do it. We need to see those second half runs without Hutson happen in the first half.

This this this this this. These last 4 games when we’ve needed a run, some variation of this group (with Knight at least always at the 5) has been what we’ve gone too and has obliterated teams. Even if you don’t press right away, this lineup is just so much more dynamic and should be starting games. Bury teams early and don’t let them get comfortable. It’s been demonstrated that less talented teams can go at us (and beat us) if we don’t get off to good starts. Hutson and Hall are spot rotation players…full stop. Both do good things but are just such liabilities in terrain spots. I think much of the hesitation with starting Knight is that he’s undersized, but I think he’s more than proven to make up for that with scoring, athleticism, and rebounding (especially O boards). I’d almost love to start seeing Thomas siphon some of Halls minutes too assuming he keeps up the improved defense. Bottom line, depth is great, but sometimes you need to lean on your horses and be ok with hurting some feelings. Still think we can win the Valley and even run the table from here on out, but the rotation needs to get cleaned up. Like you said, you’ve got probably one more Valley loss you can afford before that at-large opportunity starts looking really flimsy.

My guess is that he plays Hutson with the starters to try and maximize Hutson’s minutes. He knows that Knight is the better player and ends up playing Knight starting minutes. Having Knight come off the bench gives us a spark but most importantly, he’s a much needed offensive option on the second line. If Knight starts that means Hutson comes out with the second line and I would avoid that if possible.

That’s a good point. I’d consider counteracting that potentially then by placing Thomas ahead of Hall in the rotation to pair more offense with Hutty, or make sure the bench lineups consist of either Hall/Welch or Thomas/Hutty to even out offense and defense. I just really think Knight needs the nod at the starting spot. Of course, Drew has forgotten more basketball knowledge than Ill ever know, so he may be seeing something we don’t. Either way, onward to SIU next week to get back on track!

A lot of great points made in all of the above comments, most demonstrating the intensity we share for this team!
Let’s give Isiah Mosley his propers for playing a fabulous game. One on one we did not have anyone who could handle him. No other team would have had the answer either. Moseley basically carried that team on his back.
Let’s get on to the next game and play it well.
I’m finding myself losing enjoyment by over concern with at a large bids, net rankings etc.
Go Ramblers

There is no reason to make wholesale changes. In Coach Drew - I trust. I liked it when he got fire-up over the jump ball call.

I completely disagree with identifying one player or one substitution as the key to improving our team. It's no mystery why we lost.

1. We got a few quick fouls on our two best defensive players in the first half - Uguak and Williamson. I don't think the refs helped us, but we do need to be able to adjust to the calls. We are not going to win many games when our two best defensive players play 24 and 22 minutes. We needed a few players to absorb 12 and 14 minutes of their time and it didn't happen.

2. We shot poorly. 40.3% from the floor. 26.5% from 3. We need to knock down open shots. Our shooting has been a problem for the last few games.

3. It does not matter who starts. Many of our players have a role and need to perform their role.

4. I am not concerned about January. I want to see how the players react and how Coach Drew develops a rotation.

With that said, when we are looking for offense - I would like to see more shots from Clemons and rotate Welch into the game, but that is fan talk.

I agree, the sky is not falling. Lucas and Aher sitting on the bench and our 3pt shooting percentage is the reason we lost this game. I however, wouldn’t mind seeing Saint Thomas get some more minutes over Tate Hall. As long as Saint doesn’t miss defensive assignments, we could use his confidence on offense.