I first must start off this analysis with an apology. My job and my family took me away from getting any good looks at the games this weekend.
No, I am not happy about this and I know you expect the product to be put on time and be quality. I just couldn't get to it and for that, I give you my deepest apologies and I will make up for it. I promise.
So with that in mind, I will be doing only one point per game for the second weekend blog (trust me, this thing with the job shouldn't happen again for quite some time) and the analysis will come from box scores and not actual eyewitness accounts, so bear with me just this one time please.
With that, lets get to the games.
Side note: The 'Game I watched' and 'Game I peeked at' for each conference were the ones that I was intending to watch and peek at I just didn't get a chance to.
WIAC
Game I watched: UW-Stevens Point 67, Augustana (Ill.) 59. Top scorer UWSP: Clayton Heuer (20). Top scorer AUGIE: Brandon Kunz (13).
The Skinny: The game between WIAC-CCIW heavyweights lived up to it's billing with no team leading by more than nine points. Most the time it was +/-4 points the whole way, just what you want in a game like this.
But in the end, the Pointers were just too much, pulling away at the end of the second half to pick up a solid non-conference road win before heading into their much anticipated match up with Whitewater on Wednesday.
Point 1: Tyler's Treehouse of Terror
UWSP's Tyler Tillema didn't have his best game. He shot 4-of-16 from the field and turned the ball over three times on the day.
But as the Pointers' best players, his impact was still felt despite his off performance from the field.
He would grab seven rebounds to lead the team. He would also lead the team in assists with seven. And when it really counted down the stretch, Tillema made the plays that were needed on offense, whether with the shot or the pass to lead the Pointers to victory.
He has been playing spectacular to begin the season for the Pointers and if Stevens Point wishes to challenge Whitewater for the conference title and to make a run in the NCAA tournament, it's going to have a lot to do with what Tillema does.
Game I peeked at: UW-Stout 64, UW-Platteville 55. Top scorer UWST: Alex Oman (23). Top scorer UWP: Jim Stocki (14).
The Skinny: The Blue Devils went into Platteville and took it to the Pioneers, grabbing a five point lead at halftime.
Stout wouldn't let up, going up by as much as 13 points in the second half and holding off Platteville from coming back and making a game of it, in what was one of the most impressive and surprising performances by a WIAC team on the weekend.
Point 1: O man, O man!!
One of the big reasons the Blue Devils won was because of the play of the junior forward Alex Oman.
Oman did it all for Stout, scoring in the post and outside (knocking down 4-of-6 from deep) and providing a much needed scoring output against the Pioneers.
He showed plenty of those types of games last year, averaging 18.4 points per contest in only 14 games, including a 20 point output in Stout's late season upset of Stevens Point last season.
If Oman can continue to do what he did against the Pioneers and get some help from others, such as Jarvis Ragland, Stout could continue to be the surprise team out of the WIAC this season.
MWC
Game I watched: Grinnell 104, St. Norbert 95. Top scorer GRIN: Jack Taylor (36). Top scorer SNC: Andrew Schwoerer (29).
The Skinny: The Pioneers went up to Green Bay and took down the Midwest Conference favorites on their home floor, working The System to perfection against the Green Knights.
Grinnell would use a 9-0 run in the middle of the second half to break a 62-62 tie and held onto the lead from their, as the closest the Green Knights would get would be three the rest of the way.
Point 1: Peak Performance
You often hear of cars or people running at peak performance. But what about a whole offensive and defensive system?
That's exactly what the Pioneers have working for them right now and especially against the Green Knights on Saturday.
Grinnell shot a gaudy 45 percent from the 3-point line (15-of-33) and turned St. Norbert over 22 times which led directly to 30 points on the night. Pretty impressive.
This is exactly how The System is supposed to work and it worked against one of the better teams in the conference. Which means that Grinnell could be on it's way to a pretty special season.
Game I peeked at: Carroll 71, Monmouth 63. Top scorers CAR: Caleb Zeegers, Kevin Hurd (14). Top scorer MON: Wes Dukeman (14).
The Skinny: The Pioneers needed a second-rally on the road against the Fighting Scots, finding themselves down by 10 points at one point in the second half.
But Carroll proved they're the real deal, coming back and beating the Scots, getting late threes from Caleb Zeegers and Andrew Rumler to hang on.
Point 1: Riding the Pine Riders
One thing that may separate Carroll from many of the rest of the Midwest Conference contenders is how deep their bench is and it showed against Monmouth (And no I'm not counting the guys who come off of Grinnell's bench as typical bench players. Definitely not the same thing).
Zeegers is especially dangerous off the pine, averaging 9.9 a game, which is good for second best on the team. That includes a 46.4 percent clip from deep.
Also, Rumler and Andrew Nottling have done solid things coming off of the Pioneer bench and it always seems as if someone off the bench produces something for Carroll in every game and more consistently than what I have seen out of a lot of benches so far.
It's a nice ace in the hole to have if your Carroll, knowing you have just about the same firepower off your bench as you do starting.
NAC
Game I watched: Lakeland 88, Marian 81. Top scorer LAKE: Jake Schwarz (26). Top scorer MAR: Drew Binversie (19).
The Skinny: The Muskies held off teams late twice in one week, this time against the Sabres, who tied the game up at 74-74 with just over 2 minutes left to play.
But as Lakeland does, they turned on the afterburners, getting 3-pointers from Joey Burris and Justin Ward to retake the lead and down Marian.
Point 1: I Don't Know How They Do It!
The Muskies just seem to have an innate ability to flick their offensive domination on at any moment, which more often than not the past week comes right at the end of the games.
They did it against Benedictine two weekends ago, Concordia-Wisconsin during the week and Marian last Saturday. They just seem to find a whole other gear that other teams just can't get to and can't stop.
It's going to take a superhuman offensive and defensive effort from a team to take down Lakeland in the NAC, and that has to start in these late game situations on defense.
I just don't know if anybody (outside of Aurora, I will get to that in the midweek blog) can do it and do it especially well at the end of games when the Muskies go to a whole other level, it seems like.
They did it against Benedictine two weekends ago, Concordia-Wisconsin during the week and Marian last Saturday. They just seem to find a whole other gear that other teams just can't get to and can't stop.
It's going to take a superhuman offensive and defensive effort from a team to take down Lakeland in the NAC, and that has to start in these late game situations on defense.
I just don't know if anybody (outside of Aurora, I will get to that in the midweek blog) can do it and do it especially well at the end of games when the Muskies go to a whole other level, it seems like.
Game I peeked at: Aurora 106, Dominican 66. Top scorer AUR: Scott Laskowski (19). Top scorer DOM: Anthony Keener (15).
The Skinny: I thought this game would be a lot closer. BOY, was I WRONG.
The Spartans dominated from the outset, taking the Stars out of their game, while Aurora would go on to shoot 60 percent from the field in the win. WOW.
Point 1: Don't Turn the Ball Over!!!
During by time at BenU, Coach Bunks would only really ever get mad at one stat: turnovers.
I can just imagine what Dominican coach Mark White was feeling when his stars committed 21 turnovers in what was probably a more amazing stat than Aurora's field goal percentage.
To Aurora's credit though, they are long and athletic and probably didn't make it easy on Dominican's drivers. Aurora collected 15 steals on the night which led to a 28-2 disparity in points off of turnovers.
If Aurora can continue to do that, which maybe not to the extent of this game but fairly well, I don't see anybody in the South division hanging with them.
That's it for the weekend analysis. I know it wasn't up to par with how last week's was and I promise that it won't be like this again.
As for making it up to all of you, I'm going to be live blogging/tweeting the premier December WIAC matchup between UW-Stevens Point and UW-Whitewater on Wednesday. You'll be able to follow me here (and I do encourage comments to the blog during the game) and on Twitter at @turkdigg40. It should be a whale of a matchup and I hope you'll be tuned in on Wednesday for that one.
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