And with that normally rounds up the first part of the conference season. Teams now have about four or so conference games in the books and now start up their holiday round of non-conference action.
So here are my recaps of the games.
WIAC
Game I watched: UW-Platteville 86, UW-Oshkosh 48. Top scorer UWP: Chas Cross (15). Top scorer UWO: Jade Royston (12).
The Skinny: The Pioneers jumped out early on the Titans and never looked back, going up by as many as 41 in the second half.
Platteville was on fire from all over the court, especially from the perimeter, shooting 55 percent from the floor in the win while holding the Titans to just 29 percent.
Point 1: Pressing the Right Button
The Skinny: The Pioneers jumped out early on the Titans and never looked back, going up by as many as 41 in the second half.
Platteville was on fire from all over the court, especially from the perimeter, shooting 55 percent from the floor in the win while holding the Titans to just 29 percent.
Point 1: Pressing the Right Button
The thing that jumpstarted the Pioneers rout of the Titans was a zone full court press in the first half.
Platteville was able to get some turnovers and also just all around speed up UW-Oshkosh, getting them out of their comfort zone early, never establishing a rhythm.
Now I don't know if the Pioneers have run full-court press this whole year or just on Saturday. But it worked the way it should on the Titans and it may be worth looking at doing periodically the rest of the year if they haven't already.
Point 2: Making it Rain
UW-Platteville has been an inside-out team all year.
Saturday, they were all outside.
The Pioneers hit nearly as many 3-pointers (12) as UW-Oshkosh had field goals (15) in the game. And they were highly efficient in doing so as well, shooting 52 percent from behind the arc.
What was also surprising as how willing the big men Jake Manning and Chas Cross were willing to step out and take a shot. They aren't afraid if no one comes out to challenge them on the perimeter to take a jump shot and are fairly solid at knocking that shot down.
If those big guys can do that every once and awhile the rest of this season, Platteville could have an added weapon to an already solid offensive team.
Point 3: Keep rebuilding
For UW-Oshkosh, with a new coach and coming off of an ugly 0-16 season last year, it's going to be tough.
But even in a loss as bad as this one, they Titans need to stay positive and continue to work.
And their is plenty to be optimistic about down the road, especially with as young a team as they have. They have even already pulled out their first WIAC win in over a year last weekend against River Falls, which is an obvious plus.
They know that they just need to keep grinding and keep working and things will be looking up for UW-Oshkosh very soon.
Game I peeked at: UW-Stevens Point 63, Edgewood 48. Top scorer UWSP: Joe Ritchay (27). Top scorer EDGE: Cashton Craig (12).
The Skinny: The Pointers, playing without injured guard Tyler Tillema, had to deal with pesky Edgewood until midway through the second half.
Finally Stevens Point was able to go on their run and put the Eagles down, getting a monster night from Joe Ritchay in the process for the win.
Point 1: All's Good...For Now
The first game without the All-American went all right for the Pointers. They handled the absence on the offensive end once again with Ritchay stepping up this time for 27 points.
But the second and third scorers for the Pointers were noticeably absent. Trevor Hass was next up with 10 and Austin Ryf had 9.
The real absent scoring threat was Clayton Heuer on the inside. He only scored 2 points and when the Pointers are desperate for another scorer and a scorer at a position other than guard (which they have plenty of), they didn't get it tonight.
I'm not sure how long Tillema is out with his injury (if any Pointers fans know, please let me know). But with a rough non-conference schedule coming up, including a game against ranked St. Thomas, it will be interesting to see just what the Pointers do if he can't come back.
The Skinny: The Pointers, playing without injured guard Tyler Tillema, had to deal with pesky Edgewood until midway through the second half.
Finally Stevens Point was able to go on their run and put the Eagles down, getting a monster night from Joe Ritchay in the process for the win.
Point 1: All's Good...For Now
The first game without the All-American went all right for the Pointers. They handled the absence on the offensive end once again with Ritchay stepping up this time for 27 points.
But the second and third scorers for the Pointers were noticeably absent. Trevor Hass was next up with 10 and Austin Ryf had 9.
The real absent scoring threat was Clayton Heuer on the inside. He only scored 2 points and when the Pointers are desperate for another scorer and a scorer at a position other than guard (which they have plenty of), they didn't get it tonight.
I'm not sure how long Tillema is out with his injury (if any Pointers fans know, please let me know). But with a rough non-conference schedule coming up, including a game against ranked St. Thomas, it will be interesting to see just what the Pointers do if he can't come back.
MWC
Game I watched: St. Norbert 70, Lawrence 52. Top scorer SNC: Andrew Schwoerer (23). Top scorer LAW: Ryan DePouw (13).
The Skinny: The is the Green Knights team everybody thought they would be when the season started. St. Norbert built up a eight-point halftime lead on the Vikings.
They wouldn't look back the rest of the game, opening up a 22-point lead at one point to pick up a much needed Midwest Conference victory.
Point 1: On the Block, Posted Up
The Green Knights had a clear game plan against Lawrence. Get the ball inside.
And it worked to perfection. St. Norbert's bigs and even their wings and guards bodied up and went down to the block and had a lot of success against the Vikings. I mean, they only shot six 3-pointers on the night. That's an incredibly low number for a DIII team.
This led to a lot of things opening up for the Green Knights, including their driving lanes from the outside, which opened up when Lawrence would sink into the post and the St. Norbert bigs would toss it back out. It made their offense look very fluid and very efficient all night.
What gives St. Norbert's the advantage over a lot of Midwest teams is their length at the 3 spot, which can allow them to post those guys up against smaller guards, which the Green Knights did a lot of with Andrew Schwoerer and Paul Appleton all game and it worked out.
It's clear that they need to continue to work on getting the ball inside a lot more to be successful from this point forward.
Point 2: I Schwoerer We Were Guarding Him!
St. Norbert's Andrew Schwoerer was unstoppable all night. He Laettner'd the Vikings, going a perfect 9-of-9 from the field and 4-of-4 from the free throw line.
The sophomore wing did it in a lot of different ways, showing off his versatility in the victory.
He came of screens and hit jump shots. He posted smaller guards up. He took it off the dribble. He crashed the glass.
He proved just how valuable he is to this St. Norbert's team and although they have a lot of different options to go to at both the guard and post positions, getting Schwoerer involved early and often in the offense is a must for the Green Knights going forward.
Point 3: Cold as Ice
This is exactly what Lawrence was from deep, especially in the first half against the Green Knights.
A lot of this had to do with the Green Knights' defense. They got into the Vikings' guards and forced them off the 3-point line, making it difficult to feed the post.
They also clogged the driving lanes well when LU's guards decided to put their head down and prevented them from turning the corner.
This forced Lawrence into a lot of contested, semi-deep three-pointers that were late in the shot clock. And by the time they did get open looks, they weren't an any rhythm from the shots before to make them.
Those contested 3-pointers turned out to be a big reason why St. Norbert was able to go out and take a lead by the end of the first half.
Game I peeked at: Ripon 79, Carroll 76. Top scorer RIP: Taylor Koth (29). Top scorers CAR: Jake Bast, Dan Kratz (14).
The Skinny: This was a back and forth affair with both offense's cranked up to 10.
The teams would trade leads for most of the second half until Ripon's Kyle Loughrin nailed a 3-pointer with seven seconds left to give the Redhawks the 79-76 advantage.
Carroll's Jake Bast had a shot to tie it, but it was no good and Ripon knocked off the last remaining conference unbeaten on the road.
Point 1: One Last Shot
In an offensive slugfest like this one was, it often comes down to who has the last possession to take the lead.
That's what Ripon did. They had that last full offensive possession. And they got a great look.
Loughrin got free on the left wing and drilled a wide-open 3-pointer to win it for Ripon.
Both teams were pretty poor on the defensive end all game. Both teams were able to move the ball at will and shots were either semi-contested (which really means it was a poor or long closeout) or not at all.
But in the end, Ripon was able play two good defensive possessions at the end. First, when they got a turnover as Carroll was looking to take the lead. And then on the last possession to clinch the game for the Redhawks.
As for Carroll, that's a tough loss to a team that you should have beat in your home gym. For a team that looked to be the class of the MWC this season, you can't expect to do that and win conference.
NAC
Game I watched: North Central 61, Benedictine 55. Top scorer NCC: Aaron Tiknis (14). Top scorer BEN: Michael Woolf (13).
The Skinny: Benedictine kept NCC in their sights all night, cutting the lead to two at one point in the second half.
But the Cardinals proved they were the No. 4 team in the nation, getting two huge 3-pointers from Pat Rourke and closing out the Eagles from the free throw line to remain unbeaten.
They also keep the Chicago/Maple Avenue trophy for the second-straight year.
Point 1: Zoning Out
Benedictine was able to stay in the game by mixing up between man and a 2-3 zone defense against the Cardinals.
For a team that is offensively potent inside the paint with their forwards Aaron Tiknis, Landon Gamble and Derek Raridon and a team that isn't the biggest team in Benedictine, this worked like magic.
The Eagles would come out in the zone after makes and dead balls and man-to-man off of misses. This forced a slower pace, which kept BenU close and also prevented the Cardinals from working the ball inside, which their offense is predicated on.
The Eagles also outworked the Cardinals for most of the game in that zone and really made NCC work the ball around, which game Benedictine a decided advantage in tempo.
Point 2: Foul Trouble
Benedictine was also able to get Raridon and Gamble into foul trouble as well. Both sat out large chunks of the first and second half due to fouls.
This exposed North Central's main weakness. They can't get created offense without those two preseason All-American's on the floor.
Vince Kmiec and Tiknis are capable scorers, don't get me wrong. But as far as creating, they can't. They need to be fed the ball from either Raridon on the wing creating off the dribble or Gamble out of the post, who is an excellent small space passer.
The Cardinals, with Raridon and Gamble on the bench, went five minutes WITHOUT SCORING. That's not a good sign if you are a North Central fan.
Point 3: Not Capitalizing
Problem for the Eagles, however, is that they couldn't take advantage of that time with those two on the bench. In fact, while North Central wasn't scoring, neither were the Eagles.
At times, Benedictine has trouble getting good looks, not only in this game, but other games as well. They just get a little stagnant on offense.
This was the problem, again today as they took some rushed, contested shots and they also had a tough time breaking down the Cardinals defense.
It's definitely will be tough for Bunks and the Eagles to take when they know that they could've taken down the Cardinals very easily if they could've just made a few more shots.
Even so, Benedictine can be very happy with the result, especially since they've struggled the past two weeks in conference.
Game I peeked at: Loras 82, Rockford 59. Top Scorer LOR: Luke Barry (14). Top scorer ROCK: Scott Suchy (23).
The Skinny: Loras got up in the middle of the first half and held the Regents at bay the rest of the way.
Rockford had a poor day from the field, shooting only 29 percent, including a 5-of-20 from deep in the loss.
Point 1: Play some 'D'
Rockford was never an exceptional defensive team when I played against them. Last year, (my first year not playing) they were 10th out of 12 teams in the NAC in scoring defense.
This season, they are allowing nearly 80 points per game on defense (they gave up 82 on Sunday), just too many for a team that is looking to finish near the top of the NAC this year.
They have plenty of offensive weapons, including the top scorer in conference in Scott Suchy. Tory Minnifield and Grant Olsen also average in double figures for the Regents and they like to play an up tempo type of game and get you playing their pace.
But if they are going to win 10 or more games in conference this year (which they have the capability to do), they have to at least get a few stops when they are needed to get the job done.
Be sure to stay tuned for my midweek blog and you can follow my thoughts on Twitter at @turkdigg40.
The Skinny: Loras got up in the middle of the first half and held the Regents at bay the rest of the way.
Rockford had a poor day from the field, shooting only 29 percent, including a 5-of-20 from deep in the loss.
Point 1: Play some 'D'
Rockford was never an exceptional defensive team when I played against them. Last year, (my first year not playing) they were 10th out of 12 teams in the NAC in scoring defense.
This season, they are allowing nearly 80 points per game on defense (they gave up 82 on Sunday), just too many for a team that is looking to finish near the top of the NAC this year.
They have plenty of offensive weapons, including the top scorer in conference in Scott Suchy. Tory Minnifield and Grant Olsen also average in double figures for the Regents and they like to play an up tempo type of game and get you playing their pace.
But if they are going to win 10 or more games in conference this year (which they have the capability to do), they have to at least get a few stops when they are needed to get the job done.
Be sure to stay tuned for my midweek blog and you can follow my thoughts on Twitter at @turkdigg40.
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