Finally. As we get to the end of January there is finally some separation between the top and bottom of the conference races.
These weekend games that I'm about to analyze had a lot to do with that, so let's take a look.
WIAC
Game I watched: UW-Whitewater 58, UW-Stout 55, Top scorer UWW: Darnell Harris (16). Top scorers UWST: Alex Oman, Chris Hortman (13).
The Skinny: The first half was all Blue Devils as they jumped out to a 26-17 lead at halftime on the Warhawks.
But UW-Whitewater wasn't done as they went on a monster second half run thanks in large part to Darnell Harris' five 3-pointers to finally take a lead.
It went back and forth down the stretch and thanks to missed free throws, Stout had a chance to tie the game, but Chris Hortman's 3-point attempt at the buzzer was no good and the Warhawks hung on to the victory.
Point 1: It's Gotta Be The Harris!
Whitewater forward Darnell Harris has had an up and down season to this point for the Warhawks. That started with a monster effort in the early season, when he put up over 30 points against Illinois Wesleyan.
He then hit a lull where he wasn't scoring and people questioned how good the freshman was.
Saturday, he reminded everyone just how dangerous he can be. He dropped in five 3-pointers for the Warhawks, all of which came in the second half.
Although he didn't score on the inside (he did grab nine rebounds to lead the Warhawks), he proved just how versatile he is and how much he can stretch the floor for Whitewater at the four spot.
If he can stay hot, Whitewater will be a very tough team to beat coming down the stretch.
Point 2: Defense, Create My Offense
Stout is the best defensive team in the WIAC and is one of the best in the country.
That is how they win games. They lock you down on the defensive end. But their defense is so much more than just shutting teams down. It's also their catalyst on offense as well.
Just take a look at the two half at Whitewater. In the first half, when their defense was working, their offense was a little better. They didn't turn it over as much and got better looks and in turn took a pretty substantial lead to halftime.
The second half was a different story as the Warhawks found a way to beat the Blue Devils defense to the tune of 41 second half points.
This created a problem as the Stout offense couldn't get out and run a little bit to get better looks in the half court. They struggled and they only scored 29 points in the second half thanks to shooting 12-of-19 from the foul line in the second half. Meaning they really only scored 17 points.
That is how you have to beat Stout. You have to be able to score against their defense, which in turn forces them to play against a set defense on the other end and they aren't great when that happens.
Point 3: Thanks For Saving My Spot
The win moved the Warhawks into sole possession of second place in the WIAC standings, a game ahead of the Blue Devils who are alone in third.
More importantly, that win creates a sweep against Stout, which means that Whitewater really has a two game lead on the second spot. And with Point seemingly running away with the conference No. 1 spot, this virtual two game lead is huge on getting a bye in the conference tournament.
It's also a big victory for Whitewater, who had been struggling as of late. That second half against Stout is really how the Warhawks expected to play all season.
If they can get back to playing that kind of basketball the rest of the way, they will be a dangerous team come the end of February heading into March.
Game I peeked at: UW-Platteville 76, UW-Superior 67. Top scorer UWP: Chas Cross (22). Top scorer UWS: Jarrod Peterson (15).
The Skinny: The Yellowjackets jumped out to a nine-point lead at halftime on the Pioneers and looked to be on their way to victory.
But the Pioneers had other things in mind, outscoring Superior 47-29 in the second half and grabbing a big victory on the road.
Point 1: Don't Cross His Path
Platteville big man Chas Cross has been the penultimate big man int he WIAC all season.
He proved it again against UW-Superior, scoring 22 points and pulling down 12 rebounds in the victory.
What makes him so special is what he can do on the offensive end. He can post you up and bull his way to the rim. He can post you up and beat you with a finesse move. He can even step out and knock down the 15-footer or even the occasional 3-pointer if need be.
He did all of those against Superior, especially in the second half when he scored 16 of his 22 points.
This is a big win for Platteville as it keeps them close to the fourth spot in the standings and a chance to host a conference tournament game.
If they want to keep winning, they should definitely keep looking to feed it to Cross.
MWC
Game I watched: St. Norbert 80, Cornell 63. Top scorer SNC: Brandon Gries (22). Top scorer COR: Reggie Greenwood (19).
The Skinny: It was a close game at halftime with the Green Knights holding a six-point lead thanks to both teams 50 percent from the field.
But St. Norbert was able to shut down the Rams in the second half, outscoring them 45-34 and holding them to just 35 percent shooting in the second half and including a 2-of-12 performance from deep to grab the victory.
Point 1: Anyway You Want It, That's The Way We'll Beat You
The Green Knights have the unique ability of being able to play a lot of different ways and beat you a lot of different ways.
Of course, just like any team, they want to be able to play their game, their pace, which usually means feeding it inside and playing a slower type of game.
But they can also really grind you out if you try and do that and they have the ability to play a little up-tempo guard game as well.
They played that guard game that Cornell likes to play and beat them at it. They shot 7-of-15 from deep, compared to just 7-of-20 for the Rams and they had 21 assists, despite 17 turnovers.
But it's not like they completely forgot the inside game either and did do a good job of getting it into the post and paint when they needed to.
The ability to play a lot of different styles is a great thing to have in your arsenal.
Point 2: Hitting a Brick Wall
The past two MWC contests for the Rams have been against teams that dominated their relatively small lineup.
Beloit had it and beat them by double digits. St. Norbert had it and beat them by double digits.
When they are overmatched in the post like they have been in the past two games, they just can't seem to keep up. Their guards can keep up, like Reggie Greenwood. But their posts just can't get the job done inside.
This will continue to be a problem all season for the Rams unless they can really turn up the tempo and force more turnovers and get teams away from their inside games.
Point 3: Alone At the Top
It wasn't a great start for the Green Knights at the beginning of the conference season.
But now, midway through, they are at the spot that they thought they'd be at in the beginning: the top.
St. Norbert sits alone in first place in the MWC at 9-2 in conference and are on a nine-game win streak since their lost to Grinnell in December.
They have been doing it by great team play, great balance on the offensive end and a stifling defense on the other end.
If they continue to play with confidence like they have been, I don't see them giving up the top spot the rest of the season.
Game I peeked at: Ripon 103, Grinnell 93. Top scorer RIP: Taylor Koth (25). Top scorer GRIN: Griffin Lentsch (17).
The Skinny: The Redhawks were able to comeback after being down 15 points at one point in the first half to come back and beat the Pioneers.
A big reason why was that they outrebounded Grinnell 66-37 in the contest and had three players with over double digit rebounds.
Point 1: Don't Turn It Over
The biggest key against the Pioneers System is don't turn the ball over on against their trapping defense.
And that's exactly what the Redhawks did, or at least kept to the very minimum against Grinnell. They only turned the ball over 21 times in the win, which is a fairly low number when you're playing against Grinnell.
This was especially true in the second half, as Ripon only turned the ball over eight times in the second stanza to take the lead and eventually the victory.
This allowed the Redhawks to really exploit the Grinnell trap and get some easy baskets in the process.
This a big win for Ripon as they are just one game out of the final tournament spot right now and if they can take any momentum out of this win, they can make things interesting down the stretch.
NAC
Game I watched: Marian 76, Aurora 70. Top scorer MAR: Sam Koslowski (19). Top scorer AUR: Esteban Vega (17).
The Skinny: This game was a back and forth contest with no team taking more than a seven-point lead the whole game.
The killer was when the Sabres would go on a short 7-0 run late in the second half to take a 69-64 lead on the Spartans and Aurora couldn't recover as Marian hit their free throws down the stretch to grab a victory.
Point 1: The Perfect Mixture
The Sabres laid out a solid blueprint on how to beat the Spartans.
First, winning the rebounding battle. Marian outrebounded Aurora 41-32 overall and 11-7 on offensive boards in the win. This led to 11-6 advantage in second-chance points.
Secondly, guard the 3-point line. Aurora has a few shooters who like to bomb it. If you can get a hand up and really hold their 3-point percentage to a minimum that's good. That is exactly what the Sabres did, holding Aurora to just 3-of-18 from the arc (17 percent) during the game.
Thirdly, out shoot them from the free throw line. Marian went 17-of-26 from the foul line while Aurora only shot 9-of-14. A plus-eight margin at the foul line is huge.
Although Aurora was still able to get out into their normal tempo on misses and turnovers, the Sabres were able to neutralize them by slowing the pace just a bit on their offensive end and using these three points to make up for their deficiencies.
If you realize and admit that Aurora going to get theirs in transition, you better be doing these things to pick up a victory.
Point 2: Slight Hiccup
If you are the Spartans you shouldn't get too down about this loss.
They played their worst conference game all season and arguably their worst overall game this season, which is bound to happen at some point.
They were just coming off an emotional rivalry contest with Benedictine and also had a nice long road trip up to Fond du Lac, there is that.
They were also playing without leading scorer Marious Lobdell as well.
They were also playing without leading scorer Marious Lobdell as well.
And yet they were in it at the end and if a couple of shots fall or balls bounce their way, they might have pulled off the victory.
Teams are bound to lose games and it was just the perfect time to take them down. I don't think this affect Aurora at all. They are too good to let one loss, especially one like this to ruin what could be a special season.
Point 3: Bigger Things?
For Marian, this win huge on a number of fronts.
One, it puts them two and a half games up on Edgewood for the fourth spot in the North.
Two, it puts them only a game out of third place in the North behind Concordia Wisconsin.
Third, it is a signature win that at team like the Sabres is looking for to hang their hat on and give them some confidence moving forward.
And with the season coming down the stretch, it's a kind of victory that can make a team believe and go on a big run to finish out the regular season.
I'm sure that's what Marian is hoping for.
Game I peeked at: MSOE 67, Benedictine 52. Top scorer MSOE: Victor Bande (21). Top scorer BEN: Michael Woolf (13).
The Skinny: The Raiders jumped out quickly in this one, building a 34-19 lead by halftime.
The Eagles would come back slightly in the second half, cutting it to seven a couple of times before MSOE would pull away towards the end.
Point 1: Confidence Is A Wonderful Thing
Give any team the right amount of confidence and belief that they can win, and it's a great thing.
For the MSOE Raiders, that's exactly what they've got going for them now.
They are playing with a confidence and emotion that they can beat anybody on any given night and they proved that this past week by beating Lakeland and dominating BenU in what could've been a hangover-type game.
They just keep doing it with a great defensive effort, a spurty offense and just all around high energy-type of play that is tough for any team to match.
And right now, they find themselves alone in the second spot in conference, a game-and-a-half back of Lakeland, who they have the tiebreaker with right now.
If they keep that confidence rolling, they will continue to be dangerous.
Thanks for tuning in again. As always, you can follow my thoughts on Twitter at @turkdigg40 and look out for my midweek blog coming up here soon.
Aurora played without their leading scorer, Marious Lobdell in the loss at Marian.
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