Last night we took on the Tommies at their castle. This was a huge game for us, to help establish ourselves as a force to be reckon with for a long time. We probably had a lot more to play for than they did consider we needed this game to potentially make the NCAA Tournament. St. Thomas probably secured at least an at large bid with their play during the regular season including wins against two of the WIAC's best Stevens Point and River Falls.
The game started off really sloppy as both teams turned the ball over numerous ocassions and there was no flow. We finally got things moving a little bit and was able get some good looks. We knocked down a bunch of shots and made a big run to push our lead to 19 at a certain point in the half. We were really moving the ball, taking, and making quality shots. St. Thomas chipped away with a couple of 3's and got the lead down to ten by halftime, 45-35.
The second half didn't exactly start the way we wanted. We had a turnover trying to get the ball into Carl and then gave up a layup off a post cut, which is something we worked on quite a bit. A tough four point swing that got their crowd right back into it. They again chipped away at our lead with the help of some unexpected outside shooting from one of their seniors. We went back and forth for most of the half as neither team could really capitalize on each other's mistakes. St. Thomas made a couple of shots and ended up taking a five point lead with about a minute thirty left. Mike answered with an and one and then their senior made another huge 3 and we never recovered. Final score, 78-70.
Not exactly the way we wanted to end our season. It was a tough one and I'm still a little lost for words right now. I have to give St. Thomas credit because they made plays when they needed to. It seemed like the Catholic Gods wanted to steal that game from us. It seemed like they were telling us that we weren't quite ready for that moment. We ended up only making five field goals in the second half and got outscored by 18. I just hope the Academy Awards give away that Oscar for that performance, it was clearly award worthy. And the critics obviously loved it.
Carl played like he was playing in his last game and finished with 23 points and 21 boards to go along with three blocks. Mike was our only other double figure scorer as he finished with 18.
Our season ends with a 16-11 record. Tied for the most wins since 93-94. It was another really small step in the right direction for a program that hasn't enjoyed winning on a consistent basis since the late 50's, early 60's. Maybe next year, the coaches in our league will vote us to finish 9th once again, just like they did this year. Nothing surprising me in this state anymore.
My hope is that this game gives our returning players an awful taste in their mouths for the next seven months. We have to control the things that we can control and that is busting our rear-ends in the weight room and really trying to work on our individual games. We aren't satisfied with where we are at right now by any stretch of the imagination. We plan on making it the NCAA tournament next season, anything less would be a major disappointment. As coaches, our job is to bring in better players and we certainly plan on doing that. Losses like this one, fuel the fire for us work our tails off recruiting.
Comments are welcome on this post.
"My hope is that this game gives our returning players an awful taste in their mouths for the next seven months"
ReplyDeleteMy guess is the game is not the main thing that will leave an awful taste in the players mouth.