Last year Evansville only won 7 games and we beat them by 8 in Oxford with a big game from Peyton Scott. Speaking of her, she played a little over 2 minutes in each quarter Monday. I would guess they will be stretching those minutes out a little longer each game if things go well. Also, Sydney Watkins, who had started every game, did not play at Western Kentucky, and leading scorer Maddie Cluse played 14 minutes, all in the first half, and did not score. Should all 3 of those girls be healthy and ready to go, we should/could win this game. If that is not the case our bench is not going to beat anybody.
So far Evansville is 2-2, winning their only home game by 27 vs Chicago State, also winning their road game at Eastern Kentucky by 8, and getting trashed by Illinois 93-54 and at #4 Iowa 115-62. Evansville has girls averaging 13,12, and 11. They have played 10 girls in all 4 games, I will be in Oxford for the men’s game and the hockey game, so probably will watch the replay on Sunday.
Watching the replay on Sunday afternoon. Sydney Watkins is on the bench in street clothes, so missing the second game in a row. Walkon Claire Chambers started in her place. Scott is not starting but will play some. This team has so little depth that they have little chance of winning without having their best players fully heathy. Huge dropoff when they go beyond the top 7.
After the first quarter we are down 31-20. Just a horrible game plan. We are playing a team which wants to press and run and play at a fast pace. We actually need to keep the pace slow and keep our best players on the floor as much as possible. Instead we are running up and down the court and also trapping and pressuring in our half court. Just by the end of the first quarter I already see signs or tiring and girls with their hands on their sides breathing heavily. This is unlikely to end well.
Cluse make a layup to open the 2nd Quarter and goes to the bench and Evansville quickly opens it up to 38-22, TO Miami. What a terrible move. She gives Cluse a break 30 seconds after the quarter break and we play without either Scott or Wolf on the court and it took a minute for a 7-0 run. Are we even trying to win these games?? Is it all just to develop the players who are not good enough for MAC play??
The announcers have never one time in the first half mentioned how many fouls girls have, but I am guessing Cluse and Freeman have 2 each as they sat out much more than they otherwise should have. I did notice that Maddi has a wrap on her ankle, which probably accounts for why she only played 14 minutes the last game when she only had one foul. Anyway, with her only playing a couple of minutes in the second quarter, the lead is way up to 56-35. I think Wolf ( only healthy point guard we have) played the entire quarter is at least in double figures in points. Peyton Scott is not really helping us, she played maybe 5 minutes in the first half. She looks slower and is not jumping well. She has yet to score a point this year. She even forgot to block out the shooter on a free throw and the girl got a rebound and a layup. We are so poorly coached. Evansville is having fun, shooting 60% from the floor and 65% from three and 78% from the line with a 10 rebound halftime advantage.
67 to 45 halfway through the 3rd quarter. Freeman quickly picked up her third foul, she is always in foul trouble and has a hard time getting 20 minutes per game because she does not move her feet and is always reaching in. Her offense has improved a lot though this year, just can’t stay out of foul trouble. Peyton Scott had a breakaway lay up for her first points of the season. She has had a couple of missed floating shots in the paint. In the past those would have been plant and shoot a jumper. She also passed when someone was cutting her off going to the bucket, In the past she would have leaned into the girl and drew contact and went tumbling to the floor for 2 shots or an old fashioned three. None the less, she looks a bit more comfortable and has done some good things this quarter, for the first time. The announcers confirmed that Maddie did turn her ankle last Monday.
Miami with a little run and gets it down to 69 to 56. TO Aces. We have had success this quarter by just settling into a half court game, plus we have hit some threes. Cluse is suddenly up to 19, Wolf 17. 2:30 to go in the third.
Chambers hits her third three at the buzzer and we are down 75-62 at the end of 3. Cluse is up to 22 and missed most of the second quarter. Our 3 girls who play the Center and Power Forwad are all in foul trouble, which means we will probably have to go deep into the bench which will not work. At least we did play a nice quarter in the third.
Just unbelievable strategy from our coach. We are pressing hard and trapping and fouling like crazy. First out is Cluse who had two quick 4th quarter fouls, both undisciplined . I think she finished with 22 points but only played a little over half the minutes. We have 3 others with 4 fouls and one with 3 with 6 minutes to go. Down 19 now.
Well,we had 3 girls foul out within a minute, but we keep hacking away. Cluse, Morrow, and Freeman were all gone with 6 minutes to go, and we are now down 24. 4 minutes to go.
97-72 Final. Wolf fouled out too, keeping her from going 40 minutes. So 4 starters fouled out and the only one wh did not was Claire Chambers, a walk on who is playing ahead of several scholarship players.
Evansville shot 54% from the floor, 53% on threes, and 82% from the line. They had 6 girls in double digit and they had the game at their pace all day long thanks to our coaching,
Maddie Cluse had 22 points in 25 minutes and fouled out. If you would go just by points scored per minutes played, she would be in the top 3 or 4 scorers in the nation. So many undisciplined careless fouls and a turned ankle have cut into her minutes.
Ivy Wolf played 39 minutes and scored 23 points and only 3 turnovers as our only real point guard. As a team we only had 10 turnovers, a huge improvement from our ridiculous total of 35 last week. However, we racked up 27 fouls, which is way too many to give us a chance. We have very poor defensive footwork and also are constantly reaching in, going for the steal or a blocked shot.
Unlike the men’s team, who basically scheduled in 5 wins, the women have only scheduled in 1 win, and that game is scheduled after Christmas. So until we play a much more disciplined style and get healthier, we will continue to pile up the losses.