Missouri State - 01/11/2023 - 7:00 PM - ESPN+

[DaveBird10]

What a great win last night, man did those kids FIGHT! So great to see the effort that they put in.
- Pedon has his top 9 guys but what I do like is he doesn't have a substitution pattern. He seems to coach and sub off of feel for the game and which kids have it on that particular night.
-Keeping turnovers down was huge and I also thought being close on rebounds was big. With the game being close I thought free throws would be important and it was.
-I like Kasubke starting bc he seems to do whatever it takes to win, can hit a 3 and then Knight can be your 6th man and slide to the 3 or 4 depending and have a game like he had last night.
- Enjoyed a couple post game comments, on free throws " I told Matty I am not giving away any secrets but we can discuss it over a beer after the year." "While the kids are on break we aren't going to sit around and drink Pina Coladas the next few days."

For what's it worth to everyone Pence is almost at every home game, he's been to the last 3 I know. At the Holiday Classic ,Pedon was there then Luke, Liam and Sandage. The next day Judson was there with Poindexter, Jayden and Stadelman. Seeing how they all interacted with Pence after the game is great and the relationship that Pence already has with the coaches and players. I also think Braylon Roman from NCHS was at the game sitting with his parents the row in front of Pence.

 

[BirdGrad2011]

Dana Ford feels like a Muller clone as in game coach. Dana was always a better recruiter but he has nothing in game. Zero offense and chucking bad shots. Relying 100% on talent rather than helping them. I think MSU has to move on sooner than later because he’ll never get them over the hump especially with his constant roster turnover (just like Dan).

 

[gobirds85]

Maybe I'm reading into this, but this team seems to be having fun. After the game, everyone seems pretty amped up. It's great to see these guys bouncing around during the fight song.

Winning. Cures. All.

 

[davehead86]

Great win. Zone gave us trouble in the second but this team never gives up.

I was really frustrated with how it seemed like we couldnt crack the zone defense for the entire game. When we did get in the paint it worked well for us. Im sure Pedon will have a solution and will work on it, but that aspect made it seem like an ugly win in my mind, or maybe it was the bajillion fouls that were called during the game (def helpful for us on that aspect though).

Glad we got the win, glad the players fought the whole time, glad we stayed in the game even when things didnt go our way, so glad we were able to close out a close game. It feels like a long time since weve been able to close out close ones.

 

[Rollbirds5]

Tonight's free throws moves them to 80.9% on the season . . . should move into the top 5 in NCAA. We've had few players shoot 80% from the line in a long time. To have a team shoot like that . . . not sure I can fathom that . . .

This stat is so important to this particular team. We don’t have that much individual talent offensively so we need all the free points we can get which helps us to stay in games and when in position, hold a lead and win

 

[stats]

Than those that can’t afford lower bowl seats can just stay home?

Just a thought on seating for next year based on our low attendance. Just make all of the upper bowl general admission and don't waste time on assigned seating. Maybe even make a portion of the lower bowl a higher priced general admission (similar to how I think the Horton game was). Obviously still save a good portion for season ticket holders.

 

[DoubleDeuce]

I really like how the Redbirds carry themselves as a team. The guys really seem to support each other and put team first. Kendall Lewis's role has been diminished recently but he came out last night really had a positive attitude and played hard.

 

[Phantom]

Winning cures all...including attendance. It's interesting (and a little sad) that we're around 5th in the league in attendance right now. Only Murray St, SIU and Indy St have eclipsed the 5K mark for a game - once each. NOBODY is drawing well.

 

[Dmills]

- Enjoyed a couple post game comments, on free throws " I told Matty I am not giving away any secrets but we can discuss it over a beer after the year." "While the kids are on break we aren't going to sit around and drink Pina Coladas the next few days."

I also enjoyed the press conference.

• On the 15 minutes without a turnover: "Those were the greatest 15 or 16 minutes of my life" - Coach Pedon
• After Pedon complimented Coach Judson's work on defense, calling him a great teacher, Benson made a comment that all guys with a U of I degree are "like that". Pedon responded saying "no comment" and chuckled it off. Pretty funny moment.

 

[stielowp]

MOST were chuckers

I like that I've seen improvement in areas the last two games. Turnovers were down, yet still frustrating at times. Knight played with purpose in the paint. We are much better when he does. Sandage was more under control. Made a majority of the bunnies, and got to the line a bunch. Lewis showed some signs of life.

Poindexter played a fantastic first, and good second half. Burford led the comeback. Pedon went Burford on O Sandage on D for a good stretch to save him from fouling out, but eventually went straight Sandage. Kazooski hit some big threes. Knight was on all game.

Rotation got tighter. 4 guys played 34+

Kotov played. Sissoko started and looked alright then disappeared. Mayor McCheese was ineffective

Good win, keep the streak going. Improve a little every game.

I am with you with all of this except for Sandage. Were you wearing Purple Raider glasses? He was 0 for the floor and some of them were WIDE open. He had to play D for Burford because of Burford's fouls, but he was overmatched (probably not his fault). If he isn't making 3's (especially against a zone) then he doesn't have much use on the court. He was a liability last night, and we were fortunate to overcome it. He and Luke are similar players, except Luke is bigger and appears to be a better shooter and defender.

 

[Adunk33]

As we've seen and I'll continue to say ad nauseum.. the Birds offense gets stagnant at times, what is a great way to get some points if you are cold from the field? Drive into contact and get to the line. That is this team's bread and butter. Casual fans probably won't like it, but it's is what it is. A Sandage once said after going 9-10 or something like that in an earlier game, "They're free." They sure are.

Pedon said postgame that he was playing for fouls. He saw early on in film how physical MoSt was and from his eyes, there were a lot of fouls. He was right. The Bears had 4 guys foul out and two others had 3, enabling ISU to shoot 30+. Kudos to Pedon for that. Ultimately, it was the FT line that won this game. The Birds made ONE 3ptr in the second half. They shot more FT than FG in the second half and OT.

To echo some on here, it felt like I was watching the Redbirds vs the Coach DM (most years other than 2016-17) Redbirds. Dana is a great, great recruiter and evaluator of talent, which is how he landed a spattering of high major transfers (who were role players at their previous stops) and a handful of MM/LMs most of which, started. However, I've said this about some other coaches...Dana doesn't recruit to a system. He either 1. Tries to teach the players his (a la Muller) or 2. Adjusts the system based on what players he has. His team will win games by out-physical-ing some team and out talent-ing some others. I'd be interested to see how his team is in close games this year.

Really good idea for Pedon to go offense-defense around the 8 minute mark with DB and Sandage.

Also, shout out to Joe Petrakis. The guy has found himself with no/limited minutes the last few games and remains the most vocal and active player on the bench. After timeouts, he is one of the last guys to leave the court because he is talking with the guys in the game. I see why on Monday's coach's show, Malachi said if he had to pick one guy on the team who would be the best coach, he'd picked Joe. It would be very easy for him to be less engaged but he is right there in it, every game. Good for him.

Also, Kendall started to look the the guy the team had at the start of the season last night. 12 points, 8 boards and some crucial makes and hustle plays.

Lastly, talk about balance in scoring (22, 16, 12, 11 & 10). There was some talk about they guys being selfish. I felt they moved the ball really well last night, despite only 6 assists.

 

[Redbird222]

Dana's teams were better offensively in the past than this year ... not necessarily the system but the players... Prim, Mosley, Sharpe, Black, and last year Haney.

His team looked stronger defensively than in the past but they continue to make dumb fouls. I feel having the closer called game is an advantage when playing them. I would give him credit for switching to the zone. It slowed us down. Pitting a large player at the top of that zone seemed to impact us. I thought we should have put Luke at the top and moved Poindexter to a wing. Also Sandage was not hitting anything and I thought Burford should have played the last 4 minutes versos him (there was not as much subbing back and forth). Burford is a better rebounder than Colton which hurt us a couple of times. It obviously worked out but that was my thought at the time.

I mentioned this to couple of guys yesterday ... i dont understand why our players dont draw contact when MSU players are flying out of control on 3 point shots. Seems like a easy FT opportunity and helps slow down their aggression. I remember this happening to ISU quite a bit for a 3 to 4 year stretch. Nothing is more annoying than fouling a player behind the arc.

 

[DougSutton]

I thought about making a separate thread for this but don't want to jinx our current success so far. We're currently ranked 4th in the nation as a team in free throw percentage.

NCAA College Men's Basketball DI current team Stats | NCAA.com

Discover the current NCAA Division I Men's Basketball leaders in every stats category, as well as historic leaders.

www.ncaa.com

 

[DougSutton]

Astonishing though, for individual statistics, Malachi doesn't show up on this list. Perhaps he hasn't taken the minimum number required??

NCAA College Men's Basketball DI current individual Stats | NCAA.com

Discover the current NCAA Division I Men's Basketball leaders in every stats category, as well as historic leaders.

www.ncaa.com

 

[Manchester Matt]

Astonishing though, for individual statistics, Malachi doesn't show up on this list. Perhaps he hasn't taken the minimum number required??

NCAA College Men's Basketball DI current individual Stats | NCAA.com

Discover the current NCAA Division I Men's Basketball leaders in every stats category, as well as historic leaders.

www.ncaa.com

Among the top 50 shooters, 36 is the least amount attempts, so he’s definitely short of the minimum at this point.

 

[Popsto4]

So what the f*** has happened to McCheese? He's playing with zero confidence on the offensive end. He's quickly falling off my short list of who I'd hate to see leave . . . which now has Mal on it with his current level of play.

Mal wasn’t on it before lol? We all should want Liam to return buddy. He can become the next level guy.

As we've seen and I'll continue to say ad nauseum.. the Birds offense gets stagnant at times, what is a great way to get some points if you are cold from the field? Drive into contact and get to the line. That is this team's bread and butter. Casual fans probably won't like it, but it's is what it is. A Sandage once said after going 9-10 or something like that in an earlier game, "They're free." They sure are.

Pedon said postgame that he was playing for fouls. He saw early on in film how physical MoSt was and from his eyes, there were a lot of fouls. He was right. The Bears had 4 guys foul out and two others had 3, enabling ISU to shoot 30+. Kudos to Pedon for that. Ultimately, it was the FT line that won this game. The Birds made ONE 3ptr in the second half. They shot more FT than FG in the second half and OT.

To echo some on here, it felt like I was watching the Redbirds vs the Coach DM (most years other than 2016-17) Redbirds. Dana is a great, great recruiter and evaluator of talent, which is how he landed a spattering of high major transfers (who were role players at their previous stops) and a handful of MM/LMs most of which, started. However, I've said this about some other coaches...Dana doesn't recruit to a system. He either 1. Tries to teach the players his (a la Muller) or 2. Adjusts the system based on what players he has. His team will win games by out-physical-ing some team and out talent-ing some others. I'd be interested to see how his team is in close games this year.

Really good idea for Pedon to go offense-defense around the 8 minute mark with DB and Sandage.

Also, shout out to Joe Petrakis. The guy has found himself with no/limited minutes the last few games and remains the most vocal and active player on the bench. After timeouts, he is one of the last guys to leave the court because he is talking with the guys in the game. I see why on Monday's coach's show, Malachi said if he had to pick one guy on the team who would be the best coach, he'd picked Joe. It would be very easy for him to be less engaged but he is right there in it, every game. Good for him.

Also, Kendall started to look the the guy the team had at the start of the season last night. 12 points, 8 boards and some crucial makes and hustle plays.

Lastly, talk about balance in scoring (22, 16, 12, 11 & 10). There was some talk about they guys being selfish. I felt they moved the ball really well last night, despite only 6 assists.

Yes, I spoke the word selfish. As we can see when the ball moves this is what can happen. As long as they realize and see who they really are from the game last night then going forward could be a thing of beauty. That was by far the best team ball of the season.

 

[Redbird222]

I thought about making a separate thread for this but don't want to jinx our current success so far. We're currently ranked 4th in the nation as a team in free throw percentage.

NCAA College Men's Basketball DI current team Stats | NCAA.com

Discover the current NCAA Division I Men's Basketball leaders in every stats category, as well as historic leaders.

www.ncaa.com

And Missouti State is now 351 of 352.

 

[DougSutton]

And Missouti State is now 351 of 352.

Wow! On another note, if you go back to the recording on ESPN+ from last night, you guys were on TV during one of the timeouts. I didn't have my phone on me or I would have taken a picture and posted here.

 

[ISU86]

Why no Burford the last 8:00 and OT? Rotation just seems to get away from us at times.

I found that interesting as well. I know there is more to a players' value in a game than what +/- will measure, but it is interesting that, going into overtime, the only Redbirds with a plus score were Burford, Knight, Lewis and McChesney (with DB and LM seeing no minutes in the extra period). I wouldn't have bet on the last combination, but that is why there is always construction along the Las Vegas Strip.

That might be one the worst misses of a wide open 3 you can have. Wide left. 2 feet?

Mal's shot came at a time where no one seemed to be feeling it re: putting up a shot. Shot clock violation otherwise (so no harm/no foul) if he doesn't fire. That was also around the same time where we started turning the ball over in the second half. Even on Kasubke's late regulation shot, when it did finally break the drought, there were three other open shooters who passed up a clean look; if Luke doesn't make it, we would been calling it over passing.

Finally, Dana's "offense" did look a lot like Dan's. Not sure we would win a return game, though, as I doubt we get away with that style twice.

 

[Redbird222]

Wow! On another note, if you go back to the recording on ESPN+ from last night, you guys were on TV during one of the timeouts. I didn't have my phone on me or I would have taken a picture and posted here.