@Missouri State - 1/30/18

[Adunk33]

I think everyone agrees that we either win this one in the 5-9 range or lose by 10+. Who knows what to expect with this team?

Here's the pregame article. http://www.goredbirds.com/news/2018/1/29/mens-basketball-illinois-state-to-battle-bears-in-missouri.aspx
Confusing line in there

Of the 13 schools within the state of Illinois, Illinois State has the most wins, and highest win percentage.

We are 11-11, Loyola is 18-4, Bradley is 16-7, SIU is 14-9, heck UIC is even 12-11. So, I'm not sure what they are trying to get at here.

Anyway, shut down Alize again, close out on their shooters, make them feed Church (0 points against us last game) and we sneak by with a win. If they go off (@Drake, @UNI, @INST) we're screwed.

 

[DannyCooksey]

Hard to feel confident based on the last 2 road games. I would be encouraged by a close loss where we play well.

 

[RBFANTOO]

DDD. We need some high energy and smart defense. Our zone D is so much better than our man. The man D just doesn't seem to be getting any better considering the Redbirds are this far into the season. Too many bad switches and missed assignments. Also, not getting into position soon enough to prevent offensive rebounding by their opponents.

 

[CaliRdBrd]

Couple of their players were injured using cryotherapy. Not sure how that affects things, if at all?
That said, I hate to win due to the other teams’ injuries, but I guess we’ll take what we can get these days.

 

[cpacmel]

Illinois State +8
Over / under 138

 

[Adunk33]

Couple of their players were injured using cryotherapy. Not sure how that affects things, if at all?
That said, I hate to win due to the other teams’ injuries, but I guess we’ll take what we can get these days.

http://www.news-leader.com/story/sports/college/msu/2018/01/26/msu-administration-investigating-cryotherapy-treatment-injured-2-athletes/1070594001/

Neither player will play tonight. During the first game Scurry played just 14 min, scored 5 points, had 4 rebounds, 2 blocks, 4 turnovers, and fouled out. Fofana played 5 min and only showed up in the book with 2 fouls, nothing else. From what I have read, Scurry is still a few weeks away and Fofana may be done for the season.

From MVCFans:

After the players reached the place of this incident as I have found out, there was a thick pad on the bottom of the machine in question. The players were too tall to stand, and the pad was removed exposing the bottom of machines surface. The pad was there for a reason, and someone recommended it to be taken out. As soon as Fofana stood in the machine and it was activated, he screamed in pain at some point, and they took him out. (Too Late) After that, Scurry was then placed in the machine and felt the same pain and was immediately removed. This is my understanding from a reliable source. This is not testimony, only information. Fofana is now apparently out for the year, and Scurry for two more weeks.
This is a difficult situation for all involved because no-one believes it was intentional. I hope we can get to the final analysis and prevent any litigation. There will be additional explanations, so just take this as IMO

 

[Redbirds4Life]

I am guessing that the Birds will come out and play hard, it seemed like they had a lot more energy on Saturday. With that being said, I haven't seen anything to lead me to believe they can win on the road. I think they will keep it close, but Missouri State will win a must-win game for them.

Illinois State - 62
Missouri State - 67

 

[ricohill]

Illinois State +8
Over / under 138

8 seems like a lot of points to give Mo State tonight.

The plan we put together has been followed by everyone lately to double team Johnson and try to take him out of the game. If we bring the energy we did Saturday night, I like our chances.

Need to do a better job on Miller and Rousseau, they each got 16 points off the bench.

 

[Redbird28]

Illinois State +8
Over / under 138

8 seems like a lot of points to give Mo State tonight.

The plan we put together has been followed by everyone lately to double team Johnson and try to take him out of the game. If we bring the energy we did Saturday night, I like our chances.

Need to do a better job on Miller and Rousseau, they each got 16 points off the bench.

The line means they are giving us 8 points. FWIW, the line has shifted in Vegas to MSU -7, which translates to them giving us 7.

 

[ricohill]

Illinois State +8
Over / under 138

8 seems like a lot of points to give Mo State tonight.

The plan we put together has been followed by everyone lately to double team Johnson and try to take him out of the game. If we bring the energy we did Saturday night, I like our chances.

Need to do a better job on Miller and Rousseau, they each got 16 points off the bench.

The line means they are giving us 8 points. FWIW, the line has shifted in Vegas to MSU -7, which translates to them giving us 7.

Sorry I said it wrong. Still seems like having Mo State as a 7 point favorite is high to me.

 

[Redbird28]

8 seems like a lot of points to give Mo State tonight.

The plan we put together has been followed by everyone lately to double team Johnson and try to take him out of the game. If we bring the energy we did Saturday night, I like our chances.

Need to do a better job on Miller and Rousseau, they each got 16 points off the bench.

The line means they are giving us 8 points. FWIW, the line has shifted in Vegas to MSU -7, which translates to them giving us 7.

Sorry I said it wrong. Still seems like having Mo State as a 7 point favorite is high to me.

Theoretically, yes, but after our last two road games 7 might be severely understated unfortunately.

Go to the Show Me State and Show Me a better road performance, Birds!

 

[tpskult]

If the three ball is falling early for the Birds they will have a chance to get a W.

Birds 69
Bears 65

 

[Redbird28]

Interesting piece of info from the Coaches Call re: N'Diaye.

https://soundcloud.com/mvcsports/sets/mvc-mens-basketball-coaches-call-1-28-2018

Dan essentially saying he's not seeing enough out of him defensively and averaging 1 block per game simply isn't enough to justify the amount of minutes he's been playing.

 

[isuquinndog]

I can't listen right now, who asked him about David?

 

[Adunk33]

I can't listen right now, who asked him about David?

If I remember correctly, it was Benson. (See Benson's game article from today).

 

[bb fan]

Limit turnovers. No long droughts by us or runs by the Bears.

Keep 'em close and we have a decent shot at this one.

MSU / Lusk struggles with the close ones.

 

[ricohill]

I was reading the Missouri State preview. Will be interesting to see if this helps their student attendance tonight. Cheap beer usually always draws a crowd.

-Tailgate— In an attempt to bring more students to JQH Arena, the Missouri State Student Government is throwing a student tailgate two hours before the game at Hammons North Upper Level Court. The event is free to attend and will feature beverage discounts — both wine and beer will be sold at the event.

http://www.the-standard.org/sports/preview-illinois-state/article_b4b04f2a-05dc-11e8-9039-0f59cf4978a9.html

 

[Buffett]

IN the Pantagraph:
Muller would like ISU's David Ndiaye to regain his defensive identity. The 7-footer, who missed the first 13 games with a stress fracture, has only nine blocks in nine games. He led ISU with 1.6 blocks per game last season.
"He's not alerting or blocking as many as he should. He's only had one game where I thought he was a big-time rim protector, and that was the Bradley game," said Muller. "In order for David to keep playing the minutes he's playing, he needs to play a lot better defensively."

 

[Redbirdwarrior]

8 points is interesting. Tells you that Vegas suggests this will be a close game until the last minute or so. They are expecting foul and freethrows to ice it.

I don't know what to think here. ISU just crushed Valpo, but Valpo sucks pretty brutal right now. Beyond that ISU was mashed twice in a week before that but also beat these guys already.

Grrrr.

ISU- 69
MoSt- 65

MW has his best game as a Redbird.

 

[isuquinndog]

I can't listen right now, who asked him about David?

If I remember correctly, it was Benson. (See Benson's game article from today).

I find it funny that the local guys jump on this call and ask their home coach questions. Like you couldn't call Dan up and ask that question or at one of his pressers?