Butler @Evansville

[Black]

Hence the term: "Getting evansville'd".

[pafan]

Hence the term: "Getting evansville'd".

At this point, my goal for the season is to Evansville the Uglies in C'Dale. And maybe UNI again. That would be fun.

[purple&orange]

The lack of a consistent 2nd option is what is holding Evansville back right now offensively. Somebody who can get 12-15 a game, every night and can get those points in various ways (jumpers, drives, pull ups, getting to the foul line, etc). DJ has proven to be the man on offense, but at times the ball probably stays in his hands too often and at times it seems the guys in orange sleeves look to him to carry the load too and at times pass up opportunities to be aggressive and look for their shots.

Butler is very physical and the game was officiated more like last year's style instead of the emphasis on the rules. Not a gripe about the officiating, just an observation. Dunham is a really good shooter for Butler, hit a two backbreaking 3's late, one from about 25 on the wing near the sideline and another quick square and fade away that most would not consider a good shot. In addition he is very crafty in getting low and creating contact on the drive and getting his guy in foul trouble and getting himself to the line. Along with Barlow, who sparked the 8-0 run to get the lead for Butler they would never give up.

Evansville exceeded any/all expectations early, shot the ball at a clip they could not sustain, nor would any other D-I team for that matter, against a schedule not exactly described as a murder's row. In addition Evansville typically plays a small lineup and got drilled on the boards today, outrebounded by 16 I believe. It's proven to be Marty's style to play small with 4 perimeter players at almost all times and against bigger, stronger teams it hurts UE, not only on the glass but also as UE missed a few layups because of bigger defenders changing the shots at the rim. In addition the PGs aren't threats from the outside, which in turn allows the defense to play off of them and clog up a lot of the motion stuff they try to run.

It's a young group that played hard today, much more so than last week in the loss to Jackson State. Today a couple more made layups, free throws may have been the difference. The 1st 30 minutes or so produced 10 ties and 15 lead changes, so I believe this team can be successful and win games like this, but believing so and actually producing that result are different things.

One more non-conference game to iron things out before the beauty of a round robin true league champion journey begins for everyone.

Happy Holidays everyone.......while we still get along before that journey begins.

[m-v-c]

From what have seen of them, Evansville just misses too many open shots. Even Balentine misses them more than someone who scores like him should. The offense generates good enough shots; at some point you have to make them. And if you aren't making open shots and can't rebound...just not going to be very good.

[Ricardo del Rio]

The lack of a consistent 2nd option is what is holding Evansville back right now offensively. Somebody who can get 12-15 a game, every night and can get those points in various ways (jumpers, drives, pull ups, getting to the foul line, etc). DJ has proven to be the man on offense, but at times the ball probably stays in his hands too often and at times it seems the guys in orange sleeves look to him to carry the load too and at times pass up opportunities to be aggressive and look for their shots.

Butler is very physical and the game was officiated more like last year's style instead of the emphasis on the rules. Not a gripe about the officiating, just an observation. Dunham is a really good shooter for Butler, hit a two backbreaking 3's late, one from about 25 on the wing near the sideline and another quick square and fade away that most would not consider a good shot. In addition he is very crafty in getting low and creating contact on the drive and getting his guy in foul trouble and getting himself to the line. Along with Barlow, who sparked the 8-0 run to get the lead for Butler they would never give up.

Evansville exceeded any/all expectations early, shot the ball at a clip they could not sustain, nor would any other D-I team for that matter, against a schedule not exactly described as a murder's row. In addition Evansville typically plays a small lineup and got drilled on the boards today, outrebounded by 16 I believe. It's proven to be Marty's style to play small with 4 perimeter players at almost all times and against bigger, stronger teams it hurts UE, not only on the glass but also as UE missed a few layups because of bigger defenders changing the shots at the rim. In addition the PGs aren't threats from the outside, which in turn allows the defense to play off of them and clog up a lot of the motion stuff they try to run.

It's a young group that played hard today, much more so than last week in the loss to Jackson State. Today a couple more made layups, free throws may have been the difference. The 1st 30 minutes or so produced 10 ties and 15 lead changes, so I believe this team can be successful and win games like this, but believing so and actually producing that result are different things.

One more non-conference game to iron things out before the beauty of a round robin true league champion journey begins for everyone.

Happy Holidays everyone.......while we still get along before that journey begins.

Thank you.

This post is such a blessed relief from that of the Purple teenager.

[Wufan]

Evansville is still a young team. Some nice pieces to build around.

[glm38]

Evansville is still a young team. Some nice pieces to build around.

I agree. Aren't Ballentine and Mock just sophomores? Those are 2 very nice players to build a team around.

I do hope having the coach's son on the Aces doesn't end up being a long term problem. Nepotism is always a serious issue whether it has a valid basis or not. It wasn't too much of an issue at CU but clearly that was a different circumstance with Doug obviously being the best player on that team.

[pafan]

I agree. Aren't Ballentine and Mock just sophomores? Those are 2 very nice players to build a team around.

Yes, Balentine and Mockevicius are both sophomores, and substantially all our other contributors are freshmen.
So far this season, 56% of UE's points have come from sophomores, 33% from freshmen and 11% from juniors. There are no seniors on the roster.

I do hope having the coach's son on the Aces doesn't end up being a long term problem. Nepotism is always a serious issue whether it has a valid basis or not. It wasn't too much of an issue at CU but clearly that was a different circumstance with Doug obviously being the best player on that team.

I hope so too. At the moment, UE doesn't have any depth at Blake's position. When he goes out, UE normally subs in Jaylon Brown, our backup point guard. Therefore, Blake plays a lot of minutes whether he's playing well or poorly, and this grates on some fans on the UE site... we can hope the guys feel differently.