Bears vs #6 Shockers 7pm Jan 11

[ShocksRbest]

Totally impressed with the Bears in last nights game. Lots of talents and a bright future. A couple of controversial calls go differently and the outcome may well have gone to the Bears. Congrats on a great game--had both fan bases on the edge of their seats.

Lots of heart and character by the Shocks as well.

A game definitely not for the faint of heart.

[Wufan]

I've read a few comments about how MSU was milking clock in the last 10 minutes (and they were) and that Lusk made poor adjustments (and he may have), but having watched the Shockers under the Marshall era (and Turgeon era) it takes a lot of winning to learn how to maintain or extend a lead. It wasn't until after the NIT championship that WSU demonstrated a fairly consistent ability to keep their foot on the gas. Also, in Marshall's post-game comments he stated two key adjustments he made down the stretch:

1) On offense, MSU was switching on the ball screen. Marshall had the center set ball screens for VanVleet knowing that Fred, at the top of the key, would have a big advantage getting to the rim with PF or C on him. Fred scored 11 points in the last 7 minutes of the game.

2) On defense, Marshall had the players extend the man-to-man and take away the outside shot. The risk here is that it's easier for MSU to drive and more likely that MSU would draw fouls. I think this is where the toughness of the Shockers really shined. With the "in your grill" style of defense, MSU was unable to penetrate and the crisp passes stopped. Lots of fade-away and hurried jumpers as time wound down.

Credit Marshall for the game plan and credit the players for executing and demonstrating the character necessary to accomplish that come back.

Again, mucho credit to the Bears. They really did expose the Shockers for about 25 minutes of the game and it's unfortunate that one of those two teams had to lose such an exceptional game.

[rlh04d]

Well, nice comeback by the Shox, but this game opened my eyes a bit. This is not a top 10 team though. Defense is lazy at times and they really don't have much of an interior game. As much as I hate to say it, the Shox would get smoked against every other top 10 team on the road. Play angry all you want, just not as talented as the record shows. Don' t get me wrong, they are still the best in the Valley.

Good point. Just as I'm sure you'd admit that Indiana State's poor performances against numerous teams, at home, have opened your eyes that the Trees aren't truly a top 100 team, and would get smoked by every CBI/CIT team they might eventually play.

Keep trollin'.

[Player13]

Well, nice comeback by the Shox, but this game opened my eyes a bit. This is not a top 10 team though. Defense is lazy at times and they really don't have much of an interior game. As much as I hate to say it, the Shox would get smoked against every other top 10 team on the road. Play angry all you want, just not as talented as the record shows. Don' t get me wrong, they are still the best in the Valley.

So, is WSU the only team in America expected to win every game and do it by 30 points or more? That's great that you have such lofty expectations for WSU, but they are a tad unrealistic.

Name me any Top 10 team and I can pick them apart just as easily as you did WSU. I guess 17-0 just isn't that impressive for some people.

[ShocksRbest]

Well, nice comeback by the Shox, but this game opened my eyes a bit. This is not a top 10 team though. Defense is lazy at times and they really don't have much of an interior game. As much as I hate to say it, the Shox would get smoked against every other top 10 team on the road. Play angry all you want, just not as talented as the record shows. Don' t get me wrong, they are still the best in the Valley.

Looking forward to our matchup's with you guys...then we'll see. I seriously doubt ISU would have come back faced with a similar deficit and time frame, but we'll let the play on the court do the talking. Shocks don't always look top notch...but they do know how to win.

[bleach]

The WSU team I saw last night has only one real weakness.....focus. When they get focused, they are a beast. If someone can't finish them off (like the Bears didn't) they could well go to #1.....and deserve it as much as anyone else ever does.

MSU was milking from the opening tip. The difference was they could get good looks that weren't there at the end.

[bleach]

Side Note: "Bears Extra" might have been the funniest thing I've ever heard on the radio, even if it was unintended. Kudos

Chuck Booms!!!! Washed up drunk shock jock trying to be rellevant. He calls in from Cleveland to be an expert host. If you've read the Bears forum much, most people cringe at the notion he's tied to MSU in ANY way at all. We kept turning it off (on the way home) it was so bad but kept returning to the scene of the crime to see if anything developed.

[Shoxfan11]

It's probably been said before, but if the Bears can have an atmosphere like that at home every game, they're going to win a TON of games. WSU clearly looked rattled for a while.

[PowderBlue]

The truth is, every team with even a remote at large hope is going to give WSU their absolute best shot. Especially at home. I'm not at all surprised that this game was close, nor do I expect WSU to blow teams out all that often during conference play.

It's probably been said before, but if the Bears can have an atmosphere like that at home every game, they're going to win a TON of games. WSU clearly looked rattled for a while.

That's the golden ticket for most marginal NCAA teams, though. Good teams are good teams, but home court advantage can be an actual advantage. It'd be nice if Terre Haute could figure that out on a consistent basis...

[ValleyFAN]

For anyone curious about the crowd we had last night at JQH, here is a link on Bear Nation for a panoramic that I put together from my seats. It's pretty much at capacity. You can notice the yellow shirts around the arena to get a good idea of the shocks fans that made the trip. They were well represented, but I think some comments I've seen are inflating their numbers. Students were awesome last night! Great atmosphere.

http://missouristate.247sports.com/Boar ... 24799353/4