It wasn't height that beat us but rather speed, moving the ball and hitting the open shot.
We missed a ton of shots as well.

Can't believe we shot that poorly. Have to give the Shox credit especially for clamping down on Aundre in the second half.

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The Shockers made it look as easy as stealing popcorn from a baby...

I disagree. Call me a fool, but we can cause some damage and in St Louis, which is all that matters now. We can beat these guys. And anyone in the MVC. We just need to hit shots. Can we win 3 in a row? Well, we need to. But we can. These are good kids. I would say great kids. And I'm behind them until it's over. And it's not. On to the next game.

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Attendance, per ESPN: 4,156. It's games like these we need to win to make people want to come back!

Place was rockin in the first half and early second. Fun atmosphere. Makes the silence at other games so frustrating. A good amount of other teams could really struggle with that noise.

Brutal shooting game. Ben's fourth foul on that 50/50 ball really killed momentum of any comeback. Seeing it live not sure how it got called, really seemed like a toss about between the two. Overall though we needed to shoot better. Clay 1-7 on mostly open 3's.... quite game for Donte...Milt 3-14... the 2 combined to shoot 12 for 39. We got MURDERED on the boards, but we had more misses OREB was 12-11 WSU. For what it's worth we made Marshall ride his starters most of the game. All but Morris played 30+ which isn't common for them.

agree...great atmosphere,,if only....But crazy good like a fox defense,,,, They gave Milt the drive then put a body on him so he couldnt elevate.....gave the small guards the baseline to drive into the land of trees,,,,and gave Custer all the shots he wanted (he just does not look like his legs are full strength yet. His made 3 are more of a set shot than an elevated jumper) and cut Jackson off in the 2nd half. The double teams came on Ingram limiting his shot. So our horrible shooting percentage had a lot to do with their defensive concept.
Side note,,,,WS fans seemed great....cheering for Sr. Jean and our MVC soccer champs...I am hoping for our chance to be gracious winners.

Just a couple thoughts, and maybe it's influenced by the depth of WSU's team. I think we're about two or three players from challenging for the top of the league. I think the minutes are starting to add up on our starters. First, I think we need another player who can defend along the lines of Ben Richardson (and Joe Crisman before him). And second, we need someone to contribute from the bench, besides just Aundre Jackson.

Until Tyson Smith hit a free throw with 3:20 left in the game, we didn't have a single point from the bench (besides Jackson). And Kirby, who did start, only had two points. Matt Chastain certainly would be a contributor this season if not for the injury-- he probably would have averaged 5-8 points and 15-20 minutes per game, which would have taken a lot of pressure off the starters. I didn't get a chance to see much of how he plays defensively from his 2 1/8 games playing against Alcorn State, IU Northwest, and Eureka.... but still, he would take some minutes and score some points while doing it.

I also think we need another lock-down defensive guy who plays defense as a first priority and can reliably finish if the ball happens to end up in his hands with a good opportunity. It seems to me it's our defense that has faltered lately, and the balance between defense and offense is clearly in favor of offense. I know Milton Doyle is a great defender, but having to be on the other team's best defender AND shouldering the burden of directing the offense sometimes AND having to be the go-to scorer is too much to do all the time. Custer is a good defender, but he can't always match the quickness of opposing guards, and his height is a limiting factor when he gets caught in mismatches. Having that kind of defensive focus is probably not something you can totally teach or redirect in a player at this stage in his development, so you have to recruit that type of guy (or a guy willing to be that guy), I think. Maybe it needs to be an interior player, like a shot blocker and rebounder who can finish if he has the ball in his hands within six feet, and doesn't get into too much foul trouble.

But of course, the whole dynamic will change a lot next year, when we lose Doyle and get Krutwig and Negron.

I agree, JCT. Marshall used his lineups well to force us into some mismatches that benefited them. We needed some bench minutes from guards - especially after Ben fouled out - and what we got was Bruno trying guard Frankamp.

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