Rajala is looking better and better the more time he gets, IMHO. I thought he did a great job fighting for rebounds today.

And plus that , he is getting in the way. If he scores a little, that will be about right. He IS looking less lost.

And another thing !!
---I will not gainsay what I have been saying lately BUT I will aver that this team may just have jelled . Reason being perhaps, all the bad luck and losses we have had might have triggered the job the Ramblers did today.
--In this day and age , you do NOT hold the good--not great--Panther team to FORTY-ONE POINTS at their house !!
--You defend so well that they shot but 27% for the game--UNREAL !!
--We got off to an even start and then FINALLY Milton came through--Montel has been Montel all season
--All but Turk did well enough on offense.
--The entire squad played out of their minds on defense.--Not just one or two but whatever five was out there was like a BLANKET--Beautiful to witness. That included Kirby and Rajala !
--Key stops all game. Fighting for every loose ball.
--WE put them away late--THAT was key !! Biggest lead at end--NICE !!

Questions
---WHY ? all of a sudden
---Can we play this way at EVANSVILLE ?
--- Now can our scoring erupt ?? --Ben and Earl just might sneak up on the Aces and others--
---Has Smith finally caught on--If so, look out Valley

Keep it going RAMBLERS !!

---WHY ? all of a sudden

Honestly, it looked like the same team. And that's not a dig at the guys. We just hit some clutch shots down the stretch and UNI didn't. The lack of scoring is still a problem, but our defense has kept us in games and it won this one.

---Can we play this way at EVANSVILLE ?

Absolutely. The way some of our recent games have gone, there's no reason to think we'll not have a chance to win.

--- Now can our scoring erupt ?? --Ben and Earl just might sneak up on the Aces and others--

Boy I hope so. If we could score, I believe the W-L record would look completely different. Hate to be cynical, but it's January and there's no evidence it will happen though. That said, I think we can still win a lot of games scoring in the 50s.

---Has Smith finally caught on--If so, look out Valley

Let's wait and see. I'd like to think so, but a one game sample size of evidence isn't very predictive.

I like this person.

I'll give Porter credit for his willingness to shake things up and bring top guys off the bench. UNIhas always been a very difficult place to play even back to the days of playing in the football dome and record aside this is a great win.

I wondered why we hadn't seen much Smith as the one game I saw live was Creighton and he was the difference maker. He was a constant threat every time he touched the ball yesterday in second half which is hard to guard.

Rajala's stat line might not look like much but he did a very nice job of positioning himself on help D to avoid easy baskets in the paint.

Offense still didn't look very good overall but as stated, timely shots and consistent stops go a long way. Hope the guys can build on this.

PS UNI looked awful. No idea how they beat the likes of UNC.