From the last paragraph of the game preview:
Quote:
UIC played Cincinnati (now in the Big 12) very close on the road to open the season, thanks to the explosiveness of Okani. His passing ability, mobility, rebounding and outside shooting (a respectable 29.3% last year from distance) makes him a matchup nightmare. Loyola may need to throw double teams or try different combos on defense to limit his production. But don’t forget about Rivera, who shot 37% behind the arc for Colorado State last year and already has a 25-point game under his belt at UIC. This UIC team is dangerous, particularly if more than one player has a super game.
That's pretty much what happened-- Rivera with 23, Okani with 20. Pretty sure we win if we have Alston in the second half, and Rubin on the court instead of with a knee brace for the last 15 minutes of the game. We had no post-up game at all, and we were zero for 11 on threes in the second half. Adelekun and Dolan were almost completely ineffective, and Mwamba looked like he was taken out of his game by Okani's trash-talking. And it's hard to criticize the student section, but man, the energy was off tonight-- the media timeouts and replay reviews were part of it, but they were off their game and need to step it up.
Braden Norris, the shortest guy who played on either team led Loyola in rebounding with 7. Alston and Rubin were the only two players to shoot .500 or better from the field, and they played a total of 5 minutes between them in the second half.
I've been very pro-Drew throughout, but this one seems like maybe his worst game as coach. We're fragile and SOFT. Some of our players seem reluctant to shoot, unconfident, and contact-shy. We don't set screens for threes at all. We don't seem to have plays to clear space for drives to the basket.
Hooray for the free throws-- 23 of 25 from the line. Hooray for turnovers, we had only 12 to their 16. Otherwise, weak and embarrassing and second-rate stuff on a lot of counts tonight.