Leatherneck Nation

The two-game Chicago foray has to be considered an empty trip on the surface, but the final five minutes or so of the loss to Loyola (on the heels of a defeat at the hands of Chicago State) was, at least, entertaining.
The 'Necks were chopped down by the Ramblers 72-67, but not until they crawled out of a 15-point hole to within one possession of tying the game. You can thank Garrett Covington (19 pts) and his late barrage of 3-pointers for that comeback. That last-ditch spurt made the trip to downtown Chicago from upstate Waukegan worth it.
There was a paucity of fans at the Loyola facility, and I dare say that our numbers were perhaps equal to those of the home team.
Had J.C. Fuller been more of a factor on offense (16 pt. average...7 point output) WIU might have been able to get over the hump.
Besides Covington, Tate Stensgaard played hard and well for the Leathernecks, but was on the bench for much of the contest due to foul trouble, including a questionable technical foul following his smack-talking slam dunk. A more available rebounder like Stensgaard might have made the difference.
First live look at the big kid Brandon Gilbeck, our 6-11 frreshman. Definitely a developing story, he showed enough to offer real hope for the future. Towering over 6-7 Montel James of Loyola, Gilbeck missed a number of down-low shots that I feel confident will start going in as time passes. But while Gilbeck could not take advantage of James, the opposite was not true. Although Gilbeck was a factor on defense on more than a few times, James lit him up for a game-high 21 points. Gilbeck scored 4.
On the plus side...WIU held the best player on Loyola, Milton Doyle, to just 6 points.
And, if you factor in the -6 pregame line assigned to the home team, we won; at least among the bettors.
Oh well, 7-4.

Good post, Swish. Like Chris Christie, I owe you a debt of gratitude for teaching me a new word this month. From him, I got "feckless" and from you "paucity". My rule of thumb is I must always use a new word(s) in a sentence of my own creation so here goes:

Our paucity of points in the paint is primarily due to our feckless style of play in the paint.

its easy to monday morning quarterback but i think wiu probably wish they went after that montel james and got him in foul trouble.plus you have to remember how we got behind.they completely shut down our three guards in first half.and to be honest none of them would throw ball down low to open guys.they have to become confidant in their teammates.they cant do it by themselves.its too bad to waste such a terrible game from milton doyle and not win. WITHOUT A DOUBT THE TALK FROM THE LOYOLA FANS WAS THE BIG REDHEADED FRESHMAN.and i must admit he impressed me too.

I think Gilback took a major step in the right direction last night. Some of Tate's tenacity and fight is beginning to rub off big time. He missed some bunnies inside and had a number of tipped balls that could have dropped too, but every minute he played he got better and better and better. I like the fact too that Tate basically plays on the edge. Chapman has also come a long way. Last year he did not have any foot work, that has changed for the better but he still needs work. I wonder if JC is feeling okay. He looked tired in the second half on Saturday, and struggled last night at times. Batish came in and did a nice job adding his fire power to the mix. Garret forced the issue at times early and was rewarded with some pine-time. He responded well to this and as has been stated, he along with Jabari led the charge to the end. I think I might have wanted him to have his hands on the ball in the closing seconds when a couple of other players tried to make things happen. I like Mike's range and would love to see him take more 3's. He seemed to hesitate at times. Bruster got some good minutes and responded well. I love Morgans size and quickness and the best is yet to come for his game. He missed a wide open layup off a screen and roll and seemed to loose his confidence. He played better in the closing minutes. I left Chicago State with a feeling of "shoulda, woulda, coulda" along with boy did we get "homered" ala refs! I don't usually complain cause its a tough job, but these guys seemed to have come from the Island of Misfit Refs! I thought is was a bit strange that 4 Chicago State fans held up a birthday greeting to "Ref Morrow!" The Necks still should have gotten the job done! They had there chances too, inside and outside. Chapman and Gilback just were not a presence Saturday. But these refs were definitely not from the Summit or the Wac! Maybe the Wacky but not the Wac.

I walked away from last night's game feeling as has already been stated, that the Necks had played some of their best ball the second half. It was a major step in the right direction! jc