Six MVC games on Saturday Dec. 2

[Da Coach]

Missouri State closes out with the easy 73-53 win over South Dakota State. Alize Johnson with 20 points and 14 rebounds-

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=400989324

The MVC goes 5-1 today, with the only loss being Drake's double overtime loss at Wyoming.

[Braves2006]

The Bears looked really strong tonight and scored at will. Also rebounded the ball really well....especially offensive rebounds.

[Da Coach]

The Bears looked really strong tonight and scored at will. Also rebounded the ball really well....especially offensive rebounds.

And Alize Johnson, in addition to dominating on the boards, was launching a bunch of threes. He was 3-9 from three. He was only 2-26 (7.7%) all year prior to tonight.

[tornado]

The Valley cumulative record headed into Sunday is 57-21

one more note- ISU's Keyshawn Evans suffered a shoulder injury described as an injured left collarbone -
he did return and play but is questionable going forward - they cannot afford to lose him
Injured center Daouda N'Diaye was "not at the game because he did not handle some academic responsibilities." - according to Muller

In that ISU win over Tulsa - the Redbirds were outrebounded 49-29!!!
They got a total of only TWO rebounds from their entire bench - one from Matt Hein and one from Taylor Bruninga who filled in at the low post but went scoreless
ISU made it up on 21 Tulsa turnovers.

[YATittle]

Bruninga only had one shot attempt in the game. Most of the time he was involved in setting picks.

[Da Coach]

Bruninga only had one shot attempt in the game. Most of the time he was involved in setting picks.

Yes, but there is another reason he can't get shots off against big more athletic defenders. In high school, he was able to simply shoot over defenders, but that doesn't work as well in D1. Like most small school big kids, he has never developed the ability to dribble and create better shots. That is why he has become almost exclusively a three point shooter. He has only attempted 9 two-point shots, and he has made only 4 two point shots all year. And we haven't even mentioned his obvious defensive or his rebounding deficiencies. He only has 24 rebounds in 8 games, despite being the tallest player on the floor for ISU, and 9 of them were against a small Division II Quincy team.
I still like his potential, but as I've said, a redshirt year would have helped him greatly. I'd expect to see him improve as the season progresses, but his playing time will probably take a big hit when Ndiaye is ready to return.