CSU hosts NJIT and Morehead State next for a Woodling Gym throwback tourney
Not much to introduce here. The Vikings fell twice this past week to Minnesota and Kent. There’s some parts to be encouraged about though, as CSU showed their strengths and how they can move forward into Horizon League play.
Away Game at Minnesota
Unlike a lot of the early season games, the Vikings played a much better first than second half. The starting Vikes were again Tevin Smith, Tahj Staveskie, Ebrima Dibba, Cole Franklin, and Dylan Arnett.
The Vikings jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead on Smith, Franklin, and Arnett baskets. A steal and quick bucket by Minnesota put the lead at 6-4 going into the first media timeout.
Staveskie would continue his hot shooting with five quick points around the 12-minute mark but neither team was able to capitalize in general on the scoreboard.
After the Gophers tied the game at 11, the score would bounce back and forth throughout the entire first half…even up to the buzzer.
The Vikings were able to secure a four point lead a few times and after free throws by Arnett, they held a five point lead with 2:51 left in the half. The Gophers immediately threw down a dunk to close the gap to three. Two missed shots on offense and then two fouls on defense by the Vikings led to four quick points at the line and a Gopher lead.
Smith was able to grab the lead right back with a basket and assist from Chase Robinson. With one second left in the half, it looked as though CSU would take a one-point lead into the Viking locker room.
But…Minnesota called timeout and Gopher Parker Fox hit a three at the buzzer to take a two-point lead (31-29) into their own locker room.
Even with the last second lead change, an away victory looked to be well within reach for the Vikings. Then the Vikings came out and scored less than a point per minute in the second half.
Starting the second half, CSU tied the game at 31 (Smith basket), 33 (Staveskie), and 39 (KJ Debrick), but then the Gophers pulled away.
With nine minutes left in the game, Minnesota had a 45-39 lead. Star freshman Je’Shawn Stevenson would have eight points for the Vikings from that point on (two threes and two free throws), but that was it. The Vikings finished the game with 47 points.
On the flip side, the Gophers would score 13 points to close the game out, including an 8-0 run from the 3:36 mark to the buzzer. In all, Fox was amazing off the bench for the Gophers, going 7-11 from the field for 18 points.
Key Takeaways
- The Vikings as a whole have been a very good rebounding team (especially offensive) to start the season. This game saw the Vikings get out-rebounded 37-32 (9-7 on offensive rebounds). This along with a 12-point deficit in the paint was the story of the game.
- The Vikings were perfect from the foul line. The issue was they only took four shots. The inability to draw fouls was certainly a problem as Minnesota took 19 foul shots while making 15. 15 minus 4 equals 11…the final point differential.
- The shooting from the Vikings was not good. Overall, the Vikes shot 35.2% from the field and 25% from three. Minnesota wasn’t that much better (the Gophers actually only shot 20% from three), but the lack of good shots combined with the lack of free throws contributed to scoring 18 points in a half.
- The high-scorer on the Vikings was Smith with only 10 points and no one had more than six rebounds. No one truly stepped up in this game and with a carousel of point guards and a score-by-committee approach to offense, nights like this are bound to happen.
- Ending on some positive news, Debrick had another good game. Playing only 11 minutes off the bench, he finished with 7 points and two rebounds. He added in three steals and a block. Hopefully as he continues to ramp up his workload, he can continue to contribute important minutes.
Home Game vs. Kent State
This game can be summed up in four words. Kent State for three!
KSU opened the game at the Wolstein Center with a three by Morgan Safford and it wouldn’t stop for 40 minutes.
Another three by Safford two minutes later put the Golden Flashes up 6-0 as the Vikings failed to score until the 16:26 mark. Dylan Arnett was able to get the Vikings on the board to somehow only be down by four going into the first media timeout.
Recap: the Vikings scored two points before the first media timeout.
Flash-forward to the second media timeout: the Vikings only had three total points. In the first 9 minutes and 37 seconds of the game, the Vikings scored…three points.
At this point, Kent had a 13-3 lead and CSU had made one basket. Debrick settled this down a bit by hitting two free throws and a shot to make it 13-7 but then KSU Jalen Sullinger hit another three. A Vikes turnover, Vike foul, and another two KSU threes built the lead to 22-7. As the Vikings searched for double-digits, the Golden Flashes could not miss.
KSU’s Jamal Sumlin made a layup to put Kent up 30-15 with just under five minutes left in the first half. It seemed that the Vikings were not going to be close moving into halftime. Then, something sparked in the Vikes.
A pair of quick steals and layups led to Kent calling a timeout and then Kent hit yet another three coming out of the timeout. CSU would not go down without a fight as they closed the half on a 10-3 run to close the gap to 36-29.
Dylan Arnett added seven points in this run and Staveskie hit a three as the Vikings were looking a lot more comfortable.
The second half started the same way the first half ended as the Vikings scored on their first two possessions.
At this point, the Vikes were within three points and had the ball. The next three shots by CSU were all threes. They missed all three.
It begs the questions: did they just want to tie up the game after coming back instead of getting the best shot (exactly what had led them to come back)?
A free throw by Arnett at 16:45 got the Vikings to within two points…and then the Golden Flashes hit another three. Smith hit a three right after but that would be it for the Vikings.
Over the next three and a half minutes the Vikings went scoreless as Kent scored eight points to grow the lead back to ten. Not counting seven made free throws, the Vikings didn’t make a basket from the 16:04 mark to the 7:25 mark. That isn’t going to be enough against a team hitting one out of every two threes.
A Franklin layup and a Chase Robinson three were the only two baskets the Vikings made after the Smith three with 16:04 left. That’s two baskets for five points. At least they shot well at the line.
Finishing strong, Kent closed out the game and won 68-52.
Key Takeaways:
- Absolute props to Kent State. They shot 11-22 from three. That’s 33 points just from threes. They also didn’t just have one guy shoot great. They had three different players hit three threes. Could CSU have contained this or was it unstoppable? Coach Daniyal Robinson said it was mainly just great gameplay on the part of Kent: “When they got the ball in the post, whether it was by pass or by kind of a backdown dribble…our game plan was to come with a double team[.] Our double team wasn’t as physical and they were able to zip it out and make the extra pass.” He finished by noting “[Kent] made the right plays.”
- Dylan Arnett was back to his monster games. He finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Five of the rebounds were offensive. He truly has turned into the centerpiece of the team on offense and defense.
- CSU looked stagnant on offense a lot during this game. Finishing with only seven assists, did this lead to the poor shooting as they were unable to get the best shots? After the game Chase Robinson disagreed as he told the media that the shots just didn’t fall. “I think we got the shots we wanted.”
- Outside of Arnett, the rebounding was not great. Only 31 total rebounds for the Vikings is not great, but when the other team makes all their shots, there isn’t much to rebound.
- Reece Robinson was back on the court for the first time since the Valpo game on 11/12 and fans got a good look at Danny Young. Robinson only played seven minutes in his return so hopefully he plays more and adds to his stellar start to college. Young played due to some guard foul trouble but immediately forced a turnover. He did finish with three fouls in only five minutes, but that just looked like inexperience. In all, it was neat to see him get minutes.
Next up for the Vikings: The Viking Invitational in Woodling Gym against NJIT and Morehead State.
