The Cleveland State Thanksgiving Throwback Tournament certainly showed everything about this year’s CSU men’s team. An extremely difficult win against NJIT and a horrible first half against Morehead State this past week gave plenty of information for fans to digest.
Home Game vs. NJIT
Coming into this game, NJIT was 0-6 and by all accounts, it should have been a simple win. The Vikings had other ideas. Instead of talking about all the CSU missed three-point shots, here’s a quick overview. They shot 13 threes. They didn’t make any.
The Vikings started their normal group with Tevin Smith, Tahj Staveskie, Dylan Arnett, Ebrima Dibba, and Cole Franklin taking to the Woodling Gym floor with their throwback jerseys.
Staveskie started the scoring for the Vikings and they jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead before the first media timeout. Dibba was particularly impressive to start as he had a layup and jump shot to account for four of those early points.
Then the Highlanders found a way to slow down CSU. Dropping into a simple 2-3 zone, NJIT halted the Vikings. They wouldn’t stay in this the entire game, but the moments where they were, the Vikings struggled to move the ball quickly enough to break apart the zone.
NJIT continued to fight and closed the game to 17-14 at 7:56. After 12 minutes, the teams had combined for 31 total points. From that point on, NJIT outscored CSU 7-4 to tie the game at 21 and bring a sense of nerves to Woodling.
A foul with one second left in the half and an Arnett miss at the line was sure to see the Vikings only up two at half. Then Smith grabbed the rebound and threw up a prayer at the buzzer. It went in to send the Vikings to halftime up four (27-23). They would need every point.
The Vikings held a nine-point lead at one moment in the first half but a NJIT dunk and three out of the half had the Highlanders immediately up 28-27.
Towards the middle of the second half, CSU head coach Daniyal Robinson sent out an all guards lineup (The guard carousel became a guard cavalry) and energized the team. This scheme actually started with four guards and KJ Debrick but ended with five guards. “We wanted to drive them[…and] we knew Dylan [Arnett] couldn’t play the whole [half,]” Coach Robinson said to the media after. “Those guys were able to hold us over until Dylan came back in.”
In all, the Vikes weren’t able to get their offense going in the second half either and continued to struggle shooting overall. Luckily, NJIT shot poorly as well outside of Tariq Francis who finished with 24 points.
A Francis jumper with just under five minutes left to play put the Vikings in a six-point hole (51-45). Luckily, CSU would go on to outscore NJIT 11-2 to close out of the game. Most of this was from the foul line (seven points) and the lone Highlander basket was, of course, from Francis.
When a Highlander’s heave missed and the buzzer sounded, an exhausted crowd could finally relax as CSU had won 56-53. It wasn’t pretty. It was good. But a win is a win.
Key Takeaways:
- Robinson’s first win as a Viking in 2022 involved CSU not making a three. That win against Canisius saw the Vikes only go 0-5 from behind the line. The win against NJIT while going 0-13 was much more impressive? Sad? Weird? This shooting from long range has plagued the Vikings all year. Hopefully Staveskie or someone else can step up and hit shots more consistently. A team can’t trade 2 points for 3 every time down the court.
- The Vikings only had six assists. This stat continues to be low for the team and seems odd with so many point guards on the team. The zone NJIT ran for some of the game definitely stifled the Vikings, but they will need to find some new way to create points. Passing the ball more might be a start.
- Franklin finished with a great game. 12 points, three blocks, three rebounds, an assist, a steal, and only one foul. He’s been very good so far to start the season.
- Arnett had a “bad” game as he only scored five points. BUT he still grabbed eight rebounds. He’s truly the backbone of the team even on ”bad” days.
- Staveskie only took four shots. He made both two-pointers (for three-point information look above). He has to shoot more than four times for the Vikings to succeed. He’s been a great free throw shooter to start the season as well, so he needs to be shooting and getting to the line more to drive success.
Home Game vs. Morehead State
It was the worst half. It was the best half. Honestly, this game could not have been different from the first and second 20 minutes.
The Vikings started their normal lineup and were annihilated for 20 minutes. They went up 4-2 in the early goings but the rest of the first half on offense was more of the same from the NJIT game. Missed threes and no passing. Their defense wasn’t horrible but Morehead hit a barrage of threes and CSU had no answer.
By the first media timeout, the Vikings were down eight points and could not seem to get an open look at the basket. The only life CSU had at all was when they made it a three-point game with 10:45 left in the half. Chase Robinson made a shot and got fouled before draining the free throw.
At that point it was 16-13. After that three-point play, the Vikings were outscored 31-19 to end the half. They finished with only 32 points. That score might be good in some of their other games this season, but not when the other team almost has 50.
The other story of the first half was Morehead State’s bench receiving a technical foul after not following the referees’ instructions to sit down. They continued to stand up (especially when CSU was on offense right by them).
CSU would also gather some technicals in the second half. After repeated close (bad) calls, Coach Robinson had enough after a no call on the one end and a block called a foul on the other end. Both had been good Isaac Abidde plays but it sent Morehead State to the line for free points.
At this juncture, the Vikings found themselves down 61-45. Having set up a full court press the entire second half (Morehead State had to call a timeout after just over a minute because of how it was working), this is when things got interesting. For a throwback tournament, it felt as though it was the 1980s CSU teams that pressured constantly, and it was fun.
Chase Robinson hit a three and then the Vikings couldn’t be stopped. The Vikes would score 24 points to Morehead’s 10 points to close out the game. For those at home doing math, that’s two points short of a win.
After Smith put CSU up by one with 49 seconds to go, a foul on a three-point shot (and three made free throws) put Morehead back up immediately. Smith would then split a pair of free throws as CSU was forced to foul down one. After making the first of a one-and-one, Morehead State missed the second free throw. With time expiring, Smith threw up a three for the win, and it just missed.
Overall, the Vikings lost, but they stormed back with stellar defense and a great full court press. They finished with 27 points on turnovers to Morehead’s 12 points. By continuing to run down the shot clock with the press, they forced bad shots and bad passes from Morehead State. Combined with the great rebounding of CSU it was a recipe for success that came up just short.
Key Takeaways:
- This team should press for 40 minutes. Not a partial press that backs off as soon as the ball is thrown. They should run a true full court press the entire game. The Vikings looked the best they have in weeks (maybe the entire season) in the press in the second half. This press led to them almost winning as they completely outplayed Morehead after halftime. With no true scorer on the team, the Vikings need to be amazing on defense and create fast breaks. They have done a good job on defense this year, but the press ramps this up to 11.
- Same as above. It’s that important. The Vikings suffocating defense in the second half was exactly what a team who has had one 20 point scorer all season and only has one player averaging above 10 points a game. Create chaos. Waste time on the other team’s shot clock. Create steals. A 2-2-1 or 2-1-2 or 1-1-2-1 or any type of full court press is perfect for a team with 75 guards and some dominant big men. It worked against a team that was crushing you. It can work against pretty much anyone.
- Staveskie shot more and ended up scoring 18 points. He didn’t shoot well from the field (3-15) but he made up for it at the line (11-12). That’s exactly what they need from him moving forward.
- The Vikes went 4 for 17 from deep. Compared to the last game, this felt like watching Steph Curry. No Viking made more than one. Maybe the rims in Woodling Gym are bad? Hopefully.
- Isaac Abidde was the unsung player of the game for the Vikings. Coming off the bench for 17 minutes, he finished with six points (including the three that ended the Vikings long drought) and six rebounds (including some crazy ones). It was a very encouraging outing for him.
Next up: CSU travels to Milwaukee to start their Horizon League schedule on Thursday. Then they head to Green Bay on Saturday.
