The streak has ended. With their game at Northern Kentucky going the Norse’s way, the Vikings needed to get a bounce-back win against Milwaukee after their 13-game winning streak was in the past. The Vikings showed that the streak wasn’t just a fluke by dominating the Panthers.
Away game at Northern Kentucky (10-13, 5-7 Horizon League)
The usual lineup of Tevin Smith, Tahj Staveskie, Ebrima Dibba, Dylan Arnett, and Reece Robinson took the floor to face a Northern Kentucky team that was demolished in Cleveland a few weeks ago. At home, the Vikings had beaten the Norse by 18, but Northern Kentucky has not been a fun place to play for the Vikings. This game would continue that trend.
The Vikings got off to a hot start with baskets by Arnett and Smith before a Staveskie three made it 7-3. A foul on a three-point attempt and three made free throws cut the lead to one before a Trey Robinson layup put the Norse up 8-7.
A Reece Robinson three and two Arnett free throws had the Vikings up four early before a 6-0 Norse run and Arnett block and layup had the score tied at 14.
NKU stepped out of bounds immediately following the layup but the Vikings were unable to capitalize on the extra possession. The Norse went on another run (this one 7-0) to pull ahead. The Vikings offense stagnated during this run as even good plays (like a nice cut and pass to Cole Franklin) were broken up (this one by a travel). They even went into their full/three-quarter court press and forced a turnover but then immediately turned it over themselves.
Right before the second media stoppage, Franklin got a basket off a block by NKU and then Dibba got on the board with a nice shot after the timeout.
One of the main stories of the day was the Norse responding to any Viking scoring and they did that very quickly to go up 23-18.
A goaltend by KJ Debrick and then another basket by NKU put them in front 27-18 as the Vikings couldn’t figure anything out on offense.
It was time for two of the Viking veterans to step up. Smith hit two threes before Chase Robinson hit a three of his own to close the gap to just three points.
Arnett grabbed a crazy rebound on his own miss and proceeded to shoot from under the backboard to get the bucket.
An NKU three was negated by another three by Staveskie. Chase Robinson grabbed a steal and Debrick tied the game with a mid-range jumper with about a minute to go in the half. Somehow, despite all the runs by the Norse, the Vikings were tied with them at halftime at 36.
Speaking of scoring runs, the Norse started the second half on a 6-0 run. Staveskie stopped the run with a mid-range jumper for two and Smith almost completed a powerful dunk but a foul made him miss. He converted both free throws and the Vikings were only down four.
The luck was not with the Vikings though as a Norse three as the shot expired put them up 49-42.
Chase Robinson hit another three (as the announcers were discussing his great game the week prior) and the Norse held a 7-point lead at the under-12 minute timeout.
The Vikings cut it to three but a three and a tip-in by the Norse forced CSU head Coach Daniyal Robinson to call a timeout with 8:22 to go and his team down eight.
A Smith jumper out of the timeout cut the deficit to six but then the Norse started to pour it on.
The Vikings saw themselves down 11 with about six minutes to go. Then they saw themselves down 14 with about five minutes to go. Poor shooting and turnovers were making the score get out of hand.
Je’Shawn Stevenson gave the Vikings a bit of life as he banked in a three to cut it to an 11-point game but time was running out.
An Arnett bucket made it a 9-point game with just under four minutes left. The Vikings looked to do the impossible as Smith made it an 8-point game with 2:10 on the clock. With the Vikings forced to play close defense and foul, the Norse made their free throws and closed out the game. Another three by Stevenson with 56 seconds to go pulled the Vikings within seven again but that was about it.
The Vikings had given up 85 points and only scored 75. They lost their first game in exactly two months and the winning streak ended at 13 games (one shy of tying the school record).
Key Takeaways:
- All streaks come to an end. With big matchups at Purdue-Fort Wayne and Northern Kentucky, this seemed like the time that it would happen to CSU. Even with a rough start to the game, the Vikings looked poised to win again as they tied it before half, but it was not to be. For a team picked to finish 7th in the conference and with plenty of new faces, what CSU has accomplished is, frankly, insane.
- CSU was out-rebounded 34-29 and the Norse had 7 more second chance points. The ball definitely did not go the Vikings way and the Norse out-hustled CSU on a lot of plays.
- The Vikings committed 12 turnovers (the Norse only had 8) which led to 17 Norse points (10 for the Vikings). It wasn’t the cleanest game by a normally careful team.
- Although they didn’t win, the Vikings still scored 75 points. Smith finished with 18 points while Arnett had 17. Stevenson and Staveskie also both broke into double figures. Even on a bad day, the well-rounded scoring of the Vikings showed up.
- The Norse out-scored the Vikings 40-26 in the paint. That’s the game right there.
Home game vs. Milwaukee (16-8, 9-4 HL)
The Vikings’ bench loves to yell “T-O!” and put up letters with their arms after every forced turnover. The game against Milwaukee had to have the bench exhausted from this chant.
The usual starting lineup played amazing defense on the opening possession that led to a tie-up and jump ball.
Playing against the team that beat them two months before, Smith immediately showed the Panthers that CSU was ready for payback. He tried to throw down an emphatic dunk but a foul prevented the finish. He converted on both free throws before a Staveskie bucket and free throw put the Vikings up 5-0.
By the first media timeout, the Vikings were up 7-2 and the Panthers had yet to make a field goal. Arnett split a pair of free throws out of the timeout before a Chase Robinson layup followed by a Staveskie three put the Vikings up 13-2. Coach Robinson was very happy with the start for the Vikings. “Our level of physicality was where it needed to be and [I’m] just really proud of how they came out and took our game plan and put it into the game.”
Milwaukee called timeout to try to stop the bleeding but all they could muster was two more free throws before Debrick converted on a layup to make it 15-4.
At 13:11, the Panthers finally converted on their first shot from the field with a Themus Fulks jumper. Another two free throws by Milwaukee pulled them to within seven points, but the Vikings were just getting started.
A 10-2 Viking run was highlighted by Staveskie getting a great feed from Arnett for a layup. Staveskie also put in a tip-in after two missed shots and rebounds by the Vikings.
Staveskie continued to score in every way as he drove to the basket for a bucket and then put up a shot-fake before going around the Panthers for a jumper on the baseline.
It was all Vikings until the 2:21 mark when the Panthers had their best offensive minute of the half. Back-to-back buckets cut the deficit to 14 and forced CSU to call a timeout. Staveskie hit another jumper out of the timeout and Smith hit two free throws.
With 11 seconds left in the half, Milwaukee turned the ball over again and Tevin Smith hit a three as time expired. After the game he said buzzer-beaters and shots like that are “what I live for.” The Vikings had 41 points while the Panthers had 20 (including only four made field goals).
With the Vikings rolling, the Panthers only chance to get back in the game was starting their scoring quickly. They did exactly that.
A 10-0 Milwaukee run to start the half led to a Vikings timeout and then Milwaukee added another two points to make it a 12-0 run.
The offensive hero of the day, Staveskie, hit another three to stop the run and then another three a few possessions later put the Vikings back up by 13.
A super strange play occurred as Smith was called for a foul and then a technical foul before the play was reviewed. This wild sequence saw Smith receive the original foul plus a technical and Milwaukee’s Jamichael Stillwell was also issued a technical foul. The Vikings were given the ball but an illegal screen by Stevenson gave the ball right back to the Panthers.
The Panthers tried to chip away again as they cut the lead to seven on a three with 9:42 left to play. Both teams traded baskets (including a great reverse layup by Reece Robinson) before another Staveskie three excited (and calmed) the crowd as the Vikings were back up 12 points. This three was also bookended by another two turnovers by Milwaukee.
A fantastic pass off the dribble by Staveskie to Arnett began the endgame. Although Milwaukee cut it to eight points with three minutes to go, Staveskie hit yet another three. Even when things didn’t go the Vikings’ way, good things happened. Stevenson grabbed a steal and missed the wide-open layup but Chase Robinson was right there for the putback.
At this point, Milwaukee had to foul and the Vikings pushed the lead back to 20 before a Panther three cut it to 77-60. This score would hold and the Vikings were back to their winning ways.
Key takeaways:
- Staveskie has been a great pickup for the Vikings. He finished with 30 points and four assists plus was +22 for the game. He went 11-16 from the field and a perfect 3-3 at the line. On a day that saw Smith foul out and Dibba with no assists or points, Staveskie stepped up. When asked about how shooting so well allowed him to be a bit more of his classic point guard position, Staveskie said “[I] definitely felt like I was playing a little bit more point guard today coming off a lot of screens and on the top of the key because that’s where I’m effective.” He continued, “I can shoot a deep three coming off the high ball screen.” “I feel like I played off-ball well and then when I had the opportunity to play on the ball, I played well with that too.”
- CSU had a sloppy game with 15 turnovers, but Milwaukee finished with 25(!) turnover. CSU scored 30 points off these turnovers (Milwaukee scored 8). Some of this was bad Panther offense, but most of it was great CSU defense. Adding to the turnovers were eight blocks by the Vikings (five by Debrick). Coach Robinson talked about how Debrick “held it down” for the Vikings in the first half. “I felt like he did a great job protecting the rim and being ready when his number was called.”
- Milwaukee made only 18 baskets all game. It’s truly hard to win a game when you make four field goals in the first half (including 0-5 on threes). The Vikings did a great job keeping the pressure on the Panthers and not allowing them easy access to the paint. Smith had this to say after the game, “they drove a lot on us in the first game. They had a lot of paint points, a lot of [offensive] boards.” That certainly didn’t happen this game.
- Chase Robinson’s stat sheet doesn’t light up for this game. He had six points, four rebounds, and two assists. The story goes deeper than that though as he played 33 minutes and was +20. With Dibba and Smith in foul trouble most of the game, Chase ran the offense with Staveskie and kept the team going. He’s a force off the CSU bench.
- When a team wins 13 in a row, people start looking at everything they do and how they became so good. Having watched most teams warm up this year, the way CSU warms up before a game is different. There are multiple drills always going on with every player and coach doing something specific. There is no wasted energy and no wasted time. Guys stretch and run drills and take shots that they are going to get in games. They don’t needlessly dunk on an unprotected basket over and over. There’s a method to them winning and it starts with the way they prepare. When asked about the difference for CSU warmups versus other teams, Coach Robinson said they “try to make sure everyone has a job to do and everyone understands their focus [and] understands what’s needed of them, and so it’s great to hear that those things stand out.” He reiterated that “how you do anything is how you do everything. Those things carry over from how these guys show up to go to class every single day, how we practice every day, how we eat breakfast together every day, how we start our warmup together every day. You get into a routine of just doing the job regardless of how you feel.”
Next up for the Vikings:
CSU (18-7, 12-2 HL) takes on red-hot Robert Morris (18-8, 10-5 HL) at home Wednesday at 7 pm EDT before Youngstown State (16-10, 10-5 HL) comes to town for a nationally televised game Sunday at 3 pm EDT.
