“Valp-Oh-No” and Vikes “Kent” Get Revenge as CSU Drops Two Games

CSU had a bumpy week as they lost to Valparaiso University at home and Kent State at Kent. Playing their second game at home, the Vikings never found their footing against Valpo before losing to Kent in a face-off against the Golden Flashes for the second time in a week. 

Home Game Against Valparaiso University (3-1) on November 19th

The Vikings came out with their normal starting five of Foster Wonders, Jaidon Lipscomb, Tre Beard, Dayan Nessah, and Josiah Harris. The familiar offensive weapons of Nessah and Beard were all the Vikings had for the first six minutes of the game. 

Nessah started the CSU scoring and Beard made it 11-5 but another run by Valpo made the score 16-5 with 14:04 left in the first half. Oddly enough, this was the first media timeout as there had been barely any whistles the first few minutes. 

CSU scored only five points in-between the first two media timeouts and somehow out-scored the Beacons by one in that time period. Despite this small victory, Valpo continued to double-up the Vikes as they held a 24-12 lead shortly after but CSU closed the gap to eight before the third media timeout.

There wasn’t much to talk about offensive or defensive-wise in the first half for the Vikings (as they only had 24 points at the last media timeout) plus their interior defense was getting exposed as the Beacons feasted around the basket. They took a 39-27 lead into half. Their two big men consistently were getting the ball down low as capitalizing.

Starting the second half with Preist Ryan in for Lipscomb, the Vikings immediatly got back into the game. A three-point play by Ryan out of the half on a missed Beard three put the Vikes within striking distance. 

Alas, this was negated by a Valpo three right after. A Beard three was also negated by a Valpo run. What started off as what looked like a 4-0 run quickly turned into a 10-0 run in the blink of an eye. CSU was suddenly down by 19 and the outlook was bleak. Another Beard three stopped the bleeding but the Vikings had dug a hole much too deep to crawl out of. 

The deficit was quickly back up (this time to 20) before Emery gave the Vikes some life with two three-point plays. CSU was only down by 13 with under eight minutes to go but the Beacons turned the tides again and made it 18.

Beard hit a few threes to make it only 12 but it was too late. Valpo matched the Vikes shot-for-shot down the stretch and ended up the winner by 15 (90-75).

Key Takeaways:

1. CSU was 1-for-14 from deep in the first half. They finished 6-for-25 and Beard was the only one who made any (he finished with 22 points). Not only is that not a good percentage, they also just didn’t get up enough shots. “I think at certain times today, we were disconnected,” said head coach Rob Summers after the game. “Guys were like, ‘all right, I’m gonna save the day.’” He continued “We don’t need them to save us. We need them to be solid.”
2. Valpo won the inside game (48 points in the paint to CSU’s 36) including the rebounding (39 to 23). “We’ve got to be able to guard somebody,” Summers noted. “Defensively we really struggled just because, you know, we’re an offensive-minded team.”  CSU must be more physical on the boards going forward to ensure they get more second-chance opportunities. They only had five offensive boards and seven second-chance points.
3. CSU had seven shots blocked and this seemed to lead to a refusal to go inside after a while. A lot of these were going away from the basket on shots instead of going into the defender and drawing a foul. They looked incredibly reluctant to shoot most of the game.
4. Valpo’s Shon Tupuola finished with 21 points and seven rebounds. He probably could’ve had 40 points if they would’ve gotten him the ball more. CSU had a huge issue switching on defense and he had Beard or Chevalier Emery on him too many times throughout the game. Talking about moving forward on defense, Summers also mentioned how they need to get better as a team on playing defense the right way. “We’re not going to botch any type of rotations,” he noted.
5. A random stat from the game goes to Harris. He didn’t shoot particularly well (six points) but grabbed eight boards and dished out seven assists.

Away Game At Kent State University (5-1) on November 22nd

With Beard unavailable due to an undisclosed injury, Preist Ryan stepped into the starting role for the first time this season. This gave the Vikings a bit more height but also took away some of the punch from their offense. This change would be a microcosm of the whole game as CSU played some better interior defense but couldn’t get started on offense.

Kent hit a three 21 seconds into the game and Ryan made his presence immediately known with a layup a few possessions later to make it 3-2. Lipscomb sank a three of his own (on his birthday) to pull the Vikings ahead 7-6 and then the game ended and all the CSU fans went home happy.

Back in the real world, Kent out-scored CSU 22-7 in the next ten minutes making it 28 to 14 in the blink of an eye. CSU was unable to get an open shot and turned the ball over multiple times with careless ball handling. Missing Beard, it seemed Vikings were unable to get in rhythm. “I think it started from the jump,” said Summers after the game. 

A fast break by the Golden Flashes ballooned the deficit to 19 as the Vikings couldn’t even get over the 16-point mark. 

Some tough defense and a three by Wonders cut it back to 12 with about a minute and half to go in the period. Kent was fouled on the next possession and awarded three foul shots. Making all three and adding another layup right before half had the score at 42-25 at the break.

The second half scoring started the same way as the first half with a Golden Flash three but the Vikes had a bit of energy coming out of the locker room. Seven straight points (highlighted by another Lipscomb three) forced Kent to call timeout.

Their thoughts and plans collected, the Golden Flashes came out and were ready to finish the game. They quickly pushed the lead to 22 with a slew of steals and threes. 

The Vikes were dealt another blow when Harris went down awkwardly on his leg (he wouldn’t return and ended up in a walking boot). 

Kent took advantage of the Vikings missing their leading rebounder and the lead went up to 27. Freshman Viking Kevo St. Hilaire entered to try to stop the run and quickly put up four points and some good defense (though he was called for his second foul on a horrible call).

The Vikings and Golden Flashes cycled in pretty much everyone on both their benches to end the game but Kent was relentless from three and finished the game winning by 20 (91-71).

Key Takeaways:

1. 91, 70, 110, 102, 82, 90, 91. Those are the point totals of CSU’s opponents so far this year. Although the Vikings were able to prevent a lot of the shots in the paint that other teams have been getting off them, Kent was incredible from three. “We have to be able to know who to run out to, who to close out,” Summers mentioned. “They’ve got a great team. They’ve got some good length and are very physical.”
2. On top of Kent shooting well, the Vikings only got up 49 shots to the Golden Flashes’ 67. More chances will equal more points but the Vikings didn’t have enough. “We didn’t play fast, you know, Kent State’s game plan was to get back in transition and really crowd the paint,” said Summers. “And part of our flare is we play fast and we get downhill, we get to the free line.”
3. Playing without Beard was clearly an issue all game long. He’s had some great offensive games so far but CSU looked rudderless much of the game. When asked how this changed the plan, Summers mentioned that he talked to the team about guys stepping up. “Our game plan was to take a bounce, to get off a bit quickly, and keep the ball moving,” stated Summers. 
4. Already down one starter, Harris going down was horrible to watch. As he lost all of last season at Akron University to injury, hopefully he can be back soon. Summers offered his thoughts on Harris as well. “He’s down there battling with [Delrecco] Gillespie, and with him turning his ankle there in the second half, I’m praying for him. I’m hoping that he’ll be okay, but I’m excited, man, I’m excited that, you know, we had guys on the bench to step up.”
5. One of the guys to step up with St. Hilaire. He only played six minutes but went 2-for-2 from the field and added a board, a steal, and an assist. He’s truly an interesting freshman to keep an eye on. “I see that every day at practice,” Summers remarked. “But he’s a freshman, I think he’s got a really high ceiling. I say that all the time. I tell all our guys that he’s gonna be the best player to come out of here in a while.”

Next up for CSU (2-5):

The Vikings come home to face D-III Waynesburg University (3-4) on Tuesday, November 25th at 7 pm in Woodling Gym before heading to the University of Missouri (6-0) on Friday, November 28th at 2 PM for a showdown between Summers and his mentor and former CSU head coach, Dennis Gates.