On Saturday afternoon in Woodling Gymnasium, Cleveland State rolled to 9-2 with a wire-to-wire 84-52 blowout of Niagara.
Here are five things that stood out from the Graduation Day victory:
1. The Purple Eagles’ on-court signature is its “Hurricane Havoc” defense, an intense variety of half-court ball pressure. It doesn’t look quite like the end-to-end press that the Vikings faced against Cal State Fullerton on November 9th, which was at its most suffocating across the CSU half of the floor. Niagara, generally, let the green and white gain the ten-second line before ratcheting things up.
Those modest differences aside, the two systems have identical aims: disruption, turnovers, and quick points.
In some ways, the Hurricane Havoc was quite effective. Cleveland State’s two primary point guards, Colbi Maples and Hanna Medina Kajevic, turned the ball over 12 times, with five of those giveaways coming during a closer-than-expected first quarter, one that remained mired in a slog of a 7-6 score until the last couple minutes.
“It’s hard to simulate in practice, so I think we were stung by that a little bit in the first quarter,” Chris Kielsmeier said. “Not necessarily because our prep was poor with it or anything. It’s just until you get out there, it’s…just different.”
The Vikings seemed to finally adapt by late in the second period, exploding for an 8-0 run during the last 90 seconds of the opening half to unexpectedly grow their advantage from ten to 18 points. The final bucket of the surge was a Shay Magassa buzzer-beating layup, following passes covering most of the length of the court by Laurel Rockwood and Sarah Hurley.
“If you take care of the ball and keep the ball moving, you’ve got a chance to get some pretty good shots,” Kielsmeier said. “So when you get those shots you’ve got to hit ’em. And that’s what we did tonight.”
2. The 8-0 run to close the second quarter was a prelude to something even larger: a 32-point third quarter onslaught, the Vikings’ highest-scoring period since January 25th against Ohio Christian (versus Division I competition, Cleveland State last matched that output while hosting Central Michigan on November 18, 2023).
“It was a fun stretch of the game,” Ella Van Weelden said. “We were a little stunned by the ball pressure at first, but I think we finally found some openings and got the ball moving, and with ball pressure, you’re eventually going to find a hole. I think we found it and we were shooting pretty well. So that was a fun thing to go through.”
The numbers in all areas were impressive. CSU had 19 possessions during the frame, and converted 13 of them into points. The Vikings shot 11-for-14 from the floor, while hitting all three three-point attempts, and knocking down seven free throws in eight tries.
Those foul shots were also part of a much larger trend. At the end of the first quarter, the Vikings had gone to the stripe eight times, to six for NU. By the end of the game, that spread was 35-12, including just three Purple Eagles tries during the second and third quarters.
“It’s such a hard balance,” Kielsmeier said. “If you’re so worried about never fouling, then how aggressive are you playing? How hard are you playing? Fouls are going to happen, but what we’re trying to teach our players is the smart fouls, and the fouls that we don’t want too many of early in the quarter that drive that foul count up [allowing opponents to] get a couple easy free throws late, which they did in the first quarter.”
The home team clearly found that balance, eventually scoring 34 points off of turnovers, while keeping Niagara away from the charity stripe.
Out of the halftime locker room, the clear offensive strategy was to get back to Kielsmeier’s basics, which included working the ball through Izabella Zingaro (who didn’t miss a shot from the field or the line all afternoon, on the way to 16 points and six rebounds) and Maples (19 points and four assists). In time, though, nearly everyone was involved. Van Weelden, Magassa, Paula Pique, and Jada Leonard also contributed something to the quarter’s point total.
“Once we got into a better rhythm, I felt like we had some of the best offensive possessions of the year,” Kielsmeier said. “I really felt like they were a connected basketball team in a genuine way tonight, with unselfish play.”
A 10-0 run midway through the wave pushed Cleveland State’s lead to 58-27, rendering the last 15 minutes of the affair moot (the Purple Eagles, after all, finished with 52 points). The Vikings had NU doubled up, 70-35, entering the fourth period.
3. Van Weelden was a significant part of Cleveland State’s ability to separate during the second and third quarters.
The 6-2 wing (that’s tall enough to mistake for Rockwood if not looking closely, just trust me on that) enjoyed her best game since transferring from Northern Colorado in the spring, including 13 points and three rebounds in 15 minutes.
Crucially, Van Weelden buried three of her four tries from three-point range. That production hints that her 4-for-15 start to the season on deep balls might be about to transform into something more closely resembling her 36.6 percent success rate at Northern Colorado last year.
“I feel like I’m pretty comfortable,” she said. “I am just trying to figure out how to best serve my team, being ready for when my shots are there. and trying to do the best I can with what I’m given.”
Those shots came in timely spots. The first triple arrived less than one minute after her debut in the contest, helping the Vikings stay afloat during the sluggish start. The other two dropped during the third-quarter bonanza, including a capstone for the 10-0 run that pushed the CSU lead past 30 for the first time.
Both Kielsmeier and Van Weelden were quick to credit the Vikings’ ball movement and teamwork.
“It’s been really fun,” the forward said. “I feel like we’re driving really well and working together really well, so I’m able to do the best I can and just help the team.”
4. The rout also offered an opportunity to get another extended look at Kajevic, who played just over 14 minutes, mostly in the second half.
The freshman from Sweden is potentially an important piece of Cleveland State’s backcourt depth, particularly with Queen Ruffin out. In most cases, spelling starting guards Maples and Leonard means moving someone – usually Pique, but sometimes others – away from their usual position to hold down one of the backcourt spots for a spell. Kajevic quickly becoming a bona fide second point guard would do wonders for the Vikings’ depth and flexibility.
“Hannah’s just tough,” Kielsmeier said. “She’s a baller. She’s got a lot of talent and it’s just trying to get her comfortable in the system.”
The coach then took things in an entirely different direction to point out something obvious, yet often forgotten.
“For her, heck in August, September, October, we were trying to get her comfortable being in the United States,” he recalled. “So it’s all a work in progress for [international players] with life, let alone once they get to the court.”
Once she got to the court on Saturday, Kajevic struggled a bit with ball security (as did Maples, who is as established as it gets, to be fair), but still managed to draw fouls, a game-high nine in all, grab a couple rebounds, and run the floor effectively.
“They’re tough kids, and they’re chasing their dream,” Kielsmeier continued, including Spanish freshman Sur Lozano in his comments. “I really think those kids should inspire us.”
“They’re chasing their dream, and that’s the American way.”
5. Saturday represented Cleveland State’s return to action after last weekend’s victory at Oakland, followed by six days away from competition during the university’s finals week.
“We hadn’t played in a week and you hope that that doesn’t affect you, but I think it did,” Kielsmeier said. “We didn’t play very hard defensively. And I’ll speak for myself personally. When you play five games in ten or 11 days or something, I mean, you’re in a routine. It is just game after game after game, then you go and sit for seven days, that can be a challenge. I think that was a little bit of a component to it, but we just weren’t settled in and didn’t play very hard.”
However, now that CSU is playing games again, it’s hardly a case of easing back into rhythm.
Northern Kentucky will pop into the Wolstein Center on Tuesday morning for the Vikings’ annual Health + Hoops school day game. The team will then jump on a plane to Puerto Rico, facing off with College of Charleston there on Friday afternoon. A Sunday morning affair with Puerto Rico-Bayamon will round out the pre-Christmas schedule.
Shifting from the first two Horizon League games, straight into end-of-semester academic pressures, then back into a three-game week with heavy travel is quite a lot to take in.
Well, for most people.
“This is the best part of the season,” said Van Weelden, an MBA student. “It’s like back and forth, game after game, scout, practice, having fun. That’s what basketball is, and that’s what makes it fun. And I’m in my last season, this is the good part of it.”
“I love basketball. I love being with my teammates. It’s a good thing for me. It’s fun. I am so excited to go to Puerto Rico. I’m so excited to continue to play Horizon League games. This is in the nitty gritty of the season and I love it.”
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