vs. Western Ill / vs. St. Thomas

[kiyoat]

Thursday 1/20 7PM @ SCSC vs Western Illinois

Saturday 1/22 1PM @ SCSC vs St. Thomas

Predictions:

Yotes beat Leathernecks 76-56 (-20) Massey
Yotes beat Leathernecks 73-60 (-13) WN
Yotes beat Leathernecks 80-52 (-28) ELO

Yotes beat Tommies 75-39 (-36) Massey
Yotes beat Tommies 70-44 (-26) WN
Yotes beat Tommies 74-40 (-34) ELO

I'll just go with the ELO prediction, since they have been the most accurate to this point.

[kiyoat]

I think the Leathernecks will display uncharacteristic tenacity at getting rebounds:



But they will inevitably turn the ball over a ton:



And although they may have some success shooting from deep:



In the end, they will come up short:

[gopheryote]

Jan 17, 2022 17:17:50 GMT -6 kiyoat said:

I think the Leathernecks will display uncharacteristic tenacity at getting rebounds:



But they will inevitably turn the ball over a ton:



And although they may have some success shooting from deep:



In the end, they will come up short:

One of the best posts I've seen on here in a while...

[Coyote Fan]

The Coyotes nearly always play their best basketball against Western Illinois and I am not even the slightest bit concerned about the game being anything less than a 20 point blowout. Western Illinois (I believe) is the only Summit team that has ever won at the SCSC and I remember that game. That was the exception to the rule and WIU was unconscious from outside. Often times the Necks have been expected to make it a close game but rarely has that been the case.

I think St Thomas will be a closer and better game but the Coyotes should still manage to win that one by about 20.

Coyotes 92-58 over Western and 77-61 over the Tommies which will be the closest home game against a Summit team all season.

[gopheryote]

Tommies will be ending a 3 game road trip (@ ORU tonight, @ SDSU Thursday, @ USD Saturday), and got beat but ORU 72-44. I'm afraid they may be out of gas by Saturday, and things could get out of hand.

[kiyoat]

game links now on original post.  From the article:

THE LEATHERNECKS


Western Illinois (11-5, 2-3) leads the Summit League in scoring offense with 77.3 points per game. That number ranks 21st in the nation. The Leathernecks also rank 16th nationally in 3-pointers made per game (9.0/game) and 26th in free-throws made (230).


Danni Nichols is leading the charge with 17.9 points per game while shooting at a 54.5 percent clip. She also accounts for nearly a third of WIU's trips to the charity stripe, ranking 16th in the nation for free-throws made.


Evan Zars leads the league on the boards, pulling down 8.9 boards a contest to go with her 11.6 points per game.


Jada Thorpe (12.8) and Elizabeth Lutz (10.6) join them in double-figures.

[elcoyote]

Those are some impressive offensive numbers. I'll be curious to see how they perform against the Coyote defensive machine.

[88grad]

Well that was uncomfortably close - and then it wasn’t!

[elcoyote]

Kind of a weird game. Never really any flow to it at all offensively. Big run in the third quarter sealed the deal and the defense held them way below their season's average and forced a whole lot of turnovers. Defense always plays.

[sdyotefan]

Yes Lady Yote D was there most of the night holding Western 24 pts under their Summit League average of 77. With the Yote Big 3 in foul trouble 1st half, Maddie, Kyah and Grace picked up some of the slack.

[elcoyote]

Jan 20, 2022 21:40:32 GMT -6 sdyotefan said:

Yes Lady Yote D was there most of the night holding Western 24 pts under their Summit League average of 77. With the Yote Big 3 in foul trouble 1st half, Maddie, Kyah and Grace picked up some of the slack.

In that sense it was a great game by forcing them to step up and carry the load. A little adversity doesn't hurt and could help in the long run.

[kiyoat]

Hopefully this game will help them deal with adversity in games the rest of the way out. Some of that adversity was foul trouble, but most of it was cold arc shooting (which can happen).

Really hope Lamb is OK. She's like my old Border Collie. You have no idea how much pain they are in. They mask it well. She did look a little stiff in the hips walking out of the game, though. Not good.

[Coyote Fan]

On the post game interview Krull mentioned that the team simply didn't have their energy in the first half. They got that straightened out and took care of business in the second half. I was just mentioning that the team is so darn consistent with their effort. It has to be hard to keep inspired all the time especially when they basically haven't had to do much other than show up to whip up on most of their conference opponents. So they dealt with it and kicked butt in the second half. All is good and on to St Thomas who got crushed in Brookings.

[kiyoat]

Postgame:

[kiyoat]

I watched a little of the SDSU/ UST game on replay last night.

I was impressed with the Tommies.  They look like a well-coached team that is just missing the athleticism and size you need in Division 1 (especially at post).

In the first quarter they kept pace with the Jacks offensively, and they did a really good job of spacing the floor, staying in motion, moving the ball with crisp passing, and ultimately they scored quickly in the paint with pass penetration.  I don't think we will be as susceptible to that with our defense, and the Jacks eventually figured it out, too.

On defense they are disciplined and opportunistic, getting a bunch of steals.  But ultimately the athleticism is lacking.  When the Jacks were lazy with passing, they took advantage, but in the end the Tommies were physically overpowered.  I see a similar thing happening in Vermillion.  Sjerven should have a good day both offensively and defensively.  The Tommies' bench at the end of the game is a real detriment.  They don't have depth.

All in all, I agree with many that have said Coach Sinn is really good, and when they are  able to upgrade talent they should be a player.  With being located in a WBB recruiting mecca, I think that will happen sooner than later.