Jess Wynn, to do the impossible

[Wayne23]

10/9: Got a recruit. #54 Matt Taylor, SF.

11/2: 1st exhibition is against UC San Diego. 38-19 at the half.

81-68, too close. +11, +6, 51-43. Fouls were 12-4.

15 for Henry, 12, 1, 4, 3 for Rein, 11, 5, 1 for Chang. Lots of guys put up numbers.

11/8: 2nd exhibition is against UC San Diego. 41-15 at the half.

63-48. Too close again. We faded late in both games. +7, +1, 44-30%. Fouls 12-10.

Rein and Nelson had the only really good game.

Decisions to make. Loving my starting 5. Raher and Nelson were pleasant surprises. We need to figure out how to allocate the minutes. Only 200 of them no matter how you figure it.

[Wayne23]

Rutgers is here to start the season. They weren’t very good last year and they didn’t recruit well.

11/14: Great start, 33-15 at the half. We simply gave them no open looks.

2nd half more of the same, 71-40. They never challenged us.

+15, +9, 51-30%.

14, 7, 2, 1, 2 for Sapp despite foul trouble, 10, 8, 3, 1, 1 for Alex, 13, 3, 1, 1 for Rein, 9, 4, 5 for Will. Good minutes from the bench.

At Cincinnati, 0-1. Didn’t look good in their opener.

11/17: They owned us in the 1st, going up by as many as 9. It was 31-37 at the half. I find myself turning to look for dad this year and of course he isn’t here. We still speak almost every day and email and/or text when we don’t but the immediacy is missing. Anyway, at the half we talk about getting out on the shooters (We gave up 8 threes in the first) and about taking care of the ball (8 TOs). We owned the boards (+8).

Whole different story. We stopped the 3 (Gave up only 2), took care of the ball (4 TOs), continued to dominate the boards and started hitting shots. We erased the deficit, took the lead, and built it to 15 at the end, 76-61. Great 2nd half.

+25, -2, 40-34% (48-28% in the 2nd). Fouls were 9-19.

22, 8, 1 for Rein, 9, 13, 6, 1 for Sapp, 8, 12 for Alex, 11, 4, 3 for Will, and great bench minutes again. Chang isn’t putting up numbers at SF but his D is excellent.

11/20: Matt Taylor, #53 SF signed.

At 1-1 Michigan. They were ranked last week. Played two tough teams and split. They play tough D and do a lot of things well.

11/21: #2 on Chang, 9:03. 25-24. We trailed for most of the half then came on late.

+10, -2, 30-31%.

Rein is playing well as is Alex. We need to stop their PG.

#3 on Chang, 12:25, down 1. Falling behind, D to 9, 9:29, down 7. Down 2, 3:09. D to 10. Down 6, :46. Looking for threes. 2 shots, missed them both, they RB, we steal, make a three, clock runs out. 57-60.


+14, -4, 41-40%. Fouls 12-9. D was fine but we didn’t generate enough O.

13, 12, 1 for Alex, 9, 8, 3, 1 for Rein. Chang, Henry and Burke produced no O at all. We gave up 10 threes again and that’s just too many. That’s our big problem on D.

[Wayne23]

2-1 Ohio State is in. They have some talent.

11/24: 43-33 at the half. 13 for Rein, 6, 7, 1, 1, 1 for Alex, 4, 5, 3 for Sapp, 6, 2, 1 for Henry. We need to stop their 3.

Refs are killing us, 8:31, down 1. Fouls are 6-1. We start to build a lead, up 7, 5:00. 80-75 at the end.

+10, -3, 48-43%. 3 point D was awful again, they got 11.

23, 3 for Rein, 10, 7, 3 for Chang, 6, 3, 8 for Will, 6, 9, 1, 2, 2 for Alex, 6, 8, 3 for Sapp, great work by the bench, 29, 10, 9.

2-1 Seton Hall is in. Beat 2 nobodies. They score outside which can be trouble for us.

11/28: We scored the 1st 9 then neither team scored for more than 8 minutes. 23-13 at the end of a strange half.

Good D continued and we found the range, 66-38 at the end.

+7, +8, 45-28%, fouls 8-15. We stopped the three, 6-25.

17, 8, 2 for Henry, 12, 5, 2, 1 for Alex, 9, 6, 2 for Sapp, but D won this one.

At 2-3 Pitt next, yet another Big East opponent. Their 2 can score, 25.2 per. They play good D and have only lost to ranked teams. They’re sloppy.

12/1: Solid 1st half, scoring well and held their SG to 4. 39-26 at the break. Starting 5 and Henry all played well on both ends.

More of the same, 81-56. Held their star to 13.

+14, even, 53-39%. We played as well as we have all season.

20 and 5 for Rein, 12, 12, 4, 3 for Sapp, 12, 1, 4, 1 for Will, 12, 0, 3 for Henry, 10, 4, 2, 1 for Chang, 6, 7, 4, 1, 1 for Alex.

We’re 5-1, looking good!

[Wayne23]

At 3-2 Oklahoma. Beat 3 nobodies, lost to 2 good teams. They score outside.

12/5: Not much luck stopping their 2, he gets 14, but their PG and C both get into early foul trouble. Up 32-25 at the half.

We work on a plan to stop their SG. NOT happy with 14 TOs. My starters are playing well, need more from the bench.

We hang tough in the second, don’t let them back in. 60-50 at the end.

+13, -4 (20 TOs but only 6 in the 2nd), 43-35%, fouls 10-16. Their PG played only 10 minutes before fouling out. Their SG had only 7 in the 2nd.

20 and 3 for Rein but 10 TOs, half our total. 10, 16 for Sapp, 14, 5, 3, 2 for Chang, 4, 3, 12 for Will and only 1 TO. Raher had 4 and 5, only bench player to do much.

4-4 Washington State is in. Weak schedule. PG has a bad knee, they don’t play D. Not good with the ball.

12/12: We pop out to an early lead and don’t let them get close, 33-20 at the half. Only their PG does anything in the 1st. Starting 5, Raher and Burke are playing well.

66-43 at the end. They never led.

+9, +7 (only 7 TOs), 44-34%.

15, 10, 4, 1, 2 for Alex, 14, 4, 3, 2, 1 for Rein, 10, 8 for Sapp, 7, 7, 2, 2, 2 for Chang.

At 7-4 BC. They’ve been ranked off and on. 3 bad losses.

12/19: They went up 4 early and then we took over and dominated, going up 20. 38-21 at the half. Owning the boards.

Nobody can make a shot in the 2nd, 20-19. The final is 58-40.

+24 (!), -4, 39-24%.

10, 13 for Rein, 8, 12, 2, 1, 1 for Sapp, 7, 6, 2, 1 for Will, 12, 4 for Raher, 8, 7 for Alex.

Terrific pre-conference season ends 8-1. Will we be ranked? RPI is #8.

12/25: Nope. RPI #2, what does it take?

[Wayne23]

IUPU-Indianapolis, 4-5, is in. Weak schedule, lousy record.

12/26: We hit the court running and kept it going, 39-26 at the half.

2nd half was more of the same, 77-53 at the end.

+14, -3 (13 TOs), 52-32%.

19, 8, 5, 2 for Rein, 21, 5 for Alex, 12, 10, 1 for Sapp.

At 3-7, 0-1 Oakland. They aren’t very good.

12/29: We totally dominated the first half, 39-21.

The second half was even but they never threatened us, 69-50.

+1, +7, 56-38%.

26, 8 for Rein, 12, 6, 2 for Sapp, 11, 6, 4, 3 for Alex.

8-3, 1-1 North Dakota State is in. They really haven’t played anyone.

1/2: In the 1st we again took charge almost immediately and kept control throughout, 42-23. Rein had a hot hand and we seemed to be getting every rebound.

No challenge at all in the second, 72-48 at the end.

+18, +3, 49-32%.

28, 4, 1, 1 for Rein to lead us.

Alone in first already.

[Wayne23]

At 6-6, 2-1 IUPU-Fort Wayne. They were awful during the pre-conf. season but doing better now. They don’t play much D.

1/5: Another dominant first half, 46-22. We really have outgrown this conference.

76-53 at the end.

+10, +4, 56-41%.

20, 7, 1 for Rein, 16, 11 for Sapp.

1/8: Finally! #22 in the poll.

6-7, 3-1 Southern Utah is in. One of the two teams one game behind. Fort Wayne crushed them we crushed Fort Wayne.

1/9: 34-22 at the half. Our D was terrific and our O wasn’t bad at all.

2nd half was a continuation, 76-53 at the end.

+3, +11, 51-40%. Fouls were an amazing 15-2. How can that even be? Oh well, didn’t hurt us.

Our top 6 all played really well.

At 6-8, 0-5 UMKC next. This is not a very good team.

1/12: 32-18 at the half. Don’t know how the D could be better.

61-39. The D was just as good in the 2nd.

+19, +1, 38-28%.

Another terrific team effort Aaron Raher had 10, 12, 2 in 22 minutes from the bench.

We have a 2 game lead, 14-1, 6-0.

#19, RPI #4.

[Wayne23]

At 5-10, 2-4 South Dakota. They’ve had better teams.

1/16: They scored the 1st 5, we scored the next 23 and it was over. 39-22 at the half.

Their OG had 4 threes but no one else was hurting us.

73-54 at the end.

+28 (55 RBs!), +6. Fouls were 5-16.

19, 9, 2, 1 for Rein, 14, 12, 1, 1, 1 for Sapp, 14, 9, 4, 1 for Chang. Alex, Henry and Raher also played well.

4-12, 3-4 Western Illinois is in. This is a game we should win.

1/19: 32-20 at the half.

I was happy with the D but we weren’t showing a lot of energy on O.
68-39. Never a game.

+9, +3, 40-26%.

Will and Chang led us but this one was about the D.

At 8-9, 4-4 ORU. Not having a good year but they can be tough at home. Their strength is outside but they cough it up.

1/23: We started off very sluggish and really never woke up in the 1st half trailing 28-35 at the break. 10 TOs, only +3 RB, standing around on O.
I was a bit… “forceful” at halftime.

Not sure whether “forceful” had anything to do with it but we won the 2nd half 46-22, and the game 74-57.

+15, -3, 51-33% (61-26% in the 2nd).

17, 8, 2 for Rein, 15, 4, 4 for Will, and the bigs held their own and better.

17-1, 9-0.

[Wayne23]

At IUPU-Indianapolis, 8-10, 4-5. Up and down.

1/26: Never trailed after 0-2, but we couldn’t pull away. 32-23 at the half.

Same story in the 2nd, 69-61 at the end. They never got closer than 4 in the 2nd but we never led by more than 15.

+13, -1, 44-33%.

Rein’s 27 was the key. 17, 8, 4, 1, 1 for Chang, 13 RBs for Alex.

Two game lead. Still #19. RPI is #8.

6-13, 3-7 Oakland is in. Beat them by 19 there.

1/30: We jump out to an early lead and extend it to 25 before going in up 40-22.

78-55 at the end. As I keep saying we’ve outgrown this conf.

+5, +9, 49-36%.

Lots of balance, 5 guys with either 11 or 12 points and another with 8.

Nelson and Small, Neither of whom play much, are both hurt.

At 3rd place North Dakota State. Beat them 72-48 at our place.

2/2: 29-26 at the half.

At halftime I just asked them to focus a little more.

It stayed close for about 26-27 minutes. At that point we started to get it inside regularly and our bigs overwhelmed theirs. 74-52 at the end.

+6, +10, 42-36%, 9 -15 fouls.

19, 10 for Sapp, 17, 6, 1 for Alex, 10, 4, 4 for Chang.

Only Southern Utah, 3 back, is less than 5 games back.

#17, RPI #12, 20-1, 12-0.

[Wayne23]

IUPU-Fort Wayne, 10-11, 6-6, is in. Beat them by 23 there.

2/6: 35-22 at the half.

The bigs are owning the inside.

More of the same in the 2nd and the final is 69-51.

+14, +7.

13, 13 for Sapp, 13 each for Chang and Alex.

Southern Utah, 13-9, 10-3, is the only team three back. We’re there. Won by 23 at home. They’ve won their last 4, 7 of 8. If we’re going to lose a conf. game this is probably the one, as I’ve told the guys in practice every day.

2/9: 30-25 at the half. Not much different from our other recent games, just a bit closer.

The D is fine so we work on O and rebounding at the half. We aren’t getting open looks.

Chang takes a hard elbow to the head in the 1st minute of the 2nd and I don’t dare put him back in. We stay flat. The lead goes back and forth and it stays close.

They’re hitting shots, we aren’t.

With 1:22 left it’s tied and we have the ball. Will gets it into Sapp who loses the handle, :58.

They come down and quickly score on a 12 footer, down 2, :44.

Rein hits a 2, tied, :21.

They lose it. We lose it.

:07. They bring it down and their PG hits a 14 footer at the buzzer, 51-53.

-6, +4, 36-51%.

No one on either team got more than 11 points, or 7 RBs, or 4 assists. A night of mediocrity.

19 game win streak snapped but we’re still up 2 with 4 to play.

#18, #15, 21-2, 13-1.

UMKC, 9-14, 3-11, at our place. 68-36.

+16, +2, 54-25%.

Southern Utah lost so we’re up 3 with 3 to go.

[Wayne23]

Zipping to the playoffs since the rest of the conf. season is a foregone conclusion.

South Dakota, 7-17, 4-11.

2/16: 74-54. 16 each for Sapp and Rein, never close.

#15, RPI #12.

At Western Illinois, 7-18, 6-10.

2/20: 76-46. 23, 6 for Rein, 13, 11 for Alex, 12, 15 for Sapp, 9, 6, 4, 1 for Will.

Lead is now 4 games.

ORU is in to close the regular season.

2/23: 70-50. Another easy win. 17, 9 for Sapp but 8 guys played well.

We end the regular season up by 5, 25-2, 17-1, #14, #12.