CSU Preview

[Commissioner]

Cleveland State

When: Wednesday, Feb. 14, 7:00 p.m.
Where: Wolstein Center, Cleveland
TV: ESPN 3
Radio: SuperStation AM 910

It's the Ash Wednesday Battle for the Bottom, as the Titans and Vikings square off in the near-empty Wolstein Center in beautiful downtown Cleveland. To the loser goes sole possession of last place in the Horizon. Our Titans won the first match-up of this battle of Titans at Calihan last month, when the Vikings forgot to defend Corey Allen at game's end. Allen drove the length of the Court for the winning bucket with 1 second left.

The Vikings have won two of their last 4, with the wins coming at the Wolstein against 2nd place Wright State, and on the road against 3rd place UIC in their last game. Those are two pretty good wins. The guys who gives Viking fans hope for the future are freshmen Tyree Appleby, a 4 time Freshman of the Week winner, and Stefan Kenic. Over his last 4 games, Appleby, a guard has averaged 17.5 points and 4.3 assists. Kenic, a 6-9 forward, has scored 13 and 16 points in the last two games. The Vikes leading scorer is Detroit native Kenny Carpenter.

The Titans, just 1-9 on the road this year, are 3 point underdogs, which, honestly, seems low to me.

Probable Cleveland Starters:
PG - Tyree Appleby, 6-1 Fr. (11.7 ppg, 3.8 apg)
SG - Bobby Word, 6-4 Sr. (10.3 ppg, 37.6% 3PtFG)
G - Kenny Carpenter, 6-5 Sr. (12.7 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 2.2 apg, 35.5% 3PtFG)
F - Anthony Wright, 6-7 Sr. (7.3 ppg, 5.2 rpg)
F - Stefan Kenic, 6-9 Fr. (9.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 35.5% 3PtFG)

Ken Reserves:
G - Kasheem Thomas, 6-0 Soph. (6.0 ppg, 2.2 apg)
G - Dontrel Highsmith, 6-2 RS Jr. (5.2 ppg) (Highsmith sat out CSU's last game, but I can't find his status for Wednesday).
G - Terrell Hales, 6-4 Sr. (0.8 ppg) (the defensive specialist from Detroit probably won't play much unless Highsmith is out).
F - Jamarcus Hairston, 6-8 Sr. (5.1 ppg, 3.9 rpg)

[HSScout1]

The Titans, just 1-9 on the road this year, are 3 point underdogs, which, honestly, seems low to me

.

How far we have fallen that we are in a "Battle for Last" this late in the season and an underdog (plus our astute previewer feels we should be an even bigger under dog). Well, I had high hopes for this season (if you want to call .500 high hopes), and now those hopes are gone and we find ourselves as a 'dog in a dog of a game. The good thing is we have some talent on this team and we should be able to get that elusive 2nd road win tonight and get out of the basement - plus the season is one game closer to ending!

GO TITANS!

[uofdfan1983]

A couple years ago, after I had converted my U-M graduate wife into a Titan Fan (or maybe it was wife-to-be at the time), and before kids (definitely before kids) I had little trouble talking her into driving to Cleveland for a Saturday Evening Matchup/Downtown Cleveland overnight that was also on Valentine's Day. It was bitter cold and snowy (sounds familiar). It was early in PW's tenure and we were starting to improve and grow back then (it would have been 3 years before the St Johns Game). Cleveland St was NOT good back then so there's another similarity.

We went to a lovely downtown Cleveland dinner, then a U-D alumni reunion for Cleveland Area Alums, and then an evening game. Freshman Perry Robinson was sensational and grabbed about 20 rebounds in the victory. We don't have a freshman whose game is similar to Robinson's but we do have a 5th year grad transfer who reminds me of Perry in Roshon Prince.

So there you have it: my reaching and stretching to find reasons we win tonight. I have no idea what will happen tonight but I am trying to learn how to let go of losses and not be a miserable pain in the a** for 48 hours after every loss. You've gotta learn to do that when there are so many losses. I remember back in Dickie V that ANY loss was a shock to my system that sent me into dismay for about a week. I still have hope. We are improving. We need to play defense and play as a team. It's happening a bit. It needs to keep happening. We need to grow some more tonight. Go Titans!

[Titan Jim]

Anyone else having technical difficulties?

[Titan JJ]

I can’t get onto ESPN II either

[HSScout1]

I just walked into the house and immediately start casting the game to my tv. Wtf, it's already 16 to 4. Are you kidding me????

[HSScout1]

Even if we catch up, we just can't keep digging ourselves a hole each game. Maybe it's time to change the pregame routine or something. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results...

Btw it's Cleveland State up 26 to 12. 10:45 left in the first half

[upbasketballfan]

I can’t get onto ESPN II either

The way we are playing D you are probably wishing it didn't come on. What we need is a guy who can guard 2 guys so Chatman can save his energy. I am convinced if Kam scores 30 the guy he is guarding will get 35.

[titanmac]

getting killed on the boards

[titanmac]

corey is a no show so far, 6 assists tho.

[Tacitus651]

I never thought we'd win this game. Even the 1:30 we were up, I knew it wouldn't last. Only 9 replies on the game thread at the end of regulation? Our fan base is probably the lowest since I've been following this team.

[HSScout1]

Well the big early deficit came back to hurt us. Someone should let BA know that he can't carryover the unused time out from the end of the game to Friday. If he doesn't want to use it at the end of the game, how about early in the game when our opponents go on early runs?

Great game by Cole and Roschon was an absolute beast underneath. On to Friday night.....

[TerryTylerFan]

Well the big early deficit came back to hurt us. Someone should let BA know that he can't carryover the unused time out from the end of the game to Friday. If he doesn't want to use it at the end of the game, how about early in the game when our opponents go on early runs?

Great game by Cole and Roschon was an absolute beast underneath. On to Friday night.....

I agree about Cole and Roschon from the parts I was able to watch. Cole is playing with more confidence, but did pass up a good open look at a late 3 ... I’d like to see him be less hesitant to launch those. As long as he’s not in foul trouble, Roschon should be a 30-35 minute player the rest of the way.

[MooseGuy1]

I never thought we'd win this game. Even the 1:30 we were up, I knew it wouldn't last. Only 9 replies on the game thread at the end of regulation? Our fan base is probably the lowest since I've been following this team.

Yeah, me, too. Prince was great and Long had a good game but it still wasn't enough to beat Cleveland State. I still follow the team as closely as ever...but then again I'm a lifer at this point. It just gets wearisome discussing yet another L. I agree with your assessment about fan interst. How long can this go on? Are we seeing the beginning of the end? How long can the BA experiment go on before we either pull the plug or give up any hope of being a player on the national scene? Grim.

By the way, OU lost to YSU at YSU on a last second basket tonight. The Pens acted like they'd won the NCAA Championship. This is one awful league and we sit at the bottom.

[The-Dude]

Just remember, it’s takes years to build a solid program. Years, and years, and years...

[udballer]

Missed the game due to work tonight. Looks like more of the same from the posts here and recap / box score. Digging a deep hole and almost coming back.

I did notice that McFolley didn't shot very well in his 15 minutes. JJJ seemed to play okay with his 28 minutes. Looks like he must have demonstrated his willingness to play team basketball and earned his way to more minutes... as was suggested he would have to. If I were Josh, I'd be looking for places to play next season. Just being honest. I think we've proven that we are the worst team in a bad Horizon at this point.

[Tacitus651]

Unless Josh racked up a ton of credits and can graduate by end of summer, going somewhere else doesn't make much sense. Assume he has roughly 90 credits at the end of this year. Most universities require you earn at least 60 of the 120 credits at their school to confer a degree. Going somewhere and sitting out a year (assuming NCAA doesn't change the rule) and retaking 30 credit hours to play on a different basketball team isn't a great life decision IMO. Also, his stats aren't that great this year. Not sure he'd receive the best offers.

[ptctitan]

Prince was great on offense, but his lapses on the defensive boards hurt us. Our two shooting guards, Josh and Corey, both had bad shooting nights, 2-15 with 5 points total between them. They were defended by the taller Word and Carpenter.

Chatman also played a soft game.

Too bad because this was a winnable game if only one of our big scorers had stepped up to help Prince and Long. Their continued improved play is a bright spot.

[titanmike]

In my opinion this game boiled down to not enough from the guards, Black, Allen, Jackson Jr, and McFolley, the shooting was awful by that group. We gave up 3 more threes then we made, accounting for 9 points. A depleted roster of only 8. Yes I know Cleveland had only eight, but I will say if we had our players back compared to them, we likely would of come out on top. Still overall disappointing to lose to CSU.

[udballer]

Unless Josh racked up a ton of credits and can graduate by end of summer, going somewhere else doesn't make much sense. Assume he has roughly 90 credits at the end of this year. Most universities require you earn at least 60 of the 120 credits at their school to confer a degree. Going somewhere and sitting out a year (assuming NCAA doesn't change the rule) and retaking 30 credit hours to play on a different basketball team isn't a great life decision IMO. Also, his stats aren't that great this year. Not sure he'd receive the best offers.

Whether or not it's a great life decision depends on Josh's immediate plans after graduation. If he wants to try to play overseas, I don't think it would matter so much. I'm assuming he is moving at a normal pace and could not be a grad transfer, otherwise the decision to leave would be easy to make.

Agree that his stats aren't great this year, so he would probably have to transfer somewhere like Cleveland State or Green Bay, and beat us twice in two years.