Augustana 83 IWU 68 (2/20/08)

For the first time since the game at Elmhurst way back on January 19, the Titans seemed to be caught on their heels last night in Rock Island. In IWU's 7-1 run since that loss at Elmhurst, the Titans have done a great job of coming out as the aggressor, and that just wasn't the case last night. Augustana had all of the energy from the opening tip.
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There is no question that Augie is not a good matchup for the Titans due to their size and athleticism down low and how well they defend the perimeter. Elmhurst is huge, but the Bluejays don't guard the perimeter like the Vikings do...and while Wheaton has 6-8 Andy Wiele, the Thunder don't have much else in the way of big guys who make an impact on both ends of the floor. Against Augustana, IWU - with 6-4 Darius Gant and 6-5 Brett Chamernik - really does not have a consistent inside game. Then on defense, they really struggle to contain Swetalla, Collins, and Bertrand. All of that said, IWU still had a chance to beat Augie at the Shirk Center (up 5 with the ball with 2:57 to play), so last night's performance was disappointing.
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IWU's 2nd half defense was poor last night. Here is a list of points given up by IWU in the 2nd half since the Jan. 19 game @ Elmhurst:
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vs Wheaton 32
@ North Park 30
vs Augustana 36
vs Carthage 34
@ North Central 36
vs Elmhurst 41
vs Millkin 31@
Wheaton 36@
Augustana 49
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Certainly Augie's offensive gameplan and execution vs IWU was very good, but the Titan D was just not what it was been for a month now.
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Now, I guess the big picture is that back in December there is no way I could have envisioned being disappointed the Titans lost at Augustana. The Titans have clinched the #2 seed in the CCIW tournament and quite honestly, I wasn't sure this team could finish 6-8 coming into the year. They have played very well the last month of the season and I'm confident they will regroup and make a run at the CCIW's automatic bid.
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Kudos to freshman guard Sean Johnson who has broken IWU's freshman 3-point record. Johnson has now made 53 3's (Korey Coon 49 in 1996-97, Adam Dauksas 45 in 2002-03). Talk about elite company.
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Finally, a quote from Dain Swetalla in today's Quad City Times...

“We don’t want to share it. I’m not going to lie,” said senior forward Dain Swetalla, who led Augie with 17 points and eight rebounds. “And (Illinois Wesleyan) is one team, especially, that we don’t want to share it with. They played hard, but we feel like we’re a much better team. We’ve got better players, and we want to prove it.”

It'd be nice to get one more crack at the Vikings.