Well it’s hard to know what to say about a game like this. Omaha trailed 16-5 after six minutes and battled for a bit before falling down 43-23 and finally 51-31 at the half. It didn’t get much better in the 2nd half as South Dakota State led 71-44 with 13:21 left and were still up 84-61 with 6:45 to go. Then Omaha started to get back in it via a 14-0 run. South Dakota State during that stretch turned it over, missed a front end of a 1-and-1, turned it over, missed the front end of a 1-and-1, turned it over, and turned it over again. Omaha started getting hot and got out running as Justin Simmons had three fast break layups in the stretch.
Now is that characteristic of the game at a whole? Was it just a bad stretch for the Jackrabbits that made this look close? That’s what I ‘d tend to suggest. South Dakota State had a real bad break as they missed two straight chances at FTs and those things can roll quickly. Of course once South Dakota State got back on track they’d score six straight to go back up by 15 and Omaha never got within single digits again.
South Dakota State is just a much better team than Omaha right now. There’s too much talent and it’s a situation where even the guts of Omaha really need a sloppy performance from South Dakota State to get a win. Instead the Jackrabbits were shooting lights out: 51% in the first half and 19-29 in the second half (66%) to go 58% for the game. They were great from deep, a 9-20 shooting night led by Chad White going 6-7, and were dominant on the glass where they had five more offensive rebounds than UNO despite having 16 less opportunities. That’s dominant. The only thing South Dakota State did wrong was turn it over 15 times.
Omaha wasn’t horrible, they shot a respectable 44% from the field and 35% from three and only turned it over nine times in a very high possession game. Yet not playing horrible isn’t nearly enough in a game like this and so Omaha came up short.
Justin Simmons continues to pile up some incredible point totals. He had 29 points in this one, 24 in the 2nd half, and has now reached the top 15 in school history for points in a season. He’s got 508 this year and just keeps getting better. I think he’s making a strong case for first team All-Summit as he’s averaging 19.4 points per game in conference while shooting 50% from the field and 43% from three! Woah. Add in four rebounds per game and that’s a first team All-Summit pick to me. I think his performance has been better than Frank Gaines who will capture the headlines but isn’t nearly as efficient as Simmons or as good a shooter.
Anyways these are the kind of games you’ll see as Omaha tries to get to South Dakota State’s level and as long as the Mavericks are showing heart and fighting to the end, I don’t think you can have much of a negative reaction to this one.
It was Over When: Very reminiscent of the game against Western Illinois… Omaha trailed 84-61 with 6:45 left. A 23 point lead for SDSU. Yet Caleb Steffensmeier hit a jumper to cap a 14-0 run and make it 84-75 with 3:42 left. Omaha was basically out of time with 7 minutes left, but since they went on that 3-minute run right away it’s hard to call it over. I’ll pick when Caleb Steffensmeier missed a three that would have made it 90-83 but instead Jordan Dykstra rebounded the miss and was fouled, hitting both shots to make it a 12 point game with 1:11 left.
Player of the Game: Justin Simmons gets the nod because he went out and shot 12-23 and hit four of 5 FTs for 29 points. Had five rebounds, four assists, there steals and a block. Whoa.
Season Total:
Justin Simmons (9)
John Karhoff (8)
Matt Hagerbaumer (4)
Alex Welhouse (4)
Alex Phillips (1)
Caleb Steffensmeier (1)
CJ Carter (1)
Marcus Tyus (1)
Tyler Egli (1)
Efficiency Ratings:
Justin Simmons – 26
Matt Hagerbaumer – 13
Alex Welhouse – 18
Caleb Steffensmeier – 8
Marcus Tyus – 5
C.J. Carter – 3
John Karhoff – 2
Alex Phillips – 0
Tyler Egli – 0
Jacques Coleman – 0
Simon Krych – 0
Season Average:
Justin Simmons – 13.3
John Karhoff – 11.7
C.J. Carter – 8.8
Alex Welhouse – 8.4
Alex Phillips – 6.6
Matt Hagerbaumer – 6.1
Caleb Steffensmeier – 5.3
Marcus Tyus – 5.1
Koang Doluony – 3.1
Jacques Coleman – 2.2
Simon Krych – 1.6
Tyler Egli – 1.1
Team Ratings: Real fast pace in this one. Omaha didn’t really hit their mark offensively when you consider the pace, and they were definitely a step behind defensively. Didn’t shoot all that great or rebound well, but they did avoid turning it over!
Possessions: 84
Offensive Points per Possession : 0.98
Defensive Points per Possession : 1.28
eFG%: 49.3%
Turnover Rate: 10.8%
Offensive Rebounding: 11.9%
Defensive Rebounding: 57.1%
A/B%: 50.0%
Floor%: 45.1%
FT Prod: 13.7
Response to 3 things to watch:
1) Nate Wolters’ Health – 18 points, seven rebounds, 10 assists. I’d say he’s fine… From all accounts he wasn’t hobbled at all while playing 39 minutes. With over a week off until the Saturday quarterfinal in Sioux Falls (where SDSU should breeze by IUPUI) I’d say Nate Wolters will be just fine on Monday the 11th for the big semifinal matchup with the 4/5 seed.
2.) Shooting – Omaha wasn’t quite as red hot as they needed to be (44% and 35% from three) and they certainly didn’t get a cold night out of South Dakota State who shot 58% and went 9-20 from three.
3.) Crowd – Omaha definitely got a great crowd as the announced attendance was 2656!!! It was the largest home crowd since they drew 3,000 to see the NCC tournament semifinal game against Minnesota State Mankato in March 2005. That team averaged 1,670 home fans and had crowds of 2700, 2500, 2050, 2200, 2600, and 1500 in conference play. Those numbers look great now with an average of 1214 fans this year boosted by last night and the 2224 that came to the season opener.
Prediction Response: I thought this game would be a lot more competitive. I know Omaha cut into it late, but it was an 18 point loss and Omaha trailed by 27 after 3/4 of the game.
Upcoming Opponent: Omaha will host North Dakota State on Saturday to end the season. Senior day for Alex Welhouse, Tyler Egli, and Jacques Coleman. It’d be great to get a huge win to send them out.
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