The big story was Summit League favorite Fort Wayne defeating in-state powerhouse 71-68. We’ve all heard about it. But the back story is that the Indiana Hoosiers actually agreed to travel to in-state opponent Fort Wayne to take on the Mastadons in their building. It’s unusual in college basketball for bigger in-state programs to take on smaller in-state programs with the possibility of the upset.
Hot off the presses from @journalgsports. 🐘📰 pic.twitter.com/ZEhaFQGMkG
— Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons (@GoMastodons) November 23, 2016
“They’ll be talking about Indiana coming to Fort Wayne for the next 50 years,” said Jon Coffman.
The Mastodons are a legit team this year and have just pushed the Summit League’s RPI way up. And, as we discussed in a prior LetsGoDU Article, head coach Jon Coffman is the lowest paid coach in the Summit League in the lowest funded athletic department among the nine basketball programs.
With the win, Fort Wayne cements its ‘favorite’ role in the Summit and Coffman might have just become one of the hottest coaching prospects in America.
That was a great win for the ‘Dons and for the conference in general. Can’t wait to see Fort Wayne come to town in February!
Agreed, Chris. They are the real deal and proving last year was no fluke. Let’s hope for some more Summit League upsets before the league schedule begins.
The majority of the 11,000+ fans in the building were Indiana fans, so it’s pretty impressive for the Mastodons. Well done.
That was a great win for the ‘Dons and for the conference in general. Can’t wait to see Fort Wayne come to town in February!
Agreed, Chris. They are the real deal and proving last year was no fluke. Let’s hope for some more Summit League upsets before the league schedule begins.
The majority of the 11,000+ fans in the building were Indiana fans, so it’s pretty impressive for the Mastodons. Well done.
For lack of a better place to put it, I will put it here. That was a punch in the gut tonight.
Does anyone know what was up with Billups calling a timeout with 10 seconds left in the first half? Denver was up by 24, had the ball, in play, and Billups called a timeout. He immediately grabbed his board like he had a special play he wanted to run. Of course Denver couldn’t even get it in, UVU made a 3 to cut it to 21 and it seemed to rejuvenate them. They came out strong to start the second half and it snowballed from there.
I know hindsight is 20/20 and all that but I really questioned that timeout at the time and if Denver had just kept playing and bumped the lead to 26 or 27 at half you have to think the game takes a different turn…
DU was shooting 72% in the first half, 2% higher than the school record for shooting percentage in a game. That kind of hot shooting was likely not going to happen in the second half, as you knew Utah Valley would adjust the perimeter defense and double team Amigo, who had a career high first half. But even though DU’s offense understandably cooled a bit in the second half, the one thing they have to have to fix is the turnover problem (24?). Some of the turnovers happen with the offensive change to a new offense, but some were just terrible mental mistakes from a loss of focus or panic. If DU keep shooting well and can get the turnovers down to be even with the other team, they’ll win games. But off they keep having 15-25 turnovers a game, it will be a long season.
We had a use it or lose it timeout. Coaches usually use it no matter what the score. Unfortunate result, but it happens.
For lack of a better place to put it, I will put it here. That was a punch in the gut tonight.
Does anyone know what was up with Billups calling a timeout with 10 seconds left in the first half? Denver was up by 24, had the ball, in play, and Billups called a timeout. He immediately grabbed his board like he had a special play he wanted to run. Of course Denver couldn’t even get it in, UVU made a 3 to cut it to 21 and it seemed to rejuvenate them. They came out strong to start the second half and it snowballed from there.
I know hindsight is 20/20 and all that but I really questioned that timeout at the time and if Denver had just kept playing and bumped the lead to 26 or 27 at half you have to think the game takes a different turn…
DU was shooting 72% in the first half, 2% higher than the school record for shooting percentage in a game. That kind of hot shooting was likely not going to happen in the second half, as you knew Utah Valley would adjust the perimeter defense and double team Amigo, who had a career high first half. But even though DU’s offense understandably cooled a bit in the second half, the one thing they have to have to fix is the turnover problem (24?). Some of the turnovers happen with the offensive change to a new offense, but some were just terrible mental mistakes from a loss of focus or panic. If DU keep shooting well and can get the turnovers down to be even with the other team, they’ll win games. But off they keep having 15-25 turnovers a game, it will be a long season.
We had a use it or lose it timeout. Coaches usually use it no matter what the score. Unfortunate result, but it happens.