Jackrabbit Men's Basketball Roundup


Over the last two weeks the Jack Rabbits have had their ups and downs. They were sitting atop the summit league standings until they got knocked off the conference mountain top by in state rival USD. This set back was short lived, as the Jacks reclaimed their number one spot albeit with some help from Denver. The Jacks have gone a three-game winning streak since then but I’m sure they will be eager to return the favor when the Coyotes come up to Frost arena later this season.

Rave- Jackrabbits Rout Western Illinois

There is not much to break down and analyze here, the Jackrabbits soundly beat Western Illinois by 28 points. This was not much of a surprise. The Leathernecks have been struggling this season with a conference record of 1-4. Overall, the Jackrabbits had seven players scoring in double digits.

Rant- Poor Offense versus USD

It is never an easy task to play a strong rival on the road such as USD. Unfortunately, against their interstate rivals the Jackrabbits turned in one of their weakest offensive performances of season and ended up suffering their first conference loss of the season. On that evening the usual strengths of the team were not there. The first stat that stands out is the free-throw percentage. Normally, the Jackrabbits have been shooting 80%+ from the charity stripe, Against USD they only managed 50% percent. Also, USD guard Matt Mooney had field day, scoring 30 points while the Mike Daum was limited to only 18 points.

Rant-Jackrabbits Nearly Lose Back to Back Games

After the first half against Fort Wayne all indications were that the Jackrabbits were on their way to another rout, up 43 to 26. The Mastodons were missing easy baskets while the Jackrabbits were making their's. I am not sure what happened in the second half, whether its was the Jacks playing flat, the Mastodons shooting better, or both. The Jacks committed several turnovers which helped Fort Wayne claw back into the game, this could have been a very embarrassing upset if it were not for some clutch rebounding and shooting by King and Flatten late in the second half.

Rave-Jackrabbits Return to Form

After two shaky performances the men’s squad seems to have gotten back into their usual groove. The came wins against Omaha and NDSU, winning 80-60 and 82-63 respectively. They have now swept both teams this season. They need avoid the pitfalls they made in those earlier games if they want this winning streak to continue.

Up Next-Final Stretch

Looking at the schedule, there are five games remaining. This biggest challengers are USD and Oral Roberts. Both games will be available on ESPN 3, Both of these teams have held the number one spot in the conference this season. I will be looking forward to these matchups against likely Summit League tournament opponents. Hopefully, the Jacks will be able to avenge their earlier loss to USD.  



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jackrabbit Football All-Decade Team

Image
Yes, we are well into the new year/decade but our debate has been fierce in creating an All-Decade Jackrabbit football team.  The challenges of creating this team were what to do with the players at the beginning and the end of the decade who may only have a year or two of stats to go on or what do we do with those players who only splashed for one year?  Further complicating matters was the consistent improvement of the Jackrabbit team as a whole and the level of competition they are facing week in and week out.  So with all of those factors, the Splitting Hares Podcast team of Ben Pierson, Brendan Luedtke, Kyle Sheehan, and Dallas Clarksean created our list of who the team should be.  All are welcome to their opinions!  Special thanks to Mitchell McLain who keeps an unbelievable database of Jackrabbit football statistics and information.  Offense Quarterback Taryn Christion (2015-2018) 44 games started, 59.70% completion rate, 11,535 yar...
Read more

What's Cookin': Dessert

Image
Alright, another year of Jackrabbit football is upon us. We are celebrating at Jackrabbit Illustrated, this our 5th season covering the team.  The players who we first covered as freshmen are now redshirt seniors. We hope you are as excited as us for this upcoming season. Chef Tim, a culinary instructor at Mitchell Tech and contributing writer, has some fun recipes for you this season.  He has committed to doing one a week. I have nothing but faith that he will get them turned in! We start the season celebrating with celebrations. Here are some fun baked goods that will lead to the healthy start to the season; Cherry-Chocolate Chunk Cookies ½ Cup All-Purpose Flour ¼ Cup Quick-Cooking Oats ½ Teaspoon baking Soda Pinch of Salt 2 tbs butter, melted and cooled 1/3 cup brown sugar 1 large egg 1 tsp vanilla Extract 2 oz semisweet chocolate 1/3 cup dried cherries 1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray large baking sheet with nonstick spray. 2) Combine Flour, Oats, baking soda, and s...
Read more

Rants & Raves: LIU

Image
The Jacks won 38-3 on a cold and damp September evening.  The Jacks dominated statistically in nearly every area but it didn't feel like a fully satisfying victory.  How spoiled have we become as Jackrabbit fans? Rave: How about that defense?  The argument could be made that they have only surrendered 17 points in 2 games.  Pretty impressive.  For most of the night Saturday LIU was completely overwhelmed by the size and speed of the Jackrabbit defense.  LIU managed only 123 yards of total offense.  The performance was phenominal, even against a transitioning FCS opponent. I'll highlight some of the invidual performances later. Rant: Adult fans... enough said.  This writer is tired of the apathy and excuses. Rave: Students!  Great job showing up, being loud, and impacting the game.  That was great! Rave: The true freshmen really showed out.  Quinton Hicks impacted the game from his first snap.  Diamond Evans played w...
Read more