We just barely avoided the first major upset of championship week, when SIU blew a huge lead against Missouri State. Missouri State was losing the entire game, and was down 56-47 with 2:30 left. I even tweeted about how St. Louis was about to witness the first upset.
Then Missouri State hit two threes in thirty seconds. Then, they got a few turnovers, and hit another.
SIU missed two front ends of one and ones in the final 2:49. They also turned the ball over twice. They attempted ONE field goal in the final 2:49. They were held scoreless the final 2:49.
What cant be overlooked is how poorly the Bears shot the ball. They were 60% from the free throw line, 7-24 from 3 (with 3 coming in the final 2 minutes), and 11-30 from 2pt. Ten days ago, they beat SIU by 18 in Carbondale. Today, they survived, but got an early wake-up call. Missouri State is not a team that can rely on their resume to guarantee an at-large bid. As I mentioned before, they will most likely need to win the MVC. SIU will play the winner of Crieghton and Northern Iowa tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment