‘Little things’ bury Mavs

If playing future Summit League foes is meant to serve as a measuring stick for the UNO Men's Basketball team, Tuesday's loss against Western Illinois might be a little deceiving.  The Mavs lost 81-70 but it would be difficult to walk away from the game believing there's an 11-point difference between the two teams.

UNO twice fouled the same player while shooting a three, watched as the shot went down and was called for a technical.

"You foul two three-point shooters, and this is not the basketball game, but you foul two three-point shooters and a technical and…you play ‘em even, you're even," said Mav Head Coach Derrin Hansen.  "That's nine points right there so basically you're a possession [away]."

After UNO had fought back from a seven-point first half deficit to get within three points 32-35 at halftime, the Mavs gave up the first of two potential four-point plays to start the second half.  While junior Alex Welhouse guarded Western Illinois forward Jack Houpt, Houpt rose up for three, made the shot and ended up at the foot of the Leatherneck bench drawing a foul call on Welhouse.

Houpt made the free throw and suddenly a three-point halftime deficit was pushed to seven with just one play.  

"It's momentum.  You get a stop and a score it's momentum," Hansen said.  "All of a sudden it goes…instead of a stop and a score that goes to one, it goes to seven.  That's a four, five point swing."

Later in the half, UNO climbed back within five when Welhouse was whistled for a foul while trying to gain position on a rebound.

Welhouse and a Leatherneck player exchanged words after the play and the referee called Welhouse for a technical.  Western Illinois made both free throws then got a hoop to go down on the following possession just as the shot clock was expiring.

For the second time in the game, the Mavs ruined a chance at getting back in the game with a call from the referee.

"I know what was said and I'm not gonna push on who I heard say it and I'll leave it at that," Hansen said.  "[It was] a player to a player and I questioned on who was charged on saying it, and I'll leave it at that."

Just minutes after the technical call, Houpt would earn another trip to the free throw line after drawing a foul call on a three-point make.  This time it was sophomore center John Karhoff providing the defense when the referee's whistle blew.

Karhoff gave the referee a look of disbelief,  dropped his hands to his knees and stared at the floor while standing near the top of the key.  Though Houpt missed the free throw this time around, the damage had been done.  The three on the foul put UNO behind by 12, 52-64.

"We gotta get in the film room and break down…everything," said senior guard Mitch Albers.  "Kind of like coach was saying earlier, [there were] so many little things that happened in this game is what beat us."

"The two four point plays, they got two offensive rebound put backs late in the game, we just gotta correct those, and I think if we can correct those I think we can get over the hump.  We just gotta stay positive.   I think that's the biggest thing."

Regardless of all the little things the Mavs could have corrected to stay in the game, there were also points at which it seemed it just wasn't UNO's night.  Almost half or more of the Leatherneck three pointers came after the Mavs had played over 30 seconds of defense and the shot clock was winding down.

Just as it seemed UNO had done enough to force a scoreless possession, Western Illinois' Ceola Clark or Jack Houpt would bail the team out with a shot from distance.  Even starting guard Obi Emegano who had gone all of 0 for 1 from three-point land in 18 games this season, hit a three at the end of the shot clock and pushed his team out to a 67-54 lead.

"One thing that stands out in my mind is, late in the game, Obi hitting one," Albers said.  "He was 0 for 1 on the year, [it was] just that kind of night.  I thought for the most part a lot of Ceola's (Clark) were contested."

"I thought we did a better job in the second half of running out to some of their shooters.  I know Jack (Houpt) went 4 for 6, but he earned ‘em."

    Overall both teams shot well from the field, but Western Illinois was just that much better.  The Leathernecks shot 59 percent from both three-point range and inside the arc.

Three Mavericks finished in double figures including Welhouse with 17, Albers with 14 and freshman C.J. Carter with 14 as well.  Karhoff had an especially active game.

The sophomore out of Creighton Prep put in eight points, grabbed five boards, shot 50 percent and dished out six assists including two behind the head passes to teammates driving to the basket.

"If you wanna talk measuring stick, maybe we're not perfect, maybe we're not there right now but I hope people would understand that we're not far," Hansen said.  "We have players on our team, one that's sitting next to me (Albers), that can play in this league,  amongst other guys on our team right now."

"Anybody who's seen us play the IPFW's and these guys and South Dakota and UMKC I think they'd agree with that.  Have we always gotten over the hump?  No we haven't, but we've seen where we can compete and it gives our staff a good evaluation of where we need to go next."