January 2 in Manhattan and January 3 in Stillwater

2 tough tasks. I know Chicago is capable of beating both. Neither of these are top 25 level teams, and during the break their crowds may be lighter and quieter than during the semester. Chicago has also been playing games pretty regularly while a lot of teams had longer breaks. Either team could be looking ahead to Big 12 games, and/or simply come out flat.

For the Cougars to have a shot, they will have to do all the regular things like defend and rebound well. But this ineffective and poor shooting offense is going to have to show some improvement, or no defense or rebounding is going to be enough.

Things Chicago has going for them in these games-

They won’t be intimidated and have already been tested on the road
Rebounding has been pretty solid
The Cougars are good at getting to the line, and decent shooting from there
They usually keep turnovers extremely low
They come in with nothing to lose, on top of knowing they are capable of winning
Wesley Cardet Jr can score on anyone. How efficiently he does it will be a deciding factor of the outcomes however. And he’ll have to take better shots and share the ball more.

Another note about these games- Kansas State has played very poorly in a number of games this season. They were absolutely destroyed by Nebraska at home, but they are a big program. K State has also struggled to finish off Bellermine, Oral Roberts and North Alabama.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma State didn’t breeze by South Carolina State for much of the game, like you might expect. Overall, they aren’t having a great year either. They’re still a major conference squad, but they probably won’t finish better than the bottom quarter of the Big 12.

I think we have the capability to play with teams like those. Whether or not we WILL play with them has to be answered yet.

We are getting killed on the boards against K-State, but we are making baskets, which shows what happens when you take good shots.

So happy to be at this game live. First time I’ve seen the Cougars live this season, and likely the only time so I’m glad I’m seeing a good game being played and not a blowout.

Cardet has been quiet, but will get heated up in the second half I’m sure and get his 20!

K State crowd is pretty darn quiet lol.

Not a perfect game, but overall Chicago played very well. If the Cougars could have gotten a little more of a solid lead in the first half, I think they could have taken it. Once K State got off their heels from being down 7 and from Chicago having the lead for most of the game, they started playing better and getting into a rhythm. But even then, having it at 5 points left in the game, that showed what Chicago can do, even without playing great.

While the rebounding margin looked horrible, I’m not sure it was as defining of a stat as it might appear. There were a few possessions where K State missed bunnies from 2 feet, got their own rebound, missed another, and another, and Chicago still came away with it. And others, the same situation happened but K State ended up scoring, but it was still a bunch of rebounds on a few possessions that didn’t lead to all that many points overall.

Offensively, this is more what a decent team should look like. Getting more people involved, more passes, less one on one, and giving them more to defend and making the team work on defense.

I wish I was traveling in the direction to be able to watch them at OK State tomorrow! I’m afraid Chicago State will be tired and not come out with as much energy, but I still give them a chance of winning against a slightly worse Cowboy team that isn’t as deep as K State.

Kansas State was a 22 point favorite, and Chicago State only lost by 7, so I’m not ruling out Chicago giving the Pokes a good run, not to mention a couple other games later this season.

Not a great half by the Cougars. They look tired from playing 23 hours ago in another state…

But let’s see if they can get some better offense going in half 2.