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Tigers look for rare win at Emporia
1/17/2012
By CONOR NICHOLL
cnicholl@dailynews.net
In coach Mark Johnson's view, the Fort Hays State University men's basketball team has particularly struggled at two places since the Tigers switched to the MIAA five and a half years ago. One of the venues is University of Central Missouri. FHSU is 1-5 in Warrensburg, Mo., including a 38-point loss earlier this season. However, the Mules are consistently among the nation's best, and have two NCAA Division II Final Four appearances under coach Kim Anderson.
The other place is Emporia State University. The Hornets have usually been a middle of the pack team in the conference, but FHSU is 1-4 at White Auditorium in the MIAA era. The lone victory was a 69-65 victory in 2009-10, a game marked by 29 points from Tiger point guard Dominique Jones.
In his weekly news conference Monday, Johnson speculated part of the road struggles come from the travel. Hays to Emporia is one of the shortest trips for the Tigers, but the distance is still difficult.
"It's kind of right on the borderline," Johnson said. "Should you go the night before and spend the night or go up the day of the game and things like that. By the time you stop and eat, it's almost a four-hour trip and that gets a little long."
On Wednesday, Fort Hays, ranked No. 19 in NCAA Division II, will travel to Emporia State for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff. The Tigers are 11-4, 5-4 MIAA, while ESU is 8-7, 4-5 under first-year coach Shaun Vandiver.
"Being a night game, do you go in a hotel room and sit around all day?," Johnson said. "So I don't know if that has been a part of it or not. I think Washburn (in Topeka) just being 30 or 40 minutes closer makes a difference. When we go on that trip (to Washburn) we have played well there."
Last Saturday, Fort Hays broke a three-game losing streak, its longest since the 2007-08 season, with a 76-66 road victory against Pittsburg State University.
"Everybody is feeling down," senior guard Moses Dayee said. "Even coach said he was feeling a little down. I felt like it showed our character."
Despite the three-game losing streak and a dismal home loss to Washburn University early in the conference slate, a win Wednesday could put the Tigers within one game of first place at the midway point of the conference schedule. Northwest Missouri State University is in first place at 7-2, but has to travel to second-place Missouri Southern State University (6-3) on Wednesday. If Northwest Missouri loses and the Tigers win, it could mean a four-way tie at 6-3 with FHSU at 5-4.
"As many struggles as we think we have had and people think we have had, you could be one game out of first place," Johnson said.
In the three-game losing streak, Fort Hays attempted 56 shots a contest, yet scored 60 points a game. On Saturday, the Tigers slowed the offense and took a season-low 42 shots. However, they shot 57 percent from the field, including 44 percent (8-of-18) on 3-point shots. Johnson believes the Tigers will need to play slower -- and also will need to improve at taking better shots.
"I think at times our team struggles with that, not necessarily out of selfishness or anything," Johnson said.
"Just a feel. We struggle with feel for the game. We have talked all year long, it's not necessarily the shot, it's the timing of the shot. We can get that same shot under 10 seconds in a clock that we are sometimes taking in the first 10 or 15. You will see us at times turn down great shots early in the possession."
On Saturday, Johnson pointed out that junior guard Tyrone Phillips had come off a double screen to start the game and no defender was near him. However, he turned down the shot.
"He is just trying to do the right thing and he turned it down and that's something that we have got to keep working on, trying to get a feel for what is a good shot and when to take it," Johnson said.
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| 2/18 | SW Baptist | L 66-53 | |
| 12/1 | Oklahoma - Panhandle | L 66-60 (OT) | |