Millikin Men and Women’s Basketball hosted Elmhurst University in a double header, with both teams walking away empty handed.
First, the women took on a red-hot Elmhurst team, led by Kristin Bukata, who dropped 22 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, and 3 steals. Bukata was nearly unguarable and played the full 40 minutes.
Millikin kept it close in the first, but from the second on, the game just fell out of hand, leading to a 63-72 loss. Millikin couldn’t keep up with the scoring, and once again struggled with rebounding and taking care of the ball.
“Tough one at home,” Head Coach Kirsten Hammer said. “Definitely didn’t come out how we should have, some up and down moments where we were turning the ball over. I’m definitely disappointed with the loss. We knew we needed this one. We prepared hard, and we didn’t execute our game plan when it came to taking care of the basketball, winning the rebounding battle.”
Millikin is still adjusting to a new roster, as a new transfer, Quincenia Jackson, has come in to provide depth at the center position. Millikin is also without Nylaia Carter for the rest of the season due to personal reasons, and guard Hannah Ermling is also out due to injury. The team has been playing several younger players and is still trying to adjust to the new lineup, but is still able to have upper-level students help out night to night.
“We’re playing a lot of freshmen now, more minutes than we did the first half due to injuries, due to rotations, and then it’s really just getting them to all be on the same page the same night,” Hammer said. “Last week, Wednesday, it was Bella [Dudley] who was good, and she was a little short. Tonight, Nikkel [Johnson] dominated, and Bella didn’t, and then we need the others to chip in at the start, so you’re going to have some growing pains when you play freshman and transfers. Just right now is the time that it can’t be.”
Millikin saw star player Nikkel Johnson play very well, scoring 27 points while adding 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Hammer appreciates her elite production on the court and said she has more to work on.
“The last couple of games, she’s been rushing in the first half, so she’s had some silly turnovers. Second half, she definitely locked in,” Hammer said. “Our guards got her the ball. Great time. Great both halves tonight. It’s just a matter of her slowing down, taking her time around the rim, which you saw in the second half. She was able to do it, and our guards did exactly what I asked them to; get her the ball, because she’s got to handle all that pressure. And then you saw, late in the fourth quarter, her ability to kick it out. Because she’s a volleyball player too, she can jump over traps, so she’s been really great at finding that extra player. And then you saw on the fourth, the guards knocked on the door.”
Millikin attempted a late comeback in the 4th quarter but was unable to come back from the deficit. However, they would throw out some new defensive strategies, including a full-court press and trap, but mainly a 2-3 zone that really had Elmhurst struggling.
“We had to change something up,” Hammer said. “We were getting torched off the dribble in the third. So we practiced a two-three [zone]. We’ve had that all year. So that was something that, you know, maybe we should have tried a little bit earlier, because they got flustered by it, you know. But the press was something new. We don’t press. We don’t have the depth. So we were trying to make things happen.”
Millikin Women’s Basketball falls to 7-13 and has lots of work to do to make the CCIW tournament.
On the Men’s side, the Big Blue took on an Elmhurst team they had beaten before and were looking to take a sweep in the series. However, Millikin would be without Ian Winkler, who is struggling with a back issue.
Millikin kept the game close in the first half, but in the second half, they lacked the defensive ability to stop some Elmhurst players. Elmhurst had 2 players with over 20 points, and both looked unguardable at certain times, leading to a 72-80 loss.
Head Coach Kramer Soderberg had conflicting thoughts on the loss, stating that the stat sheet doesn’t tell the whole story of why they lost.
“We beat them on the glass. We didn’t lose to them in the turnovers. That was a tie. They shot a few more free throws than we did, but that was because we had fouls at the end of the game,” Soderberg said. “Statistically, things that make a difference. We didn’t lose badly, I thought we just weren’t quite there, concentration-wise, execution wise, offensively, I didn’t think we ran our offense at a high level like we normally have been, and then defensively, I thought we just had a lot of small focus errors where we just weren’t quite right.”
Soderberg was confident, though, telling his team they have the potential to win it all and will keep the mentality going forward.
“As I told the guys downstairs, we have all the talent in the room to win any game in the league, if we’re right, if we play at our best, but if we’re not there, if we’re not at our best, we can get beat by anybody. Elmhurst is a good team, and they came in a little sharper than us. That’s what happens,” Soderberg said.
Millikin is preparing for the CCIW tournament and also hoping to bid their way into the NCAA tournament this year. However, Soderberg is forced to play in the present and not focus on the future.
“That’s kind of like something that just takes care of itself,” Soderberg said. “You know, like you have you look into the future, if you look into the CCIW tournament, or look to the NCAA tournament, it distracts you from what your job is here now. And before you can get to the NCAA tournament, you have to get to the CCIW tournament. Before you get to the CCIW tournament, you’ve got to win some games in conference.”
Making sure that the team is fully present is a huge focus of Soderberg’s moving forward.
“It kind of all comes back to just being where your feet are and figuring it out from there,” he said.
Millikin men’s basketball falls to 13-7 and 5-6 in conference. The team is fighting hard to make it to the future tournaments and has lots to prepare for.
Millikin, however, is still humble in showing respect to the fans who came out today; it was a packed event, and we saw a packed arena for both games.
“It’s good to have the students there, our fans, you know, just local fans. It was great,” Soderberg said. “I’m glad the interest in our program is growing. I hope we can continue to give them a great product and a game-day experience they want to come back to. But, yeah, just very, very pleased with it. I’m thrilled to death. It’s been the best, you know, year that we’ve had as far as the crowd goes, attendance, and excitement. So that’s been a good thing for sure.”
Millikin’s next play is North Park this upcoming Wednesday at 7:00 pm, at the Griswold Center. They are looking to start a win streak and continue their home-court defense.
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