Coach Miller: "It was a disappointing, flat effort"

UW-Whitewater head coach Pat Miller knew his team would have to play at a high level to beat WIAC rival Stevens Point last night at Kachel Gym.  In retrospect the Warhawks got away from its “team concept” approach as Point dominated the second half on the way to a convincing 72-61 win in a battle of unbeaten teams.

“It was just a selfish effort on our part,” Miller told reporters after the game

The Hawks trailed by just two points at halftime and after Point’s Preseason All-American Tyler Tillema suffered a game-ending high ankle sprain late in the half many of the 15-hundred plus at Kachel Gym had thoughts or an impending strong second half for the defending NCAA Division III champions.

It didn’t happen as the Pointers outscored the Hawks by a 42-33 margin.

“I thought it was a selfish effort on our part,” Coach Miller indicated following the game. . We talked a lot about having to run our offense side to side against a good defensive team like Steven Point to create opportunities and we settled for what was easy and that was take quick perimeter shots and we obviously didn’t make them.

The Warhawks also struggled big time from the free throw line making just 8 of 19.  According to Miller scoring points when the clock’s stopped is imperative if you expect to beat a team like Stevens Point.

“We just get anything going tonight,” Miller commented. “Their just wasn’t a lot of things we did well in order to create momentum or energy. It was just an extremely disappointing effort.

With finals week winding down Whitewater now gets nine days off prior to taking on Edgewood College in Madison on December 22^nd.  The Hawks return home for non-conference action vs. Cardinal Stritch on January 2 at Kachel Gym.