Big first half by Ryan Oliver leads No. 6 Trailblazers to win over Southwest Tennessee

VINCENNES, Ind. – The No. 6-ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers hit the floor for the final time in 2023 Wednesday night when the Blazers hosted Southwest Tennessee Community College in the Physical Education Complex.

VU rode a big first half scoring run to a big 95-61 victory over the Saluqis, aided by 17 first half points by sophomore Ryan Oliver (Antioch, Tenn.).

The Trailblazers got off to a fast start over Southwest Tennessee, outscoring the Saluqis 31-7 in the early part of the first half to take a big 31-9 lead.

The two teams traded baskets for most of the remainder of the first half, with Vincennes growing their largest lead of the half at 49-22 before Southwest Tennessee scored the final basket of the half.

Vincennes headed into the locker room at the halftime break leading Southwest Tennessee 49-24.

The Trailblazers looked to put the game away early in the second half and continued to add on to their lead, VU used a 15-5 scoring run to take a 66-32 lead.

Southwest Tennessee looked to close the margin with a 12-2 scoring run of their own to cut the deficit down to 72-46.

The VU lead would get down to 25 before the Blazers picked up a late 8-0 scoring run to finish out the 95-61 victory over the Saluqis.

"I thought we had to go to our grind package early to get a little bit of solidity to us," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. "We were a little sloppy early. We had opportunities, we knew where they were, we were just a little sloppy or a little jittery. We knew they were going to double us and attack and we see that all the time. We know where we are supposed to look and what's there and once we got solid, you could see that we could get whatever we wanted. So the doubles are not going to be a problem for us, it's just whether or not we're locked in."

"And then Ryan Oliver got going," Franklin added. "The opportunities were there and he took advantage of them and he took advantage of them aggressively and that was really the difference. Once he did that we got up by eight or 10 and we were on and life was good, it kind of followed from there. Then we started acting like we were solidly getting to the spots and, for the most part, protecting the ball and getting it where it needed to go."

"In the first half, we probably defended a little better," Franklin said. "We were down in the stance and able to keep them out a bit better. We didn't give up as many offensive rebounds, so we were getting plenty of stops. I thought there was a stretch there for about six or eight minutes where I thought we were pretty good in the first half. Then we got anything we wanted in the last eight minutes, we just didn't finish and finalize."

"We could have had a big half," Franklin added. "We could have had 65 or 70 points, we had a lot of opportunities in those last eight minutes coming off of a pretty good eight minutes. It wasn't necessarily that we were playing bad, we just weren't focused hard enough, tough enough on the finishes. They weren't scoring much so it stayed about 22 to 25 points that whole stretch when we really had a chance to really take off."

"We came out in the second half and offensively had a little bit of a spurt and put it all the way away and then it got a little bit sloppy," Franklin said. "We were forcing some passes on the front side instead of swinging it. We gave up some back cuts and a few offensive rebounds when we should have gotten the box out. But for the most part it was a good get-away game. We shared the ball and shot a good percentage. Our turnovers weren't forced, they were us getting a little sloppy with a big lead and trying to get some guys some shots. I think we tried to force the ball instead of swinging it."

"But it was a good get out game," Franklin added. "Now we get to go home and they will have seven days then we have to have a tremendous time starting on the 28th on. It's all on the line now. If this ball club wants to be National Champs, if they want to be in that real run, it has to be real. It has to be every day, all of the time, on the floor, off the floor, holding each other accountable, focusing on those things that we need to focus on and just hard edging it. I know what it takes to be in that run. I know what it takes to be in Final Fours and Elite Eights and National Championships and we have an opportunity to do it, but we have to hard edge it. We've got to have everybody committed for the next three to four months and if we do then we can make a heck of a run if we stay healthy. So we'll see if guys are ready to come back with that kind of focus. They say they are. They act like they are and that's all fine and good. But you have to do it."

The Trailblazers were led offensively by Ryan Oliver who finished with 19 points, six rebounds and five assists.

Sophomore Karyiek Dixon (Enfield, London, UK) had a big game in the low post, finishing with 16 points and seven rebounds, while fellow sophomore big man Michael Osei-Bonsu (Bolingbrook, Ill.) just missed out on a double-double with 12 points, nine rebounds and a pair of assists.

Freshman Gerard Thomas (Henderson, Ky.) came off the bench to add 16 points for the Trailblazers, including dishing out five assists.

Freshman Damarien Yates (Somerville, Tenn.) was the fifth VU scorer in double-figures, ending with 12 points and seven rebounds.

Freshman Lebron Thomas (Bishopville, S.C.) had a big all-around game, leading the Blazers with seven assists and five steals to go along with five points and five rebounds.

Sophomore Victor Lado (Louisville, Ky.) picked up some big second half minutes to score seven points and grabbed four rebounds.

Freshman Vilhelm Bodingh (Akersberga, Sweden) also got some good minutes off the bench for the Blazers Wednesday night, scoring his first collegiate points as part of a five-point, two rebound outing.

Freshman Mathieu Nader-Kalombo (Longueuil, Quebec) rounded out the VU box score, connecting on a three-point shot to finish with three points, three rebounds and five assists.

"I thought Ryan, for about a 10 minute stretch in the first half, was really good," Franklin said. "Then he got a little flat. He didn't play bad, he was just flat from then on. I just thought we had different guys at different times going up or down. There were good stretches from guys, then they would lose focus for a little bit."

"We're getting time from Gerard," Franklin added. "We're getting time from Dink obviously here and that's important. They are making freshman mistakes still but they are making more good plays than they were and they are making less freshman mistakes and we'll see what they've learned when they come back. But you can see the potential and they've had to step up. Dink has moved in there, Gerard has started to move here lately, so it's good to see them continue that."

"Karyiek had a pretty good game," Franklin said. "I thought Karyiek could have had a monster game. So when you look at the end of the game and he has 16 and seven, seven for 11 from the floor, you say that's a really good game. I thought Karyiek could have had 35 or 36 points tonight. We've got to get Karyiek to have a more dominant gene. You can't just play along. That's fine, but if you want to be a National Champion, you have to be abnormal. Everybody always talks about trying to keep everything where it's normal, you're trying to be a National Champ, that's not normal. Being the last one standing out of everybody, when everybody all over the world wants to be that it's not normal and you don't have normal behavior. So we've got to get him out of the normal and get him to have an abnormal level of tenacity. If he does, he's got opportunities to really get some stuff done. He's going to put up decent numbers and be a solid player. But we need him to be a monster sometimes and he's in position to be a monster."

"Overall it was good," Franklin added. "We got Victor some minutes. I thought Victor, in the second half started to get there. If he had protected the ball on a couple of plays, he really would have had a better night. But I thought he got on the defensive glass a little better and presented himself a little better, so we have to build on that."

"It was good to see Vilhelm get time," Franklin said. "He's just been knocked off because he was hurt and our depth there that we've kept is on the inside guys. Where we are thin is on the perimeter, so sometimes is opportunity and his injury, which really kept him out and then you are walking up a pecking order that is still pretty full with some older guys in front of you. But it was good to see him get out there tonight and get a couple of buckets. A couple of jump hooks. Get out and play a little bit and feel. Now he has something to register in his brain when he comes back after Christmas, hopefully he's healthy. It's amazing what a couple of buckets, or a couple of plays can do for these guys when they're freshmen especially. Because they've got game in them, it's just what will open it up and let them get it out. So hopefully he'll come back and be ready to go for us."

The Trailblazers will return to the floor after the holiday break when VU travels to Chicago, Ill. Saturday, Jan. 6 to face-off against Malcolm X College at 4 p.m. eastern.

The Blazers defeated the Hawks 91-57 earlier this season in Vincennes behind 29 points by Lebron Thomas.

"We've faced a lot of things this season," Franklin said. "We've set up a schedule that was as good as anybody in the country. We haven't just played the top-20 type teams, we've played them on their floor. We've gone there and played the Moberly's and Indian Hills and we've played all Division I games except for a couple D-II's. We've tested our team. We did that in our jamborees. We played Parkland, who is No. 1 in Division II as the first jamboree game you play. We played Triton, we played Southeastern Iowa, our back end of our team played Mineral Area. All from the start we've been in the fire and then we've added in having to deal with really not having everybody really the whole season or certainly not being 100-percent."

"Sickness, injuries, now we've had some guys do some silly stuff and get themselves where they couldn't play," Franklin added. "We literally haven't had our group. We've had to go through about three weeks of having a hard time getting any of our group out there for practice because of a sickness that was just here and hung around us forever. So they've experienced a lot and we've seen different styles of play."

"We've seen all kinds of zones," Franklin said. "We've seen all kinds of different zones. We've seen all kinds of people trying to trap us in the post. You name it, we've seen it. We've seen teams defensively press us and traps. We've probably seen less man-to-man than we have anything else. So our team has been exposed to a lot in a semester and has had to deal with a lot of things."

"Now what we need to deal with is, we know the levels, we know where we need to be, now what we need to be dealing with is a bunch of dudes coming together determined to go in one direction for about three months," Franklin added. "But I think we've seen plenty. With our schedule and different things we've had to go through, different guys have had to step up and different guys have had to play. We've had different guys all up and down all over the charts. So experiences, we've had them. They've tasted it. They've felt it. They know and they know they can be a good basketball team. I don't think there's a doubt that we could be a good basketball team. But are we going to be the best basketball team in the country? That's the question and I think we've got to go up a couple of notches to do it, but so does everybody else."

"I think we are in a position to do it," Franklin said. "But we're a team built on discipline, intensity, tenacity and fundamentals. Always have been. So we can't cruise. We have to lock in. That's who we are. That's our strength. That's what makes us special. So we have to play to what makes us special. Our toughness. Our coachability. Our intensity. Our tenacity and to do that, you have to be that. We've been better than most but we haven't been National Championship level of that and the guys know that and if we want to be National Champs, we have to be that from now on. For their sake I hope they do, I think we can and we'll really start to find out on the 28th when we get back."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (95): Damarien Yates 5-9 0-0 12, Michael Osei-Bonsu 5-8 2-3 12, Karyiek Dixon 7-11 1-2 16, Ryan Oliver 6-12 4-4 19, Lebron Thomas 2-6 1-1 5, Gerard Thomas 7-10 0-0 16, Mathieu Nader-Kalombo 1-5 0-0 3, Victor Lado 3-6 1-3 7, Vilhelm Bodingh 2-3 1-3 5, Team 38-70 10-16 95.

Southwest Tennessee – 24   37 – 61

VU (13-1, 1-0) – 49   46 – 95

Three-point goals: VU 9 (Oliver 3, Yates 2, G. Thomas 2, Dixon, Nader-Kalombo). Rebounds: VU 45 (Osei-Bonsu 9). Assists: VU 30 (L. Thomas 7). Steals: VU 10 (L. Thomas 5). Blocked Shots: VU 6 (L. Thomas 2). Turnovers: VU 17. Personal Fouls: VU 13. Fouled out: Osei-Bonsu.