Takeaways from Illinois Wesleyan's CCIW opener

BLOOMINGTON Several early season trends were defied Wednesday at Shirk Center.

Here are some takeaways from No.

5-ranked Illinois Wesleyan's first loss of the season, a 77-68 defeat to Carthage in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin basketball opener for both teams.

Poor IWU shooting Through six games, the Titans ranked in the top 15 percent of Division III teams nationally with 47.6 field goal accuracy.

IWU struggled to a 34.4 mark in the first half yet trailed just 35-34.

It got worse for the Titans in the second half as 31 percent shooting directly led to a loss.

That wasnt pretty.

We were kind of grinding our gears, and I think you saw frustration set in and we made some uncharacteristic decisions, Wesleyan coach Ron Rose said.

To their credit, they made big shots and made big plays.

For whatever reason, we just werent very good tonight.

Illinois Wesleyan's Hakim Williams shoots in heavy traffic Wednesday at Shirk Center against Carthage.

The Titans repeatedly missed short-range shots in the lane.

You have to make those shots, said Rose.

Those are shots we can make and we have made, but we didnt make them tonight.

IWU post players Harrison Wilmsen and Marko Anderson combined to hit just 2 of 12 shots and Wilmsens lone basket was a 3-pointer.

Both those guys are very high percentage shooters.

I think we contested well at the rim, said Carthage coach Steve Djurickovic, whose team was picked second behind IWU in the CCIW preseason poll by just one point.

We played underneath and beat them to spots like we wanted to.

Overall, I thought we competed and made them take very difficult shots around the rim.

Rebounding battle The Titans entered the game with a plus 9 rebounding margin, while Carthage was minus 3.

That mattered little Wednesday as the Firebirds claimed a 45-39 edge on the boards.

Illinois Wesleyan's Nick Roper (12) controls the opening tip Wednesday at Shirk Center.

Thats been a little bit of an issue for us early on in the season.

We know Illinois Wesleyan, thats their strength, Djurickovic said.

Im super proud of the way we competed on the boards.

We said if we were even or plus on the boards were going to win, and thats what we did.

Loose balls in general seemed to end up in Carthage hands more often than not.

To be honest, that was more disappointing, said Rose.

There are going to be nights the ball doesnt go in.

"They got loose balls and some big offensive rebounds, just some hustle plays weve become accustomed to this group getting and making and we didnt.

For whatever reason, we looked a half step slow and a little flat.

Freshman flash Fridman While senior Nick Roper topped the Titans with 24 points, freshman point guard Josh Fridman was the only other IWU player in double figures with 13.

Fridman Fridman has scored in double figures in three of the past four games coming off the bench.

We were really struggling and Josh came in and really gave us a shot in the arm, Rose said of Fridman scoring eight straight first half points.

Josh certainly had a nice game and has a bright future.

Brooks haunts Titans Riley Brooks, a transfer from Division II Northern Michigan sparked Carthage (5-2 overall) with 29 points.

We knew he could score the bal.

This was hands down his best performance, Djurickovic said.

Hes starting to feel more comfortable.

Hes 19 and a new guy in a new system.

We should be getting Antuan (Nesbitt) our all-conference guard back in the next week or two so were really excited to take that next step.

AJ Johnson chipped in 16 points and eight rebounds for the Firebirds.

Colton Sigel scored 12.

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