VINCENNES, Ind. – The No. 18-ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers avenged another early season loss Saturday when VU hosted Lincoln Trail at the P.E. Complex and came away with the 74-51 victory.
Vincennes came out of the gates hitting from three-point range, finishing the first half with six makes from deep from six different players.
Randy Tucker, Antonio Watson II, Brevin Jefferson, Brandon Muntu, DJ Brewton and Jaidon Hunter all had the green light from long range Saturday and all six delivered.
VU jumped out on Lincoln Trail early and kept their foot on the gas for the entire first half. Growing a 21-point halftime lead in the process.
The Statesmen looked to attempt a second-half comeback but the Blazers held strong on their home floor.
Utilizing some nice second half scoring performances from Brevin Jefferson and Justin Archer, the Trailblazers continued to build their lead to a many as 28 points in the final 20 minutes of play.
Vincennes emptied the bench late in the game, managing to get all 14 players some time on the floor, as VU capped off a strong 23-point victory over Lincoln Trail.
"I thought we did a great job guarding Beauchamp for Lincoln Trail first and foremost, he's a prolific scorer and if you cut the head off the snake, you can get some things done and I thought that was key. We made his life really difficult tonight," Hall of Fame head coach Todd Franklin said. "It wasn't perfect, it wasn't always pretty but I thought our guys kept moving the ball. In the first half we only had three turnovers, we got a little sloppier in the second half, but in the first half the ball wasn't always going in but we kept playing until we found it and we kept defending."
"We kept moving the ball, even when sometimes we weren't rewarded at the end of that possession, we kept doing it knowing that's how you find your rhythm, that's how you break the other team down. We showed some maturity tonight. We've showed more and more of that as we've gone along this season."
"We're getting better, there's no question. Right now, I think we're a pretty good basketball team. I don't think we're ready to win a National title, but I do think we can compete with the top teams in the country and we couldn't do that three weeks ago. So now can we take it that next level. We've moved up to this level, we weren't always here. We've elevated to here, so we'll see if we can keep doing it. We can see the growth we can see the difference between when we played Olney the first time and when we played them the second time. We can see difference between how we play Lincoln Trail tonight and when we played them the first time. Obviously, our team is growing, we didn't have the time to have our normal work. We didn't have experience back at the guards, so this is all expected but our team is improving. Maybe we're improving at a more rapid rate than some, which is good. We were behind, we had to catch up, now we have to pass."
"I think our guys are working a little harder, getting a little more concentrated. They're buying in a little more to what the 'crazy man' is saying and conversely we're charging."
VU was led offensively by John Ukomadu, who had 10 of his 16 points in the first half. Ukomadu also finished with five rebounds on the night.
Brevin Jefferson finished with 11 points and four assists, opting to dump the ball into the post in the second half to Justin Archer who finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.
DJ Brewton was the fourth VU scorer to reach double digits in the score column, finishing with 10 points, a team-high six assists and five rebounds.
"I don't know if we have any dominant guy anywhere, nor are we going to. We may have some nights where they get some dominant numbers and play really well, but what we have to have is, we can hurt you at every spot and we're willing to probe and look and play until we get to a spot where we can hurt you the way we want to do it," Franklin added. "If we can do that, then I think we have the people who can make plays and can do things inside that framework. We had to commit to that a few weeks ago and I think we're getting there."
"We still have so much more room to grow, but we just move the ball, play inside-out. We're going to break you down. We're going to try to take a shot that we think is a high-percentage shot, we're going to work until we get it and then that's a shot that we hope we can offensive rebound. I didn't think our offensive rebounding was great tonight but it was huge the other night at Lake Land, we just dominated the glass there. So some nights it's better than others, but that's what we try to do. We try to value the ball better, not turn it over. I think we've gotten better there. We got sloppy late, but when the game was a game, we protected the ball. We started the year at around 20 turnovers a game, which was totally foreign to us. Now we've gotten it down into the low teens and we hope to get that down to around 10 with the pace that we play and we're getting there."
"We can see that the guys are starting to grow now into the jobs, they know their jobs better, they know the skills that they need to be working on every day and we're seeing it across the board. I thought we had good leadership out there from the lead guard tonight from Brevin and DJ. DJ is having to learn how to do that, as is Brevin, but I thought they did a good job tonight. But the exciting thing is they've got more. They are not finished products, so we're winning and winning pretty convincingly against some really good team right now and we're not finished. We've got another gear or two to get to if these guys are really willing to dig down and we'll see if they are. If they are, it could be an exciting run here."
The Trailblazers must now turn their attention to No. 6-ranked John A. Logan, as VU will travel to Carterville, Ill. Wednesday, March 17. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. eastern.
The Volunteers are still the only team to defeat the Blazers at the P.E. Complex this season, with their 53-41 win in February.
"We have to be strong and patient," Franklin said. "Then you have to make some shots. You've got to hit some jump shots because of their length and size. They'll stay outside and shell us a little and open up the mid-range, so we have to hurt them in there. Then we have to get on the offensive glass because they'll play to block shots, so there is a chance to get on the offensive glass. We've got to solve the riddle, it's a tough riddle and if we're not hitting jump shots it's an impossible riddle because it's a hard time just getting layups against them."
"We've worked the things to do that. We have to have a good night. We have to go in there supremely confident. We've got to go in there and play like we're supposed to win, like you're supposed to when you put that jersey on here and have a real edge about us on the defensive end and the ball handling end of the floor. If we can bring those things to the table, then we'll have every chance to be in that basketball game. That's where we are right now. We can compete with them, but in that game we're going to have to have some guys who can hit shots, especially at the high post area. Once we do that, then the game opens up, so we'll see if we can get that done."
