The assumption when a coach throws a player like Jordan Stout into the starting lineup is that he’s trying to get his team’s attention.
Before Saturday, Stout was averaging 7.7 minutes per game and had not played in 12 games this season. But Emporia State coach David Moe maintains that he believed starting Stout gave him the best chance to win.
“The game against Omaha was a huge game,” said Moe of his team’s 91-85 win on Saturday that helped keep the Hornets in the race for an NCAA tournament bid. “I wouldn’t have put him in there if I didn’t believe he had the ability to help us win in a big game.”
Stout will start again tonight at sixth-ranked Southwest Baptist. The sophomore from Madison will face a new challenge — actually expecting to play.
Stout didn’t get the word he was starting on Saturday until right before tip-off.
“I was nervous,” he said, “but I came in and when you get your opportunity, you’ve got to make the most of it.”
Stout did just that, scoring six of Emporia State’s first eight points on two 3-pointers and scoring a career-high eight points. He also helped change the Hornets’ mentality on the defensive end, which was the reason he was starting.
“I try to pride myself on defense, and coming into the game, I really wasn’t looking to take those two shots right at the beginning, but they were there, and (I) tried to play my best defensively,” Stout said. “Really, we’ve just got to step it up and play more aggressively. We’ve been in a slump, and that’s what we’re priding ourselves on is being more aggressive. It’s win or don’t go on in the postseason right now.”
To make the NCAA tournament, Moe believes his team needs to win at least three of its final five games and then win its first game of the MIAA tournament. The magic number was four of six entering the Nebraska-Omaha game, which Moe qualified as a must-win. The Mavs are ranked ninth in the South Central region and the top eight teams get in the tournament.
Knowing his team needed to win and needed to adjust its style to do so, Moe started Stout and subbed five players at a time through most of the first half, so his players could keep their intensity up on the defensive end.
The move worked for much of the first half, but eventually Moe went back to his regular substitution patterns. He said he doubts that he will go with the five in-five out approach at Baptist.
If the Hornets are able to find a way to beat the Bearcats, who are tied for first in the MIAA and ranked third in the region, it would most likely get the Hornets back in the regional rankings. They were ranked seventh when the first poll came out two weeks ago, but fell out last week.
Moe has convinced his team that the best way to get back in the NCAA tourney picture is to play aggressively on the defensive end, which is Stout’s specialty and could keep him in the lineup the rest of the season.
“His biggest thing is (to) play hard and compete,” Moe said. “He doesn’t have to make a lot of plays; he just needs to play defense and not make a lot of mistakes, take advantage of his opportunities. Different guys have different windows of opportunities, and this is his window and hopefully he’ll continue to compete and take advantage of it.”
No. 4 Emporia State women at Southwest Baptist
Pity the Bearcats.
Not only is Emporia State entering tonight’s game coming off a loss on Saturday to Nebraska-Omaha, but the Lady Hornets are also trying to avenge their only other loss in the MIAA this season, an 86-73 loss at home to SBU.
The Lady Hornets have blown second-half leads in all three of their losses this season. They led by eight three different times at UNO, and led by 12 against SBU before being outscored 46-18 in the final 13 minutes.
That sort of meltdown should not be expected tonight. The Bearcats have lost five straight; however, four of those losses were on the road and SBU is 5-3 at home this season.