If you didn’t know what Austin Peay had been working on in the days since losing to Murray State last Saturday, you found out with about 20 seconds left in the first half when both head coach Dave Loos and assistant coach Bubba Wells both jumped up to tell point guard Thomas Greer to slow down while he was bringing up the ball in the Govs’ Ohio Valley Conference game against Eastern Kentucky at the Dunn Center on Thursday night.
And it was really telling when Melvin Baker passed on a 3-pointer with 18:38 left in the game, and in the flow of the offense got it back and was able to score on a lay up with 18:30 left that put the Govs up 42-31.
They were still hoping to get up and down the floor when Fraley got back, but the problem was they still played like Fraley didn’t exist and it showed as the Govs lost the first three games in OVC play to Eastern Kentucky, Morehead State and Murray State.
That all changed Thursday night and the Govs were reintroduced to John Fraley and the more traditional inside-outside game that Loos usually employs and it led to Austin Peay winning its first OVC game of the year, an 80-65 victory over Eastern Kentucky Tuesday night.
Nothing was more telling than the fact that APSU’s first three plays all were down inside to Fraley and it’s really no surprise he responded by scoring on all three and helping the Govs to jump out to 6-3 lead en route to his matching his career-high 25 points to go along with the 12 rebounds he grabbed. It set a tone that the Govs were going to be the more physical team inside and more important that they weren’t just going to jack jumpshots and 3-pointers all night. And when you have a stud like Fraley on the inside, arguably the best big man in the OVC, you should go to him as often as possible.
But going inside early and often like the Govs did accomplished one other thing, it forced EKU to have to sag their defense more to the middle and that consequently opened up the outside shooting lanes for the Govs’ guards. And they responded in kind by erupting on a 25-2 run that turned a 49-48 EKU advantage into an insurmountable 73-51 APSU lead with 3:48 left to play and ironically enough that lead came courtesy of a Fraley three-point play.
What it all means is the Govs aren’t dead. Yes, their hopes for a regular season championship are hindered thanks to the start they got off to, but this team needed a win desperately and got it and should make it two straight with a win over Jacksonville State in the Dunn Center on Saturday. The next real test and chance to see if they can keep it up is Monday in the Dunn Center against Tennessee State.
But what it really showed Loos hasn’t lost this team and they still respond to him. If they can keep it up, they’ll still have a good shot of be a favorite to win the OVC Tournament and move onto the NCAA Tournament.
Interview With Dave Loos
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ceN8r81SOA[/youtube]
