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Bulldogs 'Advance' to quarterfinalsThursday, December 27, 2007Willen nets 28 points in Notre Dame's 70-29 rout.
Notre Dame's Mark Himmelberg says he's glad fellow senior, 6-foot-8 Ryan Willen, is back in the lineup after the Bulldogs started the season 2-3 without him.
"I don't care what they say: size does matter," Himmelberg said, discussing Willen, a center who missed the first five games with a stress fracture in his ankle.
Willen showed Wednesday that he is quickly returning to old form.
The senior netted 28 points, including 13 first-quarter points, to lead the fifth-seeded Bulldogs past No. 12 Advance 70-29 in the first round of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament at the Show Me Center.
Willen also played an important role on the Bulldogs' relentless press defense which forced 20 first-half turnovers.
The Hornets turned the basketball over 28 times total in a game which Notre Dame rested many of its starters for a good length of time in the second half.
Willen, who has signed to play basketball with Lafayette College next year, said he is happy to be back contributing.
Notre Dame is 3-1 with Willen, who is averaging 28.3 points per game in his four contests thus far.
"It's hard to watch, especially when the team is doing bad and to know that you could help," Willen said. "But getting back, it feels amazing. I'm just excited to play again."
Advance began strong in the opening minutes, taking a 2-0 lead on a jumper by David VanGennip. It then grabbed a 5-2 advantage on a 3-point basket by Jacob Bond with 5:25 remaining in the first quarter.
But Notre Dame went on a 23-2 run the rest of the period, highlighted by the Bulldogs' strong full-court defense which created fast-break opportunities -- and many of Willen's 13 points.
"They're fast and they're aggressive," Advance point guard Nate Middleton said about the Bulldogs' full-court pressure. "They just pressed a lot, and we couldn't pass it here today. It's really frustrating as a point guard. I couldn't do much about it. We tried to catch it in the middle of the press and we tried to penetrate. We couldn't do that."
Middleton added about Willen: "He's an awesome rebounder, he's good at defense, and he's all-around good."
The second quarter was much of the same with the Bulldogs outscoring Advance 22-10 and Willen pouring in seven points.
The Bulldogs went into halftime with a 30-point lead.
"Our guards create chaos," Willen said. "John Unterreiner and Nick Koeppel and Mark Himmelberg, and just everyone who plays guard, get their hands on passes and it makes it real easy. The interceptions that the second-line people get are all just tip passes. [Austin] Greer and I just pick up what they deflect. It makes it easy for us when the guards are getting up all after them."
Greer also had a strong performance, netting 12. He agrees with Himmelberg that Willen is an important key to the success of the team.
"Height matters," Greer said. "With him in the middle, he can pick off passes that the rest of us can't because he's 6-8. It's awesome to have him back. He's the best player in Missouri. He's the best player to play with. And I'm happy to play post with him."
Willen said it felt great to win the Christmas tourney his sophomore year. And he added that with he and Greer back, he thinks his team has a legitimate chance to go deep again thiss year. Greer also sat out the first few games with stress fractures in his back.
Willen said as the Bulldogs continue on this week, he'd like a shot at playing No. 1 Charleston, who beat the Bulldogs by 30 points in the SEMO Conference tournament earlier this year when Willen was sidelined.
"I don't think we'll surprise a lot of teams," Willen said. "I think a lot of teams know we were out early in the season but now we're back and we're almost at full strength. We've only got one more guy hurt [Ty Williams]. But I think a lot of teams know we're a lot better now than we were at the start of the season."
ADVANCE (29)-- Luke Steil 8, David VanGennip 4, Cody VanGennip 2, Blake Lingle 2, Jacob Bond 12, Matt Ware 1. FG 13, FT 1-6, F 14 (3-pointers: Bond 2. Fouled out: none)
NOTRE DAME (70)-- Nick Koeppel 4, Trenton Vance 2, Alex Bader 4, Blake Gaddis 4, Mark Himmelberg 6, John Unterreiner 6, Austin Greer 12, Ryan Willen 28, Joseph Tolbert 3, Logan Glueck 1. FG 27, FT 14-21, F 9 (3-pointers: Himmelberg 1, Tolbert 1. Fouled out: none.)
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Wow... you guys asked Advance to be in this tournament? So much for having a bunch of "quality" teams. I guess every tourney needs a doormat.
while it may be true that this is not a good season for Advance, you can't compare the small public schools to a large private one. Come on, they have the ability to recruit the big talent.
Be careful Matt. Up until a couple of years ago your adopted team was in a lull, that is until the recruiting process began. Are you their St. Louis connection??? It never occurred to me until right now! Wow! I'm right aren't I?!
Compared to an Advance or Delta, yes, Notre Dame could be considered a big school. Against the likes of Jackson and Cape, no way. I believe Notre Dame is roughly the same size as Charleston, but that was back when I graduated in 2002. Here we go again with the recruiting bs. One former player I could understand, but now, not so much. How about the smaller public schools who have had the feud the past couple years? BC, SCC anyone? Good luck the rest of the way Bulldogs!
Also, redneckmama, your response to Matt will not hold water. Exactly the response he is looking for. His school is a classless 1.
redneckmama, name one player from ND that was recruited. Everyone of their players, except for 2 came from one of the area perochial schools. Willen's older brother was already attending ND when he came to school. Plus he was only 6 foot tall as a freshman, so no one knew he was going to be 6'8. The area public schools have more transfers coming and going more than ND has. There are no transfers on their varsity squad. But if you look at scott city and kelly they both have players that were lured away from ND to their public school they now attend.
Matt - In case you don't remember advance won this tournament just a few years ago and was one of the dominate teams the year before that when broushous(spelling) played. Also they were one of the better teams last year, as they hung with jackson until late in the 4th quarter.
Lady bug - St. Louis connection??? there are no players on notre dame's team that are from st louis. And wouldn't you expect them to recruit bigger players if they recruited? Other than willen they don't have a player over 6'2. quit whining about recruiting until you can prove it.
You all realize this is high school basketball, right?
Both Willen and Williams were products of an AAU team that also had most of the starting Jackson Indians team on it as well. There is no substitute for good teamwork and effective coaching. It's not the size of the dog in the fight......
asdf1234, I had no comments directed toward ND. My comments, if you will go back and read, had absolutely nothing to do with ND, instead Mattstl77.
Moving on.
Actually, they have a player over 6'2". It is sophomore varsity player Matt Helle at 6'6". He played 2 JV tournaments already and has to sit this one out. He still needs to add some weight, but is showing talent. There is also JV sophomore, Dillon Essner coming up next year at 6'5". Both of these boys came up through St. Vincent in Cape.
Who on Notre Dame's team was recruited. Give me a break! I hope whoever does their recruiting gets the team some more height next year.
Oh, now I get it! It takes me a while. The Matt who originally had the assinine post is not the Matt I thought he was. I guess the Matt who made the post is from Notre Dame (I thought that he was someone else)! I honestly couldn't figure out why all the ND fans were aggitated.
That being said, Mattstl77 is still an ***.