The UW-Eau Claire men’s basketball team had just come off two wins last weekend in the Wisconsin Lutheran Classic in Milwaukee and were hoping to continue that success against the Blue Devils. But instead, the Blugolds ran into a hungry UW-Stout team Wednesday night.
Stout came out strong in the first half, shooting 55.6 percent from the field and never let the ‘Golds back into the game, coming away with 72-35 in its conference home-opener at Zorn Arena, dropping the Blugolds to 0-1 in the WIAC, 3-2 overall.
“We came out a little tight, little tentative,” said coach Terry Gibbons. “(The Blue Devils) are a veteran team and they had a lot of confidence coming in.”
By the end of the first half, the ‘Golds were already facing a 23-point deficit, trailing 16-39. The Blue Devils were able to keep the momentum from the first half and carry it into the second, outscoring the ‘Golds 33-19 in the second half and keeping the Blugold fans quiet for the remaining 20 minutes of the game. The win improved the Blue Devils to 4-1 on their season.
“We wanted to come out and play aggressive, play to win,” said sophomore Dan Beyer. “We were confident but we didn’t execute offensively and didn’t knock down our shots.”
The Blugolds shot just 24 percent for the game while the Blue Devils finished at 55 percent. The ‘Golds also came into the game clearly undersized against Stout, which had two players listed at 7-feet tall and another at 6 feet 10 inches. The ‘Golds were out rebounded 45-19 in the game.
Gibbons said Stout was one of the bigger teams in the conference and offered another thing that hurt his team in the game.
“Speed kills,” he said. “They are good athletes with a lot of quickness. They did a good job.”
Sophomores Jared Bardon and Luke Meier led the way for the ‘Golds with 9 points each.
Gibbons said he expects the team to bounce back quickly and not reflect too long on this game.
“This is a game to forget. They shouldn’t dwell on it,” he said. “This is a tough conference and you learn from these lessons. Does it hurt? Yeah, it hurts. But my guys have a lot of prides and there are lots of games to be played.”
Beyer agreed.
“We will practice tomorrow and put this behind us,” he said. “We can’t forget about it but we have to worry about La Crosse now.”
The Blugolds will host conference foe UW-La Crosse Saturday night at Zorn Arena in a men’s and women’s doubleheader. The women will begin at 5 p.m., and the men will follow at 7 p.m.
