VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Trailblazer men’s basketball team slid down three spots earlier today in the first NJCAA Division I National Rankings for the 2024-25 regular season, checking in at No. 21.
The Trailblazers got another opportunity to add another good win to their resume Tuesday night as Vincennes hosted NJCAA Division II No. 20 ranked Henry Ford College.
Vincennes overcame a slow start and held off a late push by the Hawks to secure an 88-77 victory over Henry Ford inside the Physical Education Complex.
VU got off to a slow start Tuesday evening, with Henry Ford firing out of the gates with a 7-0 scoring run and a 6-0 scoring run to take an early 25-16 advantage.
Vincennes would answer back however, outscoring the Hawks 13-2 to regain the lead at 29-27 with five minutes to play in the first half.
The Trailblazers would grow this lead before halftime, scoring the final four points of the opening half to take a 38-32 lead into the locker room break.
Vincennes looked to take their game up another level early in the second half, getting the home crowd behind them by opening the second half by outscoring Henry Ford 21-6 to take a 59-38 lead.
Henry Ford would rally back and cut the VU lead back down to 11 and late in the second half cut the deficit back to single digits at 77-69.
But the Trailblazers were able to get key shots down the stretch and seal the game at the free throw line as Vincennes came away with the 88-77 victory over Henry Ford College.
“The win itself is good and Henry Ford is a good ball club,” VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. “Henry Ford is explosive the way that they play and they are tough because they are going to spread you out and attack it. But I’m not pleased tonight. Tonight, I felt like, was a step backwards. I thought we made a step forward this past weekend. I thought we were better and growing and tonight I didn’t see us doing the things that we talk about.”
“It was just mistake after mistake out there from us not doing what we said,” Franklin added. “Here’s what we tell you and how to do it and we’re doing something else. That can’t be the case. I’ve got to do a better job. I don’t know if I haven’t been clear enough. I try to be clear but maybe I haven’t been clear enough. Maybe I’ve been a little too sweet, I don’t know. It’s pretty simple and basic things that we are talking about that weren’t done tonight and when they weren’t done the way we want them to, we weren’t successful.”
“Anytime we make any attempt to do what we are supposed to, we’re successful,” Franklin said. “It’s really crazy that you go through this. But we’ve gone through this long enough that we’re not going to be perfect, there’s a million things that our guys are not going to know and we’re developing. That’s fine. And we might not even do it well when we’re doing what we’re supposed to. We hope we do but we have to make the attempt to do it the way that we say. And when we don’t, that’s not okay.”
“Maybe these guys are new and they are not used to being coached and coach says here’s what I want and you do it,” Franklin added. “I’m not sure. But that’s going to change, I can tell you that. So I’m a little bothered by that right now. But it’s a good win in terms of beating Henry Ford and you can see that we have some guys that can do some things. The problem is, we waste too much time doing things that we’re not supposed to be doing instead of putting two hours of basketball together where we are all fighting like heck to do the right thing. If we did that then we’d be alright. But we’ll see if we can’t get that turned around right now.”
VU offensively was led by sophomore Michael Cooper (Minneapolis, Minn.) who just missed out on another double-double, finishing his night with 20 points and nine rebounds.
