Cleveland State's defense leads to easy baskets.
CSU MEN'S BASKETBALL INSIDER
The defense -- physical, fast and in your face -- is what keeps fueling the Cleveland State train of basketball success this season. The Vikings provided further proof of that with a comfortable 18-point victory Thursday night over Loyola.
Through the first 32 minutes, the Vikings forced the Ramblers into 18 turnovers, which led to 28 points. That helped CSU have a dominating 44 points in the paint at that point.
Back-tips, jumping passing lanes, scrambling for and securing loose balls -- all led to Cleveland State's advantage.
"Points off turnovers is the big stat," Loyola head coach Jim Whitesell said. "We didn't handle their press. We coughed it up and it turned into baskets. We had 18 [turnovers] when it counted."
Polling: Cleveland State remains No. 1 in the collegeinsider.com midmajor basketball poll. The Vikings got an overwhelming 24 of 31 first-place votes from the panel of midmajor coaches. No other team received more than two. No. 2 Old Dominion received one first-place vote.
No. 6 Butler is the only other Horizon League team in the Top 25 and received two first-place votes.
Three other HL teams -- Detroit, Valparaiso and Chicago-Loyola -- received votes.
Cold-hot: After starting the season with poor 3-point shooting, Cleveland State recently has found a groove.
The Vikings made just 28.2 percent of their 3s through their first eight games. In the six games before Thursday, CSU shot 45.3 percent from behind the arc. After going 4-of-15 (26 percent) on 3s in the win over Loyola, CSU stands at 36 percent for the season.
Trevon Harmon has made the most 3s (31) for the Vikings and is shooting 36.5 percent from 3-point range (31-of-85). Leading scorer Norris Cole is shooting 36 percent (18-of-50) on 3-pointers.
The most accurate 3-point shooter on the team is guard Josh McCoy, who is shooting 50 percent (12-of-24).