Defensive leads SIU to 50-36 victory

That’s not a typo. SIU really held Louisiana Tech to 36 points. It’s hard to imagine a DI team not breaking 45 points but it shows how well SIU defends the basketball.

While La Tech only put 36 points on the scoreboard that wasn’t their only problem. They only drew 1,800 fans for this game. In contrast, Salukihoops player of the game Matt Shaw (15 points, 9 rebounds, 6-6 FT) routinely played in front of 2000+ in high school at Trout Gym in Centralia.

Southern was just grinding it out on offense in this game, feeding Falker and Shaw down low. Falker was 6 of 11 for 12 points but the alarming stat is that he did not register a rebound in the entire game. I am sure this is an aberration but it deserves a mention.

Jamaal Foster and Jordan Armstrong did not play in this game and that is especially bad news for Foster. SIU is playing a stretch of 5 games in 10 days including 4 road games- a grueling stretch for this early in the season. We could really use some solid minutes off the bench to keep everyone fresh. As of right now it looks like all of the bench minutes will come from Tony Boyle down low, Wesley Clemens will spell Tatum and Young, and Tyrone Green will play about 10 minutes a game while Bryan Mullins in on the bench.

Most of the box scores will look something like this

Player	Minutes
Mullins	30
Tatum	30
Young	30
Shaw	30
Falker	30
Clemmons	20
Boyle	20
Green	10

That lineup looks good to me; let’s just hope we can stay healthy.

That’s all for now, check back Friday afternoon for a preview of the SIU-SLU rivalry game.

Bracket Buster Part II

The good folks at ESPN have really helped Mid-Major teams with this Bracket Buster deal. For those of you who forgot, we played Louisiana Tech in the Bracket Buster here at Carbondale last season. Per Bracket Buster rules we will head out to La Tech for a rematch this season. This is a cool format because it helps mid major teams round out their pre-conference schedules.

Only this year Louisiana Tech is not quite as good as last year and I doubt they will be anything close to an RPI top 100 team. La Tech limps into this matchup with a 1-3 record- their only win was a 59-50 outlasting of McNeese St. However, this game is on the road and there is no such thing as an easy win on the road in DI basketball. The Salukis won't look past La Tech so here at salukihoops- we won't either.

La Tech will feature a pair of 6-7 Senior Forwards Disy Harry (that’s his real name) and Chad McKinzie. Both players are JUCO transfers and they are the tallest players on the team. I don’t expect them to be a threat to the increasingly dynamic Shaw/Falker combo.

Calling Jamaal Foster- If you want to step up in a game this season, this is your chance. Foster seems to have fallen out of favor with Coach Lowery, but he is 6-10 and the tallest player on La Tech is 6-7, so if he can't put in some quality minutes here, it would be hard to see him playing a significant role this season.

On a brighter note, I never get tired of watching Tony Boyle nail 15 footers. His improvement from last season still impresses me. Lowery really found a diamond in the rough with this kid. A big man with a jump shot, gotta love it. Boyle’s solid play at the PF will allow Shaw to play more minutes at SF giving us more size, rebounding, and an extra 3 point threat.

Check back after the game for a wrap-up of the action, and we’ll be back later this week with a preview of the SIU-SLU rivalry game.

Mid Major? SIU knocks off ACC team

SIU outlasted the Va. Tech Hokies 69-64 Sunday to take 2 0f 3 in the Old Spice Classsic. With 2 wins and a narrow loss to Arkansas it might seem that the Sunshine State Swing was profitable to Southern. To those of us, however, who spent Sunday afternoon sweating in front our TV's and alarming our kinfolk by firing baseball caps off the paneling while yelling, "What are they DOING?" it was a puzzling contest indeed. SIU spent most of the game alternately making hard-nosed baskets on one possession, then throwing the ball wherever on the next. They went sleeping-walking along for minutes at a time, then played brilliantly and ran off points in bunches. Meanwhile a wary Va. Tech unit was starting to exercise their considerable "athleticism"....driven onward by their phenomenally intense, (read: apoplectic) coach Seth Greenberg. Big Leaguers Deron Washington and Zabian Dowdell combined for 34 points and their jaguar-quick sidekick Cheick Diakite (almost literally from Timbuktoo), kept slamming the ball to the alarm of the occasionally dozing Dawgs.

The real game began at 60-all with 3:55 to play. Two dunks by Diakite matched Tatum's two FTs and a layup by Mullins for a tie at 64. The Mercurial Tatum nailed a beautiful three, but followed with two clanked free throws to give VT an opportunity. The Hokies chance went awry, though, when they threw deep, caught it and lost it out of bounds. Matt Shaw's two free throws settled the issue at 69-64. Blood pressures in the Land Between the Rivers gradually began to ebb toward normal ranges as ESPN-U went to College Hockey. Chris Lowrey grinned. Shaw's 17 and Tatum's 16 led the Dawgs and Falker and Mullins had stellar outings as well. SIU can and will get better. Hang on for the ride.

Big Ten Beat Down

Defensive consistency has been a trademark for SIU over the last five years. From Bruce Webber’s sharp shooting guards, Matt Painter’s heart stopping second half comebacks, and now Chris Lowery’s take no prisoners defense. The smothering man to man defense handed down the line from Gene Keady to Webber to Painter to Lowery is anything but watered down.

Minnesota had a tough time making an entry pass and at times struggled to get the ball up the floor. As many times as I see SIU play these types of games it never gets old. Every team has cold stretches shooting the basketball, but with the slow down grind it out style Southern plays they are never out of the game. Its early in the year but I think we have already seen SIU’s recipe for success- limit possessions, work the shot clock, score over 55 points, and win the game. If southern sticks to the recipe Chef Lowery should have all the ingredients to cook up another 20 win season.

Matt Shaw is the SalukiHoops player of the game with a career high 26 points off an impressive 11 of 12 from the stripe including 3 three pointers. There are still a few things for this club to work on but not much to complain about today. Brian Mullins HAS to shoot the ball when he is open. Coach Lowery was all over him when he passed up an open three pointer for a shot clock violation. He’s a smart kid with a good shot so I’m sure that he will improve in that aspect. Tony Young was quiet again today but hopefully he will break out with a big game on Sunday.

SIU will play for fifth place on Sunday at noon on ESPNU.

No Pointing Fingers

Alright, so my projection of a 10 point win was a touch ambitious, but didn't you think that it was time to start carving the turkey when the score was 52-47 with about two minutes to play? I'm sure that most of you probably caught the game on ESPN and I think we can all agree that Arkansas was very beatable.

This was the first I've time I've seen the Salukis this season and I think that they looked a lot like last year. They still lack a dependable #1 option on offense and they don't have the height to match-up with teams from BCS conferences.

On the positive side of the equation, the defense is possibly more suffocating than last year and ... it's early. I would have liked to get a big win for the resume, the program and the fans, but I loved the effort and there's no reason to point fingers. On to Minnesota...

The Golden Gophers are projected as a middle of the pack Big Ten squad looking to build a tournament resume. They are led by Lawrence McKenzie, a 6'1" junior transfer from Oklahoma and a noted perimeter threat. Also, watch out for Dan Coleman, a 6'9" junior who can put it on the floor and take it off the boards. Both, Coleman and McKenzie are double digit producers.

This is a winnable game. No predictions. All business. Tip-off at 11:30 AM on ESPN 2. Go Dawgs.

Update: Charter Cable in Centralia and the old spice website are saying that this game will be at 9:30 am CST. The SIU website is saying 11:30 CST. Tune in early tomorrow just in case.

Meet the Razorbacks

Since this game is going to be on national television lets get as much background as possible in order to better impress our relatives.

First of all... these guys lost their top 3 scorers from a year ago and do not boast of a single senior on this year's squad.

Second... mostly in counter to the previous point, they did manage to pull a Top 25 recruiting class, including two prize prospects by any standard (Sonny Weems and Patrick Beverley). Weems, last season's JUCO "player of the year," was named #1 "impact transfer" by collegehoops.net and Beverley was #3 in the Illinois Mr. Basketball voting last season. Weems is the 'Backs leading scorer and Beverley tallied 29 against SEMO in his first collegiate game.

Third... they've got a lot of height. The one thing that separates teams from the Missouri Valley and other mid-major conferences from the heavyweights is overall height. Arkansas has three players at 6'10" and above. Steven Hill leads the way at 7'0." He's not much of a scorer, but he does block a lot of shots. In fact, over the course of his career he has compiled one fewer blocked shot than field goal attempt.

Overall... these guys don't have proven scorers and lack senior leadership, but they do have talent and are physically imposing. They wiped SEMO by 40 points, but only pulled away from Stephen F. Austin mid-way through the second half. I wouldn't want to play these guys in March, but here in November.... in a trap game of sorts... I project a 10 point victory for the Dawgs.

Playing Favorites?

Playing Favorites?

Southern has always forced respect from its opponents but Arkansas Coach Stan Heath sounds like he’s scouted SIU pretty well, and he knows he’s in for a battle. Heath goes as far as calling SIU a possible favorite to win the whole tourney… Like I said in the last post- It’s a huge week.

Following is a partial transcript of head coach Stan Heath’s press conference:

“This is our first trip on the road and I want to make sure we have the right attitude. We need to be business-like. With the team we’re facing, we can’t look ahead.

“Southern Illinois is highly regarded nationally. They return all five starters and they won the Missouri Valley Conference tournament championship last year. They’ve had tremendous success over the years.

“They play a very deliberate style. They run a ball control offense. It will not be a pretty game, but my concern is winning. For us, we can’t get concerned with the way they play. We may have to guard them through the shot clock.

“In two games, we’re averaging around 62 or 63 possessions a game. In SIU’s last game, they allowed 46 possessions. The number of possessions goes down. They wind down the clock and play for the shot in the last four or five seconds.

“We will make adjustments, but we have to be good enough to guard in the half court.”


The tournament field:

“I think every team in the tournament except for Western Michigan and Virginia Tech was in the post-season last year. The teams that are considered mid-majors are very good. It’s a good field. We should find out a lot about ourselves.

“I don’t get caught up in rankings, but I know SIU is very good and they could be the favorite to win the tournament, but we want to win it.”

A huge week ahead

SIU destroyed the first DI school they played this season with 62-46 win over Murray St. Southern played smothering defense throughout the game. Chris Lowery was vocal in the first half barking defensive orders to his players and they responded by holding Murray to 14 points in the first 14 minutes of the game. Murray never threatened Southern in this game.

He’s Back!

SIU Arena witnessed the return of Jamaal Tatum on Sunday and he did not disappoint. Tatum busted Murray State for 20 points including 4 of 5 from three point range in just 29 minutes. Obviously there was no rust for JT after missing the first three games. Jamaal is one of the most exciting players I have ever seen at SIU. Everyone did a good job in his absence but there is no substitute for a guy with his speed and shooting ability.

On to bigger things-

Next time we see SIU we’ll be eating turkey and watching them play their first of (at least) 5 nationally televised games this year. ESPN 2 will cover SIU v Arkansas at 11am on Turkey Day. This is a huge week for the program. Winning on national television really brings in the recruits and if we win this Tournament we’ll undoubtedly crack the top 25. More importantly, winning this tournament could lead many to believe that we are the best team in the STATE.

Hog Wild-

Before we can win the tourney we have to beat Arkansas. Not an easy task. Give thanks that super stud Ronnie Brewer left the razorbacks for the NBA, and Arkansas will probably not start any seniors in this game. However SEC teams don’t rebuild they reload. Head Coach Stan Heath will start four juniors and one freshman. It’s good that we are playing this team early in the season because this group hasn’t played together much giving us a great chance to beat them on a neutral court.

Arkansas will have a height advantage with 7 foot center Steven Hill and 6-10 forward Vincent Hunter. The scouting report on these guys is that their talent level does not quite meet there size so hopefully Shaw, Falker, and Co can keep them in check the same way they kept bigger players in check most of last season.

Official Salukihoops prediction- SIU over Arkansas 59-57.

Check back after the game on Turkey Day for a full recap and a preview of our Black Friday match up against Marist or Minnesota.

Breaking News: Murray State isn't very good

The Murray State Racers come to town this week. Sticking with a familiar theme so far- I don’t expect Murray St to be much of a threat. So far this season the Racers are 0-3 including a loss to DII Seattle Pacific. Never heard of Seattle Pacific? Me either. Since this is college basketball and upsets happen every night (see Oral Roberts over #3 Kansas) were going to take a look at what Murray State has to offer.

The Guard combo of Bruce Carter and Tyler Holloway have combined for nearly 30 points a game so far this year. I expect to see our best defender Tony Young match up with Bruce Carter. Carter is 6-4 and is not only leading the Racers in scoring but is also leading the club in rebounding with 5.3 boards a game so far.

This Murray St team is far cry from the team that won the OVC last season and I will be surprised if they give us a run. The Offical Salukihoops prediction is SIU over Murray State 69-47.

When I heard SIU got a 7 foot transfer student I was excited as anyone else, but let me just get it out in the open. Kobby Acquah is not going to help this team. Barring multiple injuries don’t expect to see Kobby play at all unless were up by 20 points or more. Nothing against the guy, I’m sure he’s a good fella but the jump to DI hoops was just a little too much for him this year. No big deal.

UPDATE: Bellhaven (who?) leads Murray State 60-52 with 11:01 remaining in the game. The last time Murray St lost its home opener was 1989 when SIU beat them 114-108 in Triple Overtime.

We’ll be back this week end with a recap and the salukihoops player of the game.

The new definition of a "barn burner"

Anyone who has ever been to a good high school holiday tournament knows who I’m talking about. That undersized scrappy player who has just enough talent to be the second best player for his high school team. He’s not flashy and none of the scouts are there to see him, but when he scores 14 points and grabs 10 rebounds in the 3^rd place game a DIII coach decides to bring him on board to play college basketball. Ladies and gentleman- meet the entire roster for Wash U.

These guys were over matched at every position but they played as hard as they could and I felt good for them when they played SIU to a 6-6 tie after 7 minutes.

Just at that time, the REMAX blimp that flies around SIU arena during the game floated into a hanging wire on the east side of the arena during one of the first timeouts. It looked like a desperate moment for the pilot of the blimp until he was finally able to shake the blimp free of the cord just in time for play resume.

Maybe the blimp getting stuck was a sign of things to come for Wash U whose offence was stuck on 12 points at the end of the first half. The saluki defense locked down Wash U holding them scoreless for the first five minutes of the second half as well. By the time they were able to “rock free of the wire” SIU lead the game 35-12 in route to a 59-28 victory.

Tony Young hit some big shots and tallied 21 points. Tony Boyle continues to look good on offence, hitting some mid-range jumpers and showing finesse that was sorely absent in his freshman year.

Jamaal Tatum will be back next game and SIU will benefit from his offence. Tatum can create points on offence and his scoring separates us from being just another mid-major who plays tough defense to a team that can put you away with a 14-4 run if you fall asleep for 5 minutes.

Check back this week to see how our favorite 7 footer Kobby Acquah did in junk time, look ahead to the Murray St. game, and if you’re lucky you might even get a guest post or two. Stay Tuned.

Fun with numbers: 87

Total Number of points scored in SIU’s victory on Friday night

Temperature (in degrees) in the “The Barn” SIU Arena on Friday night

Lets get it started

Now it’s for real… kind of. Friday night SIU will play D III Wash U from St. Louis. First off some background on why we are playing Wash U at all. The NCAA lengthened its schedule by two games this year so Southern had to get two more teams on its schedule quick. It’s very hard to get good teams to come to SIU Arena since we have beaten just about any club that’s came to town over the last five years. However, Wash U agreed to play us on short notice and this game will serve as a third exhibition allowing us to get to full strength (Tatum will sit out the final game of his suspension) before Murray St comes to town Sunday the 19^th.

Tony Boyle will be back from suspension on Friday night which will mean our big men will be at full strength for the first time this year. We will have plenty of fouls to give and the minutes should get spread around to everyone. I expect to see Randle Falker or Matt Shaw to play about 30 minutes a game. Boyle, Foster, and Armstrong should be able to come in and provide some solid minutes off the bench.

So far Boyle looks much more composed than last season, and Foster looks like he hit the weight bench in the off-season (he is still slender but it’s a noticeable improvement) The player that I would like to see get a chance is Jordan Armstrong. Armstrong has long arms and is very athletic for a player of his size. If any of these three players can play quality minutes at the “4” position Coach Lowery has mentioned playing Matt Shaw at the “3”. This is exciting to say the least. Shaw will provide serious match up problems for any small forward in the conference.

The official Salukihoops prediction for Friday nights game is 68-46 SIU victory. This means there will be some junk minutes and we should see 7 footer Kobby Acquah. In the last exhibition game Kobby got in and missed a free throw so bad that the ball barley hit the side of the backboard. Ugly. It’s hard to see him playing any meaningful minutes for this team unless we have some kind of injury/suspension. But hey, its college hoops and anything can happen.

If you haven’t had a chance to watch this team play yet come on out on Friday night and check ‘em out. You’ll be guaranteed to see some lock down saluki style defense and they should be able to give us a monster dunk or two. We’ll be back right here after the game to give you a recap, and next week we’ll look ahead to our showdown with rival Murray St.

Defense powers Southern to 61-44 victory

The Salukis played 40 minutes of high energy basketball tonight holding Henderson State to 44 points (13 for 41, 32%) including just 1 for 10 from 3 point range. The intensity showed in the foul column as well with SIU committing 28 personal fouls in the game. The referees called the game pretty tight and a few of those fouls would have never been called in a MVC game but you can’t fault the salukis for being aggressive and it was a big improvement from the last game.

Brian Mullins put a lot of pressure on the Henderson St guards and forced quite a few turnovers and bad decisions. Early on Mullins set the tone by tipping a ball away to Tony Young, then ran the floor as Young passed the ball back to him on the fast break. One defender got back to cover and Mullins threw a no look pass from his hip to a wide open Wesley Clemmons for the finish.

Southern played good man to man defense all night long and I don’t think they will play very much (if any) zone defense this season. It took Henderson St almost 10 minutes to score their first points of the evening and they really never threatened to take the lead all night long.

Tyrone Green got the start in the place of Wesley Clemmons but neither player stepped up to play significantly well. Matt Shaw, Tony Young, and Brian Mullins were the leaders for SIU tonight. Young and Mullins did a good job of feeding the down low to Falker and Shaw. Shaw, who rebounded extremely well, put up 16 points and 14 boards to earn Saluki Hoops Player of the Game honors.

Southern broke the game open late in the second half with a full court press that was way too much for Henderson St to handle. It was good to see Coach Lowery test out the press in a game type situation. It was also good to see Brian Mullins find his stroke from three point land, knocking down 3 of 4 from downtown in the second half. Mullins struggled with his outside shot last year and if he can pop some open three balls that’s just one more weapon for SIU this year.

Check back later this week and we’ll look ahead to Friday nights home opener, tell you about 7 foot 1 Kobby Acquah’s free throw stroke, and we’ll tell you why Jordan Armstrong has a chance to help this team win. Until then feel free to comment below (you don’t have to sign up for an account or anything) and let us know your thoughts on the Salukis!

Rotation and Playing time

First off let’s clear up a few items. For those of you who don’t already know- Christian Cornelius is out for the season with a knee injury. He redshirted last year after going to prep school the year before so when he finally gets on the court for the first time next year it will be his 4^th year out of high school. Cornelius is going to contribute to this program but were going to have to wait another year to see it.

Josh Bone is also expected to miss 4-6 weeks with a broken bone in his foot. It going to be tough for the freshman to crack the rotation after missing time to start the season but we should get a chance to see him before conference play begins in late December. Bone's injury presents an opportunity for Tyrone Green to show he can contribute.

Jamaal Tatum is suspended for the next 2 games, Jamaal Foster will be back tomorrow after sitting out vs Quincy and Tony Boyle will sit out Sundays contest vs Henderson St. with a one game suspension.

With all the injuries/suspensions SIU went 8 deep vs Quincy. Wesley Clemmons struggled replacing Tatum in the starting lineup. Tyrone Green, Jordan Armstrong and Tony Boyle did a good job spelling the starters who all played big minutes with the exception of Clemmons.

Tomorrow vs Henderson State look for Foster to take the place of Boyle in the rotation and everything else should stay about the same. When Tatum's suspension is over we will be 10 deep and when Bone gets back we will have 11 guys competing for minutes. All five starters look to play 30+ minutes a game so the remaining guys on the bench are going to have to earn their playing time, that’s a good problem to have and these things usually have a way of working their self out. The competition for these minutes is what makes these preseason games interesting.

We’ll check back in tomorrow with a recap of the game. However if you would like to actually PLAY in the game just head over to Henderson States website and sign up to play for the men’s basketball team.

http://www.hsu.edu/athcontent.aspx?ekfrm=7028

Southern takes preseason opener

It wasn’t pretty but we got our first look the Salukis. Here are a few quick notes from SIU’s 70-64 win over Quincy and then we’ll be back this weekend with a full recap.

Tony Young teamed up with Matt Shaw and Randle Falker to do most of the damage for the Salukis. SIU played very tentatively against the Quincy zone really had a problem getting into a rhythm in the first half. Eventually the Salukis got what they wanted from the undersized Quincy D.

Note to all teams- if your playing zone you better guard Matt Shaw. Shaw busted the Eagles for two wide open 3-pointers in the first half. Tony Boyle also impressed with a 16 foot jump shot that he probably would have bricked off the backboard last season.

On the defensive side we struggled in man to man and got beat for quite a few open shots throughout the ballgame. Tony Young had four fouls and the entire defense made mental mistakes and put forth a lack luster effort all night long.

Jordan Armstrong made his Saluki debut with a two handed dunk in traffic early in the first half. He looks like a true small forward, something SIU hasn’t had in a few seasons. When we start playing some big lineups in conference play Armstrong has a chance to play some crucial minutes.

The most hilarious moment of the night occurred when 7 foot 1 Kobby Acquah got the call to enter the game late in the second half. Kobby must have been all pumped up from the student section chanting his name because he tried to go straight onto the floor before the official waived him in. Ahh, this crazy game of basketball with its complicated check in rules. When Kobby finally did get into the game he looked like Shawn Bradley on diet pills. At least it was good for a laugh.

Southern pulled out a win, missing some key players which we will blog about tomorrow… check back and we’ll talk more about our 8 man rotation and look ahead to Sundays showdown with Henderson State.