Tag Archives: Southern Illinois

SIU Preview — 2-21-2018

Wednesday, February 21, 2018 7:00 p.m.
SIU Arena, Carbondale, Ill.

Having clinched at least a tie for the MVC regular season crown with their 76-66 win at Evansville on Sunday, the Ramblers head back south on Saturday for a chance to win the crown outright against the Salukis in Carbondale. SIU has had an improbable season, overcoming several injuries and still challenging for a share of the conference title with two games to go. Only four Salukis have appeared in every game this year, and only six have appeared in as many as 23 of SIU’s 29 games. As if the heavy minutes by seven core players wasn’t tiring enough, SIU has gone to overtime in three of their last four games.

Coach Hinson has kept SIU winning with smoke, mirrors, baling wire, and electrical tape. The Salukis enjoy a nice home court advantage at SIU Arena, where they’re 13-2 on the season, 7-1 in home conference games, and winners of seven in a row. Somehow, Hinson has managed the team’s minutes like a wizard, even despite it being necessary for players to endure 43-minute games due to overtime periods. Sean Lloyd leads the league in total minutes played (1004) and ranks third in minutes per game (34.6). Armon Fletcher ranks 9th in the league in mpg. Wednesday night will be senior night, as the Salukis will honor Tyler Smithpeters and others.

SIU starts Armon Fletcher, Sean Lloyd, Aaron Cook, and Marcus Bartley as guards, and Kavion Pippen, a 6’10” center. Fletcher and Lloyd are two tough and experienced 6’5” junior guards who average 14.4 and 12.4 points per game respectively. Cook is a 6’2” sophomore guard who averages 10.3 points and passes well; he’s second on the team in assists and steals. Marcus Bartley, a 6’5” junior point guard, averages only 6.5 points per game, but leads the team in assists and shoots reasonably well from three-point land. Pippen is a good rim protector (38 blocks) who can score (12.5 points per game) and rebound (5.9 per game).

Six-four senior guard Tyler Smithpeters plays starters’ minutes off the bench, and averages 7.7 points per game—primarily from outside the arc, but he also snags 4.2 rebounds per game. Jonathan Wiley, a 6’7” forward, has recently returned from injury to add depth to the bench. Rudy Stradnieks (a 6’9” senior forward), and 6’5” freshman forward Brendon Gooch get 5 or 10 minutes off the bench.

In their Jan. 17 matchup in Chicago, Loyola beat the Salukis 79-65 behind 25 points from Donte Ingram and 18 from Cam Krutwig. Sean Lloyd had 21 points to lead the Salukis. Loyola had a 16-5 run to end the first half with a 12-point lead, and then shot 61% in the second half to earn the win. It was not the prettiest game, as both teams had 20 turnovers, and the two teams combined for 47 shots from the free throw line. That win by Loyola broke a 3-game losing streak against the Salukis; SIU leads the all-time series against the Ramblers 7-5.

Loyola is 6-2 in road conference games for the year, and like with most things this year, it’s the best road performance in decades. In 2006-07, Loyola lost its first three conference road games before winning five in a row on the road, capped by a win at #15 Butler. To match this year’s conference road win total, you have to go back to 1984-85, when the Ramblers were 6-1 (losing only at Xavier).

Loyola game notes: http://www.loyolaramblers.com/documents … df?id=5871

SIU game notes: Pending

TV/Streaming video: ESPN3 / http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3273584/ … basketball

Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/siu/mbball/

Vegas odds: Pending

Southern Illinois Preview– 1-17-2018

Wednesday, January 17, 2018 7:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Ill.

Southern Illinois Coach Barry Hinson is going to win you some ballgames. In his 14 1/3 seasons in the MVC, he has finished at or above .500 in 11 of them– if you include his 3-3 conference record this season. In nine seasons with Missouri State and six seasons with ISU, he’s 259-208 overall as an MVC head coach, and 137-121 in MVC conference games. In their 17 previous head-to-head meetings, Barry Hinson is 13-4 against teams coached by Porter Moser, including a 3-0 record against the Ramblers last season.

Hinson is a master of getting the most out of what he’s got. He’ll use misdirection like a magician, or motivational tactics like Tony Robbins if that’s what it takes to win a ballgame. This year has been another challenge for his improvisational skills, as the Salukis have been beset by injuries.

Only four Salukis have played in all 18 of their ballgames this season. For comparison, the Ramblers—who had Adarius Avery and Christian Negron start the year on the injury list, and had the backcourt duo of Custer and Richardson miss several games at the same time—have had six players appear in all of their games. Nevertheless, Coach Hinson has managed to piece together a winning season thus far—3-3 in conference and 10-8 overall against D1 schools.

Without 6’8” center/forward Thik Bol, a rim protector who gave the Ramblers fits last year, the Salukis start four guards and a center. Armon Fletcher, Sean Lloyd, Aaron Cook, and Marcus Bartley start at guard, and Kavion Pippen, a 6’10” center, capably mans the frontcourt. The bench is thin, with only two available players having significant D1 experience.

Like Coach Moser, Hinson likes versatile, athletic combo guards. At 6’5”, redshirt junior Armon Fletcher averages 14.6 points per game to lead the Salukis, and is a great finisher at the basket. His quickness and nose for the ball ranks him second in rebounds at 5.3 per game. Like Fletcher, Sean Lloyd is another 6’5” junior guard who can shoot and pass and rebound. Lloyd averages 12.3 points per game, 4.8 rebounds, and ranks a close second in assists. Six-foot-two Aaron Cook is the putative point guard for the Salukis; he’s really a converted shooting guard who shoots pretty well, and he leads the team in both assists and turnovers. Marcus Bartley is another 6’5” junior guard. The St. Louis transfer plays mostly around the perimeter, and likes to pass if he doesn’t have a clear outside jumper.

Kavion Pippen is the 6’10” juco center, who averages 11.8 points and a team-leading 5.8 rebounds. Pippen (a cousin of the Bulls player) has great hands and instincts, and ranks second in the conference with 29 blocks.

The Salukis don’t have much of a bench—in their Saturday game against ISU, only eight players saw the floor, and one of them played less than a minute. Senior guard Tyler Smithpeters, a 6’4” outside shooting specialist receives most of the time from the bench. Smithpeters averages 6.7 points per game and plays good defense, but his 37% field goal shooting percentage is way down from previous seasons and has relegated him to the bench. Rudy Stradniecks is a 6’9” forward who scores 4.4 per game. Brendon Gooch is a 6’5” freshman forward who sees less than 10 minutes per game and averages less than a point a game, but at least he’s healthy. SIU has played only eight players in three of their last four games.

SIU is not a particularly good team on the road. They’ve lost at Louisville, Murray State, St. Louis, Valpo, and Bradley; their two road wins are at Winthrop to open the season and at UNI to open the conference season. The Salukis are 3-1 at Loyola since the Ramblers joined the MVC.

The Ramblers’ modest three game conference winning streak is tied for their longest since joining the MVC, and their two games above .500 conference record is tied with last year for the best conference record the Ramblers have achieved in the MVC. A win against Southern Illinois would set a new high bar before a two-game road swing to Valpo and Drake. The Ramblers will be favored in this game by a good margin, but a healthier team with more players available might pose significant problems on the return trip in late February.

Loyola game notes: http://www.loyolaramblers.com/documents … df?id=4803

SIU game notes: Pending

TV/Streaming video: NBC Sports Chicago + / http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3245130/ … basketball

Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=189600

Vegas odds: Pending