Saturday, February 4, 2017 1:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Ill.
Loyola gets their first look at Southern Illinois 12 games into the conference season, with both teams having posted a 6-5 record. The Salukis are fresh off a 20-point home win over Bradley on Wednesday night, while the Ramblers lost Tuesday night at Missouri State in overtime. The Salukis currently own the tiebreaker among the three teams tied for 3rd, thanks to their season sweep of Missouri State (the other team tied for 3rd). The bunching of three teams and 6-5 and two teams at 5-6 makes this home game with SIU (and the tiebreaker advantage that goes with a win), a must if Loyola has designs on a third place finish.
Coach Barry Hinson has piloted SIU to yet another competitive season even after losing key talent. Anthony Beane was a team leader, the league’s second-leading scorer, and a SIU’s third all-time scorer with 1917 points before graduating last June. Bola Olaniyan was the league’s second-leading rebounder before using the graduate transfer rule to play his final year at Alabama. Yet despite losing that experienced team leadership, the Salukis are poised for another .500 or better season, their third in the past four years.
Almost seamlessly, the Salukis have morphed from a team with a dominant scorer to a balanced squad with many equally dangerous contributors. Leading the way are two guards, 5’10” senior point guard Mike Rodriquez and 6’4” sophomore guard Armon Fletcher. The two average 13.3 and 13.1 points per game respectively, with Rodriquez scoring a significant percent of his points by getting to the free throw line and Fletcher scoring significantly through threes. Rodriquez is a great ball handler (tied for 3rd in the league in assists, 5th in assist to turnover ratio), shoots 74.1% from the free throw line, and ranks second in the league in made free throws. Fletcher leads the team in steals and has more than doubled his scoring output from his freshman year, helping to make up for the loss of Anthony Beene.
In the frontcourt are 6’6” senior forward Sean O’Brien, who averages 11.9 points and 8.0 rebounds, and 6’8” junior newcomer Thik Bol, who notches 9.1 points and 7.1 rebounds while leading the league in blocks. Bol is especially dangerous on the offensive glass, and makes good on a lot of second chance points. O’Brien has improved his shooting touch, but is still prone to fouls—he leads the league in personal fouls and has fouled out of four games. O’Brien, a Mundelein native, has the ability to explode offensively; his season high is 28 points, and SIU is 6-0 when he scores 18 or more.
The fifth starting spot lately has been held by 6’5” sophomore guard Sean Lloyd, who averages 7.8 points and 2.7 rebounds. Earlier in the season 6’1” senior guard Leo Vincent (7.8 ppg) was getting starts, but he has been replaced by Lloyd, who is a much better defensive player with more efficient scoring. Joining Vincent on the bench are 6’1” freshman Aaron Cook (quick hands, and a dangerous steal threat, not much on offense), 6’6” junior guard Jonathan Wiley, 6’8” junior forward Austin Weiher, and 6’9” sophomore forward Rudy Stradnieks.
The Salukis like to play at a faster tempo, and usually win when they score in the high 70s to mid 80s. On the year, they are 12-3 when scoring 73 points or more. When they get bogged down in long possessions they tend to make mistakes, and if you’re forcing them to shoot a three pointer late in the shot clock you’re probably going to win. The Salukis are the worst shooting team in the league behind the arc (32.0%), and the worst team in the league defending the three (40.5%). But as much as the three-point disparity seems attractive, a more subtle key to beating SIU is keeping their two-point shooting below 44%– territory where SIU is 2-10. In games where they shoot 44% or better on two pointers, they’re 12-1. Deny the ball inside to O’Brien and Bol, double-team in the paint, and do your best on the defensive glass. Take care of the ball, put pressure on the ball on defense, throw in some traps and presses, take advantage of your available threes, and you should be OK against SIU at home.
The Salukis have only three road wins on the season: at SIU-Edwardsville, at Missouri State, and at Evansville. But they’ve played very well each time they’ve come to Gentile Arena: they 2-1, with their one loss by only four-points in the year where Loyola won the CBI and SIU finished 9th in the league.
A couple last tidbits to make Loyola fans feel a bit more comfortable about this big, BIG game… Loyola is 10-3 on weekends this season, and 11-1 at home.
LINKS
- Loyola game notes (PDF)
- Southern Illinois game notes: Pending
- TV/Streaming video: CSN Chicago / ESPN3
- Radio: WLUW 88.7 FM (Get that WLUW app from Google Play or iTunes, or you can listen at wluw.org)
- Vegas odds: Pending
- Game thread at the Ramblermania message board
