Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
11-2, 5-0MVC
Evansville
2-11, 1-4MVC
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evansville | 36 | 27 | 63 |
| Southern Illinois | 38 | 43 | 81 |
Men's Basketball Cruises Past Evansville, 81-63
01/14/2004 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 14, 2004
By Seth Whitehead
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE - For four crowd-pleasing minutes Wednesday night, Sylvester Willis looked a little like the best offensive player in the history of the game. That is not a misprint.
The senior center -- known more for his hustle and quick wit than his scoring ability-- resembled Michael Jordan.
Featuring a wide variety of aggressive offensive moves -- many never before seen during his three-plus years in Carbondale -- Willis scored the Salukis' final 10 points of the first half against Evansville, helping SIU take a lead into the locker room after trailing much of the half. ? The Salukis then used a 10-0 run at the start of the second half to break open a close game and cruised the rest of the way, moving to 5-0 in Missouri Valley Conference play with an 81-63 win over the Purple Aces.
The victory, coupled with No. 20 Creighton's 83-74 loss at Northern Iowa, moved the Salukis (11-2, 5-0) into sole possession of first-place in the MVC.
Willis led a balanced SIU attack with 15 points and six rebounds. He finished just one point off his career-high -- but has never looked more comfortable on offense.
"I felt good out there," Willis said. "I got a couple buckets early on, kept attacking, and my teammates kept giving me the ball, so I kept following."
Willis came in averaging 6.8 points-per-game, but was noticeably more assertive on offense from the get-go.
"We go to whoever has the hot hand," Willis said. "If I have it, I'll look to my shot."
"(Evansville) was playing him one-on-one," SIU head coach Matt Painter said. "And we just told him to face up or back his man down, just be aggressive. Sly gives you 100 percent every day in practice and every game. I'm just happy that he's really progressed as a player."
Willis helped SIU fans forget another slow start by the Dawgs.
Evansville was on fire early on, and enjoyed its biggest lead, 20-13, on an Andre Burton 3-pointer at the 10:05 mark of the first half. But the Salukis soon closed the gap and finally took the lead late in the half.
Willis put SIU ahead to stay, 33-32, with a basket off a Darren Brooks steal at the 2:40 mark. He followed that up with a hook shot and a short jumper -- after leading an SIU fast-break off an Evansville turnover.
Feeling frisky, Willis went to a left-handed jumper moments later. It was simply his night, as the shot rimmed around the hoop and eventually dropped, putting SIU up 38-34 seconds before halftime.
Evansville countered that basket, however, and SIU led by just two at the break.
"Coach Painter gave us a good talk at halftime," Brooks said. "He got on us about only being up by two. He really motivated us to push the lead out even farther."
The talk worked, as SIU kept the momentum early on in the second half, scoring on its first four possessions to go up 48-36 with just under 18 minutes remaining. Bryan Turner and Brooks capped SIU's 10-0 run with back-to-back 3-pointers. Both shots were set up by Evansville turnovers -- a trend that would continue throughout the second half.
"In the first half, we forced some turnovers, but it didn't lead to baskets," Painter said. "I think that was the difference in the second half, we were able to get in transition and get some easy ones."
Evansville finished with a whopping 22 turnovers and could get no closer than nine points of SIU the rest of the way.
"We turned the ball over way too much tonight to win," Evansville coach Steve Merfeld said. "I thought that was the big key in why we lost tonight."
"I said at halftime, `It's time to turn up the heat'," Painter said. "I thought our guys kept the pressure on them and forced turnovers that led to easy baskets."
Brooks added 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists for the Salukis. The junior has scored in double figures in all 13 of SIU's games this season.
Tatum chipped in 10 off the bench. Turner and Brad Korn scored nine points apiece, and Owen had eight points in just 17 minutes.
Burton scored a game-high 24 points for the Purple Aces (2-11, 1-4 MVC), while Clint Cuffle added 16 points.
