Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
26-5
Drake
17-15
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drake | 19 | 40 | 59 |
| Southern Illinois | 30 | 41 | 71 |
Men's Basketball opens MVC Tournament with win over Drake
03/02/2007 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
March 2, 2007
By Tom Weber
www.SIUSalukis.com
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - In a battle between contrasting styles, No. 1 seed Southern Illinois eliminated No. 8 Drake, 71-59, in the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament on Friday.
The 11th-ranked Salukis (26-5) wanted a grind-it-out half-court game, while the Bulldogs (17-15) hoped to make it a full-court, fast-break frenzy.
SIU made it clear in the early going which style would ultimately prevail.
One night after Drake scored 101 points against Evansville, it made just one field goal in the first seven minutes against the Salukis. During that span, SIU's smothering man-to-man defense forced six missed shots and four turnovers.
"Southern does that as well as anybody in the country, I think, getting other teams to play at the tempo that they choose," said Bulldogs head coach Dr. Tom Davis. "They're very, very hard to get out of that."
Drake tried to get Southern out of rhythm by using a variety of zone defenses, but the Salukis weren't fazed.
"They switched up so much on defense, sometimes they lost track of our shooters," said Saluki guard Jamaal Tatum, who scored 19 points and made a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute of the first half to give SIU a 30-19 lead.
SIU point guard Bryan Mullins did a splendid job of diagnosing the Bulldogs' schemes and distributed six assists.
"They play so many different gimmicky defenses," he said. "They really just try to confuse you."
"I guess they figured we're not the best team against the zone," added Tatum, who made 8-of-12 shots from the field.
The MVC Player-of-the-Year admitted to being bewildered a time or two on offense, though.
"Sometimes, I didn't even know what they were playing," he said. "Coach (Chris Lowery) just said run motion against it and keep moving, don't stand in one spot."
It was the Saluki defense, which forced 22 turnovers and tied a season-high with 13 steals, that really dictated the game's pace.
"We really got in the passing lanes today," said Mullins, who had four thefts. "Our hands were really active.
For a while in the second half, SIU looked like the fast-breaking team as steals by Mullins and Tatum led to easy transition baskets. Southern led by as many as 17 points on three occasions.
"Coach really wanted us to push the ball," Tatum said. "He's been saying that all year. I really think that's when we're at our best, when we're pushing the ball and having fun."
Lowery said he was pleased to see his team execute a variety of styles.
"We played fast, we played slow, we grinded it out and ran stuff on the shot clock for (Tatum) at the end," he said.
Although the outcome was never in question, the Bulldogs came as close as eight points in the final minute.
Lowery was disappointed that his team allowed Drake to make a late run, saying the Salukis will need better execution as they get deeper in the tournament.
"When you have lapses, when you take bad shots, force the action, do anything out of our character, anybody can beat us," he said.
The league's coach-of-the-year was also displeased with his bench performance, which contributed two points on 1-of-9 shooting.
"Our bench has got to be much better than what it was from an efficiency standpoint and from an execution standpoint," Lowery said. "Some of those guys, it was their first conference tournament. They didn't understand the intensity. Some of them just came in a little bit casual."
The Salukis sealed the victory by making 10-of-12 free throws in the final minute and a half of the game. Matt Shaw, who finished with 19 points for SIU, connected on 10-of-11 from the charity stripe. Teammate Tony Young had 17 points and made 7-of-8 from the line.
Only three other Saluki teams have ever won 26 games in a season -- the 1990 (26), 2002 (28) and 2004 (27) squads.
Winners of 12-straight games, the Salukis will play Bradley on Saturday in a re-match of last year's championship game, won by Southern.
