Men's Basketball readies for Wednesday rematch with Bradley

Jan. 19, 2010

By Tyler Wooten
www.SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Saluki men's basketball head coach Chris Lowery took questions from the media before Tuesday's practice. SIU hosts Bradley at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

The Salukis edged the Braves, 86-81, on Jan. 1 at Carver Arena. SIU rallied from a seven-point deficit during the final 90 seconds of the game. Tony Freeman hit the game-winning 3-point shot with 27 seconds remaining and finished with 23 points for Southern.

You played Bradley pretty well, but (Sam) Maniscalco didn't shoot well, and now he is shooting well. How much of a difference does he make for them?
"He makes a big difference. I think he was a little bit injured the first time we played them. They have a lot of weapons, and they have a lot of guys who can score the basketball. And when he's playing well, he helps them become better."

Last time you played them, there were two players with 20-plus points for their team. You seemed to have success against Colt Ryan on Saturday with the way you played him and the different looks you threw at him--do you plan to do something similar to those guys?
"We just have to guard better--we gave up 50 points in a half there. We weren't very disciplined and we fouled. We have to guard better, and that's it. We think we went into Evansville guarding better and doing things the right way. Colt took a lot of shots to get his points, and if anyone is going to get 21, they're going to have to take a lot of shots."

Can you talk about the challenge of having to beat a team twice?
"It's always tough--especially in our league. But if you can get them on the road, you feel more comfortable coming back home. But we can't take that for granted and just think we're going to win, because we've had struggles with Drake and Northern Iowa at home. We have to make sure we get ready to play and be very competitive."

How big were the losses to Drake and Northern Iowa? How much are you using that to motivate your team?
"We've used it a lot. Northern Iowa is the number one team in our league, but the Drake game should never happen to us when we're up like that. We're more disappointed in that one than the Northern Iowa game. We have to take care of home court, if we want to be competitive at the end."

The last time you played Bradley, you were successful with the four-guard lineup--do you plan on going back to that?
"We just have to see. We went to it really late in the game, and it worked out for us. We just have to be in position defensively. A lot of our problems were from not being in position, and going with four guards will really allow us to be in position. Our bigs have to be in position this game. We have to be really focused."

In the last few games, some of the players have talked about a difference in energy. Is that something you have noticed?
"They've had energy because we've practiced with energy. I think when you practice a certain way, that's how you're going to play. As a staff, we brought much more energy to practice and talked about practicing the old ways and not shortcutting stuff just to get through, and that is what they had to understand. If you want to be good, you have to do stuff right and correct, and right now, we're correcting everything they do."

Can you talk about the play of Nate Mitchell? Especially what he brings defensively to the game?
"He did a great job defensively. He was right where he needed to be on every possession defensively. He blocked a shot, he got a rebound--he did a good job because he understands where to be. He's mature--he understands his role. If we get some of the other guys to understand that they have a role and play it too, we'll have success."

Is Nick Evans expected to rejoin the starting lineup?
"We'll see. Obviously, behavior is an issue. We're not going to allow that type of behavior to continue.

Are you pleased with Gene Teague's progress over the last few months?
"He's gotten better. That's the key with any kid that you have. We knew he was talented. We knew he had to get his weight down, and we focused on that leading up to this point."

Do you feel that he (Teague) is ready to play more minutes now?
"I think we have to play him based on how he looks on the court. If he's fresh and making shots, we'll play him; if he gets tired, he has to come out. He has no breakthrough wind--meaning that he can't fight through fatigue at this point. Once he learns to do that, he's going to be a good player in our league."

You said your guards have made a conscious effort to get the ball inside...
"Right, and the last two games we really tried to force-feed and try to go inside quite a bit. You've seen our big guys' numbers go up--especially Carlton (Fay) and Eugene's (Teague). When they're playing like that, we have to go to them and give them the ball as much as possible."

One thing you talked about at the beginning of the season was the depth of this team. Is it starting to play out as how you envisioned it?
"I think so. Now, with Jack (Crowder) and John (Freeman) back, I think we're playing nine to 10 guys every game. We wore down Evansville and did a good job. At Creighton, we gave ourselves a chance to win, it just took a tough shot at the end to beat us. We just have to continue to get better. That's where our focus is and continues to be in daily talks with our players."

Tony (Freeman) seemed to be more aggressive on Saturday. Is he going to continue to play without the mask, and do you think he has bounced back now?
"I think he's fine now. Getting the mask off meant that he could shoot again, to him. We were doing it as a precaution. We didn't want him to get hit in the nose again, and then he got hit at Evansville. He took a break during the game and walked a little bit, and then realized he was okay and kept running. We had the mask ready but he was like, 'No, I'm not putting it on.'"

With free throws, you're shooting about the same percentage as your opponents, but they've outshot you. Are you concerned with that or do you feel you can still win with that?
"Now that we're starting to go inside more, we're getting more attempts. A big part of that was that four-game skid. We weren't playing very well, and we weren't doing the things we needed to. We took way too many threes, shooting over the top of our bigs. And now that we've established how we want to play, I think you will see that change."

When you can play defense without fouling as much...
"No, it's not even that. It's when you take quick shots, you're not going to be in position defensively, and we allow teams to get in transition on us, and we fouled. It happened at the start of the second half of the Creighton game. We took quick shots right away, and they get two, 2+1's to start, because we're not in position."

Have you seen some extra motivation from (Anthony) Booker and John (Freeman) after Nathan (Mitchell) got some of their minutes?
"We haven't practiced. We've been off, so we'll see today. Yesterday, we played hard. I think they know now that if they don't do what they're supposed to, he's going to get in."