Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Men's Basketball hosts Western Kentucky in Maroon Out
12/06/2011 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 6, 2011
By Tyler Wooten
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois will host Western Kentucky in a men's basketball non-conference game on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m.
Fans are encouraged to wear maroon for the Maroon Out promotion. In addition, fans can bring a new or gently used toy to contribute to the Saluki Basketball Toy Drive and receive a $5 coupon for a future game ticket.
Head coach Chris Lowery met with the media prior to his team's practice on Tuesday afternoon.
Q: "Is Western Kentucky a team you can force into a lot of turnovers ?"
"We know they've turned the ball over. They're very young, playing almost all of their seven freshmen with four of them starting the last game. They're very inexperienced just like we are, and hopefully being on the road will be a factor in that, too. We're forcing about 10 turnovers a game and we're getting about 10 steals a game, so we really need to focus on turning those into points."
Q: "You guys have played the fewest games out of anybody in Division I. Do you think that could be something that hurts the team, or is it not relevant?"
"It'll be relevant when we see how we play. We had some glitches in our schedule where we had to change games and move games to help other teams. For us as a coaching staff, we liked it because we got to spend a lot more time with them and really just focus on getting better."
Q: "What's the biggest area you feel that you've made progress in from these last 12 days of practice?"
"I think it's cohesiveness. We're slowly beginning to play better, but you have to have games, we've only played four. Still bonding and still growing together are things that we're still trying to do, so having the chance to play every day with a different lineup and different matchups in practice helps to get better."
Q: "What is the status of Dantiel (Daniels) and T.J. (Lindsay)?"
"Dantiel is out, still. T.J. is back at 100 percent. Dantiel is still out, he's going to do some more stuff today to see if he can even try to go tomorrow, but at this present time he's not available."
Q: "Will you be using the same starting lineup?"
"Yeah, we expect it to be the same lineup with the two freshmen starting out there for us with the seniors, and obviously Diamond (Taylor). We're just looking forward to getting a chance to play again."
Q: "Can you talk about the toy drive that Harry (Whitt) and the other freshmen have started? It's really unusual for a freshman to come up with this kind of idea."
"Those five kids are just a different group of kids. They've embraced Carbondale like no other freshman group ever has in a really long time, and I think they've done a great job of being ambassadors not just for men's basketball, but for the university. They're very outgoing, outspoken. They're doing a lot of things in the community even moreso than the toy drive. It's good for them. Josh and Harry did a great job this morning talking about it and they were well-spoken, and hopefully they got the message out to a lot of people."
Q: "Does that reinforce your belief that you made the right decision in bringing in those five kids?"
"Definitely. They're all good students and they all understand what we need them to do as far as being good citizens and student-athletes at the same time."
Q: "With all the different lineups that Western Kentucky uses, is it more challenging to prepare for them since you don't know who will be starting?"
"They've had guys not play and not give the reason why, either, so it's kind of been unusual. They've had different freshmen play one game and then the next game they haven't. We knew two were suspended by the NCAA, but after that they both missed another game. We don't know who they're going to start. We know four of them are going to start again, but which four we don't know."
Q: "What is the best area of the Hilltoppers' game?"
"They defend really well, which is surprising with as many new guys as they have. They're free and loosey-goosey because they have so many freshmen, and he's showing a lot of patience with them."
Q: "Can you talk about Derrick Gordon? You haven't done a great job of taking away the other team's best player -- what are your plans for him?"
"He's their best guy, but he's still a freshman. All of those guys can get baskets, and if you look at the box scores, that's been the thing, that they've had different guys step up after their first couple games when Gordon went off. We just have to focus on the whole team and really not let that affect the way we're going to guard."
Q: "Can you expand on the positives of the long layoff and also on the negatives?"
"The positives are obviously practice time and more time to work on some things that we haven't been able to work on. The negatives are game-type experience. We have to play, we need these guys to play as much as possible. But, it turns around pretty quick for us and now look at all the games we have after this week. We're excited to be able to start playing again with Wednesday and then Sunday and then after that kinda get going."
Q: "How confident are you that Diamond can continue to keep scoring as he has?"
"He's continuing to grow, and I wish we had another game pretty quick so he could maintain his level of confidence. But, he's shot the ball well in practice during this whole layoff. Him growing in confidence in the practice setting will obviously help in the game setting, too."
Q: "Do you like the schedule leading up to when you leave for Hawaii?"
"Yeah, I like it a lot because we have a chance to make a mini run here. That's what we've talked to these guys about. Even though it's one game at a time, we want these guys to focus on big picture stuff, too. This is an important time for us."
Q: "What are your plans for T.J. Lindsay? Is he still playing the shooting guard?"
"We're just going to play him as a guard. The point guard is locked down with Josh and Kourtney (Goff). They don't turn the ball over, those are the things that you have to have at that position. He can score a little bit, so we're going to move T.J. off and see if he can get some baskets for us."
Q: "Can you talk about the caliber of the rest of the MVC?"
"The league has done great. Our league is starting to get back to where we were. These next two years are going to be very good for our league. Our league's non-conference schedule has been successful up to this point, with the exception of us, but now it's our turn to play some games and catch up, so now we have to do our part, too."
