Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Men's Basketball hosts Drake on Wednesday night
01/17/2012 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 17, 2012
By Tyler Wooten
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois (6-12, 3-4) hosts Drake (11-7, 4-3) in a Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball matchup at 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday.
Head coach Chris Lowery took questions from the media prior to Tuesday's practice at SIU Arena.
Q: "Who do you think is having a better season: (Ben) Simons or (Rayvonte) Rice?"
"Take your pick. Rayvonte is leading them in scoring and Simons, these last two games he's been special for them. I think that's kind of how you look at it. The last three Simons has been their best player, but up until then Rayvonte Rice has been their leading scorer in every game. Those two guys are setting themselves apart from the rest of the team -- they're the go-to guys. They're the guys that run everything for them offensively."
Q: "How do you attack this team?"
"You just have to play how we've been playing. We've had good stretches and we've had bad stretches. We just have to continue to put together good stretches for our guys. We need to get the ball inside a little bit more. We shot ourselves out of it at Creighton when we needed to go inside. We came back on layups and inside touches, and then we got a little bit happy and shot too many perimeter shots down the stretch. We definitely need to go inside more."
Q: "How will you try to control their guards?"
"Those guys barely shoot. They know who needs to get the ball. We have to make sure that their touches are hard. We can't let Simons just come off screens and catch and shoot wide open shots. He's a two-guard for them, he's not a small forward, he's a straight-up two-guard and he's shooting the ball extremely well."
Q: "Will they try to go back at you on the fastbreak?"
"No, they run their offense. They're a half-court offensive team, they're very good offensively in the half-court and Karl Madison does push the ball, but like I said, they get their two guys touches and they run a lot of sets to them."
Q: "What do you make of your team's ability to make runs to keep games closer?"
"Our ability to make runs is great. We've shown a lot of fight and we understand that we need to get better at finishing games off. To be able to make runs is very good, it's just sustaining them and knowing when to push and when not to, some of that is what we continue to teach to these guys, especially when we have most of the new guys on the floor at one time."
Q: "How important is it to get off to a fast start and not bury yourselves early?"
"It just depends on who the team is. The teams we've done that against have been the top teams in the league -- Creighton, Missouri State and obviously Wichita -- those are the three teams that have gotten us at that point. We have to get a good start and we have to sustain a level of execution. When you do that I think we have a chance to win."
Q: "Are you comfortable with your starting lineup yet?"
"We've only played two games with that rotation so it's still a work in progress. I think these guys are going to keep working at it. I know they will, they've done it all year. We just have to continue to grow as a team."
Q: "With the young guys, are you ahead or behind where you need to be?"
"They're ahead because they're playing well. We haven't had this many young guys playing ever in games. We had a lot of guys last year who were in when we were down 20, so we stayed down 20. These guys are obviously ahead because they're able to come back and really make plays and in the guts of games."
Q: "What do you expect of Davante (Drinkard) when you put him in?"
"We expect him to rebound. He hasn't rebounded in the last four games and we can't have that out of him. He has to stay out of foul trouble. When he does that, he helps us. When he's in foul trouble he doesn't rebound and he's less aggressive. In the Bradley game he had 12 and five, but he stayed out of foul trouble. After that, every game he's been in foul trouble."
Q: "Have you stressed (Drinkard) to develop that hook shot?"
"We really did. We stress that with all of our guys who we feel are strictly post-up guys, and hopefully he'll continue to develop that side of his game. He just has to have confidence. He missed two point-blankers at Creighton in the beginning of the game, which are shots he has to make."
Q: "Can you evaluate Kendal's performance at the point?"
"He's really the guy that stirs us. When he plays well, we play well. Creighton did a great job of taking him out of the game. They ran him off the three point line -- they weren't going to let him get any shots open -- and really just tried to make him a driver."
Q: "How is the mood of the team?
"Every game these guys have been resilient. They want to get better. They're excited about the next opportunity. They haven't been wavering in how they've been preparing. It's a good way to be. We haven't pouted, we haven't had lapses or bad attitudes on the court -- they're trying their best to do what we ask."
Q: "How has the outside shooting developed so far this season?"
"At this point we're shooting well, with T.J. (Lindsay) and Kendal (Brown-Surles) especially. Treg (Setty) is up and down, but Treg's offensive game has continued to go beyond just 3-point shots. We're shooting the ball well enough. The thing is we have to find is a way to bottle up what we have going when we're playing well."
