Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Men's Basketball travels to Missouri State
01/09/2012 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 9, 2012
By Tyler Wooten
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois (5-10, 2-2) will travel to Missouri State (10-6, 3-1) for a Tuesday night men's basketball game at 7 p.m. in Springfield, Mo.
Saluki alums Chris Lowery and Paul Lusk will square off as opposing head coaches, marking the first time since 1950 that two SIU alums have opposed each other. On Dec. 29, 1950, SIU's Lynn Holder lost at Murray State, coached by Saluki alum Harlan Hodges.
Lowery took questions from the media prior to Monday's practice at SIU Arena.
Q: "What kind of parameters have you set with (MIssouri State head coach) Paul (Lusk)?"
"We haven't talked since Saturday night, so obviously we're both kinda locked-in. We would both complain about Matt (Painter) and Coach (Bruce Weber), like, "why are you acting like that?" and now we understand why they are acting like they do when they have to play each other. It's pins and needles. We know each other, and you don't ever want to play your friend like that. We'll talk again after we play, but obviously right now, it's about the game, not about us."
Q: "How does having a personal relationship, like you do with Paul, go into preparing for an opponent?"
"We really don't know his tendencies because it's a different team than last year. We know some of their players. Obviously, (Kyle) Weems is special, and we know they're doing a lot of different things. His supporting cast was tremendous last year; that cast is new now. They're still having the same results early. Weems has diversified his game and does more playmaking because he has so much attention throughout the game."
Q: "What has made (Weems) so dominant in the second half?"
"Right now, he's taking over, and he's shooting the ball extremely well. At the beginning of the season, everybody else was playing pretty well, and I think that allowed him to get confidence when he wasn't playing very well. But now, everything's through him. He's having big halves -- 15 to 20 in a half -- is what he's getting right now. You have to weather his storm. He's getting them all early or getting them really late."
Q: "How has their JUCO transfer (Anthony) Downing complemented Weems' game?"
"Well, Downing and (Jarmar) Gulley both are JUCO transfers that average double figures, and those are guys that they got in May. Those are guys that are late that have obviously worked out extremely well, because those guys weren't even on the radar until school was out. What they've done is given them other options offensively, whereas they didn't have those options going into when he first got there. They did a good job of recruiting, and those guys have done a good job of getting ready to play."
Q: "You know they're going to be keying on Mamadou (Seck) -- how do you look to keep getting him touches and keep him involved?"
"Mamadou has been great right now. His assists have gone way up because he's trusting his team. He's right around a double-double and four to six assists every game, and as a coach you can't ask too much more than that. In the guts of the game against Illinois State and Bradley, we found him. We lost him against Wichita late in the game. (Wichita State) really did a good job, because they went zone and they doubled and took (Seck) out of the game and we shot threes at the end. Mamadou's going to find the ball, especially in motion, and he's done a great job."
Q: "How do you get Treg (Setty) involved in this game?"
"Treg just has to be ready to play. He's a freshman, and we have to put emphasis on that because we want those guys to be better all the time. When you look, our freshmen are playing more than any other freshmen in the league, and right now they're producing for us, and it's not always the same ones -- Josh (Swan), Treg and Dantiel (Daniels). All three have had really good games and all three have struggled. It kinda depends on who they're guarding. When they have to go against fourth and fifth-year seniors, they've struggled. Treg had to go against (Toure') Murry, and Treg had to go against some of the older guys right off the top like Ben Smith, and he struggled. But now, he realizes that, and we're still going to ride with him. He's still in the mix, he just has to be ready to play right away."
Q: "The losses that (Missouri State) has had, they've been vulnerable at the three point line -- is that an area you feel you can exploit by getting T.J. (Lindsay) and Kendal (Brown-Surles) looks?"
"I think the number one thing is getting them in foul trouble. The 3-point line is true, but when they've struggled, they've gotten in foul trouble. We don't know whether Caleb (Patterson) is playing or not, he's been out the last two games, so the freshman Christian Kirk has stepped in and started. It's a different deal when Caleb is in, because he's a 3-point threat at 6-11, and they get in foul trouble when he's in, so we have to get to the free throw line. We have to take our fair share of threes, but it can't be all threes."
Q: "Largely it's a new lineup they're starting -- are you surprised with the success that they've had?"
"It's definitely been surprising, but what has been really surprising is how patient Weems has been. We expected him to be at 15 to 20 shots a game with this team, but his shot attempts are not much higher than they were last year with a veteran team. He's done a good job of making them feel comfortable, and when your best guy makes the other guys feel comfortable, it allows them to just play and not worry about always trying to get the ball back to him."
Q: "What do they do well defensively?"
"They protect each other. They're tough and they're physical, and they really do a good job in helping and recovering, that's the best thing they do at this point."
Q: "You said after the (Wichita) game that you're giving up too many points -- is it as correctable as shutting down the driving lanes and kickouts for three pointers?"
"We really didn't struggle on the kickouts until transition, that's how they were getting kickouts. We're doing a good job guarding within half court on the three. It's the transition stuff, and our rush defense has to get better, along with our point has to stop letting point guards get straight-line drives to the rim, and obviously that hurt us against (Joe) Ragland, because he got to the rim at will on us."
