Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
0-1
Wright State
1-0
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wright State | 31 | 54 | 85 |
| Southern Illinois | 35 | 46 | 81 |
Wright State tops Men's Basketball in season opener, 85-81
11/11/2016 | 10:58:00 | Men's Basketball
CARBONDALE, Ill — Wright State stormed back from a 15-point first-half deficit to beat Southern Illinois, 85-81, in the season opener for both schools on Friday night.
The Raiders (1-0) were sloppy in the first half, shooting 27 percent from the field and committing 13 turnovers. Still, they only trailed, 35-31, at halftime, because they dominated the glass with 14 offensive rebounds. The second half was a complete reversal, as WSU shot 72 percent from the field and only turned it over five times.Â
First-year WSU head coach Scott Nagy said SIU's extended man-to-man defense caused his team fits early — Southern blocked six shots and had six steals in the first half — until his players adjusted to the aggressive style.
"As much as we try to replicate it in practice, we can't," Nagy said. "We're playing without a point guard, which is bad against pressure. In the second half, we started ball-screening a little bit more. (SIU) started struggling with the ball screen. The main thing is we didn't turn the ball over like we did in the first half."
The Salukis (1-0) jumped out to a 25-10 lead with 8:53 to go in the first half behind some electric play by point guard Mike Rodriguez. The 5-foot-10 senior missed all of the preseason with a knee injury, but showed no lingering effects, pouring in a career-high 29 points to go with six assists. In helping SIU build a 15-point cushion, he made two spectacular passes to junior center Thik Bol for dunks, including a ball that he bounced high off the glass, in which Bol trailed the play and flushed it home with two hands.
"I thought Michael Rodriguez was phenomenal," said SIU head coach Barry Hinson. "Wow - was he good tonight. He just hates losing and always finds a way to win. I think that will be contagious."
Rodriguez played a team-high 36 minutes and had an ice bag on his knee shortly after the contest.
"What he did was more amazing considering he's been out — he can't be in any kind of basketball shape," Nagy said. "Having a senior point guard like that is such a luxury. He's a tremendous ball handler and if he makes shots like that, he'll be impossible to guard."
Southern surrendered the lead early in the second half on a 3-pointer by Steven Davis and never led again after the 16-minute mark, though they did pull to a tie twice. The Salukis had no answer for the 6-foot-8 Davis, who scored 26 points and made 3-of-4 from outside the arc. They were also unable to defend 6-foot-5 wing Mark Alstork, who had 20 of his game-high 30 points in the second half. Although he committed six turnovers in the first half, Alstork made amends by stroking 4-of-7 from 3-point and easily posting up defenders on the block.
"I think we lost our focus (defensively)," Hinson said. "We have so many new guys on the floor that we have to learn how to adjust and settle down."
In addition to Rodriguez, backcourt starters Leo Vincent and Armon Fletcher had solid nights on offense for Southern. Vincent scored 19 points, was 3-of-4 from downtown, and led the team with six rebounds. Fletcher was only 4-of-12 from the field, but he had three assists, three blocks and four steals.
SIU's front court spent much of the night in foul trouble, combined for one assist and 13 turnovers, and was unable to keep Wright State players off the glass, leading to a 16-rebound deficit. The Raiders started a four-guard lineup that featured only one player taller than 6-foot-5.
"We're going to get out-rebounded this year, but to get out-rebounded by that margin is unacceptable," Hinson said. "I thought we addressed it at halftime, and I thought we'd be better at it in the second half, but we weren't."
The Salukis trailed by nine with four minutes to go and made a run at the lead, cutting it to 77-75 on a Rodriguez triple with 1:49 to go, but Davis countered with a trey of his own and SIU could never get it back to a one possession deficit after that.
"(Wright State) got confidence and they got rolling, and you can't let a team on your home floor get confidence," Hinson said. "Give our guys credit, our guys came back."
