Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
0-2
Arkansas
2-0
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Illinois | 25 | 40 | 65 |
| Arkansas | 56 | 34 | 90 |
Arkansas blows by Men's Basketball, 90-65
11/14/2016 | 11:09:00 | Men's Basketball
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas has a sign on the wall that reads, "The Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball." For Southern Illinois, just the first 20 tonight must have seemed like an eternity.
The Razorbacks (2-0) put on a dazzling first-half display en route to a 31-point halftime lead, before coasting to a 90-65 win on Monday night in front of an announced crowd of 4,270 at Bud Walton Arena.
Arkansas was too fast, too long, too skilled. Their offense administered a first-half shooting clinic, converting 21-of-36 shots, including 9-of-12 from 3-point. Their defense wasn't bad, either, holding SIU to 24 percent shooting and forcing 11 turnovers in the opening half.
There was a brief moment when the Salukis (0-2) led, 5-2, before the onslaught began. Arkansas played smothering defense, then it pushed the basketball up the floor, directed the ball to wide-open shooters, who rarely missed. The starting backcourt of Dusty Hannahs, Daryl Macon and Jaylen Barford was 7-for-7 from long range in the first half.
"You can tell that we wanted to make sure that they had to make threes in order to beat us, and boy, that was a heckuva gameplan," said SIU head coach Barry Hinson, whose team packed its defense into the paint, leaving the perimeter exposed.
A six-minute stretch late in the first half, in which Arkansas outscored Southern, 22-2, epitomized the evening. During one particularly lethal sequence, the Razorbacks connected on four 3-pointers in a 90-second flurry.
"We took what the defense gave us and we have multiple guys that can make shots," said Arkansas head coach Mike Anderson. "Our pressure defense sped them up — they made some shots early on — but sometimes that can be Fool's Gold."
The Salukis took some solace in winning the second half by six points, including a 9-2 run to end the game, but by then, Arkansas and what few fans remained, had long since lost interest.
"I thought we could have laid down in the second half and we didn't," Hinson said. "We did a good job of continuing to fight. I think we found out some good things about us."
Armon Fletcher led SIU with 13 points, while Leo Vincent and Sean Lloyd added 10 apiece. Thik Bol also chipped in nine points and 12 rebounds.
"We're coming in here wounded (after the loss to Wright State) and didn't have a good feel," Hinson continued. "We tried to get our guys back last night, which we had a really good practice. I thought the first four minutes of the game we actually kind of competed pretty good."
After scoring 29 points in the opener, point guard Mike Rodriguez was held to four points and 0-of-7 shooting from the field. At 5-foot-10, he came out on the short end of several blocked shots by Arkansas center Moses Kingsley, who had five rejections on the night.
"I told our staff and I told our team that going into this game, Michael Rodriguez would have a target on his back," Hinson said. "When a guy gets 29, he has a target the next time. He got sped up and a little bit out of his zone."
Arkansas used the blowout to spread minutes fairly evenly among a dozen players, as no one played more than 22 minutes. Hannahs led the team with 19 points and Kingsley added 15.
"It's hard to keep that same intensity with a lead that big," Anderson acknowledged.
It had been more than three years since Southern Illinois last played a BCS program in men's basketball (at Missouri on Nov. 12, 2013). The last time the Salukis beat a BCS program was in 2008, when they defeated Oklahoma State in the first round of the NIT. Since that game, they have now lost eight straight. They'll get two more tries year when they travel to Minnesota and Louisville.
The Salukis, who are 0-2 for only the fourth time in the last 50 years, host Division II Missouri Southern State on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
