Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
2-2
SIUE
2-2
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| SIU Carbondale | 54 | 47 | 101 |
| SIUE | 33 | 50 | 83 |
Men's Basketball routs sister school SIUE, 101-83
11/18/2016 | 10:02:00 | Men's Basketball
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. — Southern Illinois played as close to a perfect first half as you'll ever see en route to a 101-83 blowout of sister school SIUE on Friday night at the Vadalabene Center.
During a rapid-fire opening 20 minutes of action, the Salukis (2-2) shot a blistering 73.3 percent (22-of-30) from the field with 15 assists and two turnovers. What looked like a competitive game, as the teams mostly traded baskets during the first eight minutes, suddenly turned into a rout after a back-breaking 18-2 Saluki run.
The key pieces of the offense were the team's three seniors — forward Sean O'Brien and guards Leo Vincent and Mike Rodriguez.
O'Brien worked over SIUE's low-post defenders with some nifty power moves off the dribble. He had 12 of his 22 points in the first half. Where he really shined, though, was as a passer, nearly recording a triple-double with nine rebounds and nine assists.
"That's the best performance I've ever had a player make as an individual player," said SIU head coach Barry Hinson. "Going into this game, our 'fours' had four assists and 23 turnovers. I'm almost sure you can't get a tax credit under (Donald) Trump's tax policy with that. But tonight, Sean had nine assists all by himself."
Vincent and Rodriguez simply beat defenders off the dribble with ease, as Edwardsville allowed unimpeded access to the paint. Vincent had 13 of his 20 points in the first half. Rodriguez did what he does best, blow by defenders with his right hand, finishing with 20 points and five assists.
By the time the halftime buzzer sounded, Southern Illinois led, 54-33. The rest was academic.
For the game, the Salukis shot 68.5 percent from the field, the third-best shooting night in school history. They also had 25 assists, which narrowly missed a top-10 mark. The 101 points were the most scored during the Hinson era.
"That's probably the second-best (offensive) performance I've had in 36 years," Hinson said. "If we pass and move the ball like we did tonight, I think we're pretty good offensively. Boy, when we settled in, we settled in. We got going. We played fast, but we also played efficient."
In addition to the big three, there were solid complementary performances by Armon Fletcher (11 points, 4-of-4 shooting), Rudy Stradnieks (7 first-half points) and Aaron Cook (5 points, 5 assists).
About the only thing to go wrong in the game for Southern Illinois was front-court fouling as forwards Thik Bol, Stradnieks and Weiher all fouled out, while Fletcher and O'Brien each picked up four.
After losing by 25 points at Arkansas earlier in the week, SIU showed some of the same road magic it had last year, when it went 4-0 in non-conference road games. Both teams were playing their fourth game in a week's time. SIUE just returned from a three-game road trip in Hawaii.
The Salukis were primed to avenge a two-point loss to the Cougars in Carbondale last year. Tonight marked the ninth meeting overall between the schools, which are separated by one letter and roughly 100 miles. This was the sixth meeting since SIUE moved up from Division II to Division I in 2007. Both head coaches said afterward they would like the series to continue.
"This is a rivalry game and you have to come out with intensity, and we didn't have that in the first half," said SIUE head coach Jon Harris. "We had intensity in the second half."
"This was one of the games I was most looking forward to this year, circled it on my calendar," added O'Brien. "There was no worse feeling than losing to them on our home court, so our whole team had a ton of motivation."
