Thursday, December 22
Carbondale, Ill.
7:00 PM
Southern Illinois University
vs
UT Martin
Men's Basketball hosts UT Martin in final non-conference game on Thursday
12/21/2016 | 2:22:00 | Men's Basketball
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois (6-6) hosts UT Martin (10-4) in the final non-conference game of the season for both teams. The game marks a school-record, eighth non-conference home game for SIU. Saluki Athletics is offering a special discounted ticket for $10.
The Salukis are 6-0 all-time in the series versus UT Martin. All six games were played in Carbondale. The last meeting between the schools was a 91-63 Saluki vicotry on Nov. 14, 2009. Five players scored in double figures for Southern — Carlton Fay (18), Kevin Dillard (14), Kendal Brown-Surles (12), Tony Freeman (10) and Anthony Booker (10). The 91 points were the most by a Saluki team since 2004.Â
Head coach Barry Hinson met with the media prior to Wednesday's practice.
What do you do to keep pace with UT Martin in the rebounding battle?
I looked at the stats and there was a point in time last night when they had 52 rebounds to 25 rebounds (against UMKC). I just thought that was a phenomenal stat. Certainly, right now rebounding is one of our weaknesses. We have to shore it up and do a better job.
I don't mind telling you guys, when we've talked about how hard this schedule is, this is one of those games we were referring to. Everybody wants to talk about Minnesota, Arkansas, Louisville, UNLV, but this team is as good if not better than some of those teams. We know how good they are. It's also a game right before Christmas break, which is always a dangerous game for a lot of people.Â
Do you guard Kedar Edwards with a forward or a guard?
We have some length with Armon (Fletcher) that we feel like we can guard him with. We went over film this morning, and the thing that this kid does is plays hard all the time. He never takes a moment off. For us, not only is that something we're concerned about, we also draw conclusions from it that that's how hard we have to play as well.
Rebounding — is it more finding the guy you are guarding or looking for the ball?
When you struggle, it's versus athleticism and length, and we don't have that. We're not very athletic and we're not very lengthy in certain of our positions. To me, rebounding has always been about those guys that want to fight and compete. I remember when we played Drake, and Drake was in the top 20, and Drake had a bunch of guards, but they were one of the best rebounding teams in the country. This is when I was at Missouri State. The only reason they were good was because they just went after the ball. This kid we're going up against tomorrow night is 6-foot-4. He goes after the ball. You have to have a little bit of heart and a little bit of toughness about yourself.Â
If you win this game you'll be above .500, and with how tough the schedule was, does that really build some confidence?
I think so. If you had told us at the start of the season with the schedule we have, that we'd have a chance to be above .500, I think your fans are not happy, but we're realistic. We understand all of this. Everybody wants me to make a comment about the strength of our schedule right now. I don't think I can tell you if it's helping or hurting us until the end of the season, but I still draw the conclusion it's got to help us.Â
UT Martin shoots 50 percent from the field. Do they get great shots?
Any time you shoot a high percentage is because you're getting a lot of layups and scoring in transition. They're scoring 80 points a game. They also have four guys averaging double figures. That's really impressive.
Leadership-wise how much does Mike Rodriguez and Sean O'Brien's voice register with the team?
It's the key to the success of our basketball season. I won't hide from that question. I won't hide from that comment. I've always said you're only as good as your seniors. Coaches coach and teach, but players lead. You gotta have players on the floor who are vocal at all times.Â
When do you need to make a decision on possibly redshirting Tyler Smithpeters?
I think we're getting there. We had every desire of wanting to play him in Vegas. We thought about playing him tomorrow night, and still, we're not going to take that off the table. We may play him against UT Martin. We're trying to shrink that clock, and the thing about the clock is it keeps moving. We'll make a decision pretty quick. The decision has to be made with Tyler, his mom and dad, the medical staff. It changes everything. It changes recruiting and a lot of lineups. The other thing is, there's no guarantee. That's the gamble. There's no guarantee he'd receive it. You have to apply for it. I really believe he'll get it. You have to be upfront about it with everybody involved in the decision.
Regarding Anthony Stewart (former Saluki assistant and current UT Martin head coach), how hard is it to get a second chance?
I think the world of Anthony. Every time I've seen Anthony where I'm at recruiting, he's the first guy to come up to me in the gym, how you doing? The reason we had any success my first (two) years is Desmar Jackson, and that all went back to Anthony. What he's done with this program at Martin is phenomenal.Â
If you fail in your first chance as a Division I coach, how hard is it to get a second chance?
In today's society, we don't like to give second chances in the sports industry. Everybody wants fixes — fixes now, quick fixes right now. That's not the way it works. You'll find out that any program that's always stuck with a coach, or that's had longevity, especially at the mid-major level, that it takes so much time to get a program stable. Then at this level, you're also cyclical in a lot of ways. It's going to happen to Wichita State, it's going to happen to Northern Iowa, it happened to Southern Illinois, it happened to Missouri State. It happens everywhere. At the top level it doesn't happen very often, but at this level it's really difficult.
You had other opportunities to take different jobs at Kansas?
I wasn't ever leaving Kansas. I had no desire to leave Kansas. None. The only way way I would ever leave Kansas was if I found a job that I really, honestly knew it would be a dream job. I'm at Southern Illinois. Why would a guy ever leave Kansas? You're talking about one of the top five programs all time. I didn't want to leave, but I knew about this community, the tradition of this University, I knew how important basketball was at Southern Illinois University. I went after this job. It wasn't one of these things — I'm at Kansas — you can come to me. Absolutely not. I courted this job. I had other opportunities to take other jobs. I didn't want them.Â
The Salukis are 6-0 all-time in the series versus UT Martin. All six games were played in Carbondale. The last meeting between the schools was a 91-63 Saluki vicotry on Nov. 14, 2009. Five players scored in double figures for Southern — Carlton Fay (18), Kevin Dillard (14), Kendal Brown-Surles (12), Tony Freeman (10) and Anthony Booker (10). The 91 points were the most by a Saluki team since 2004.Â
Head coach Barry Hinson met with the media prior to Wednesday's practice.
What do you do to keep pace with UT Martin in the rebounding battle?
I looked at the stats and there was a point in time last night when they had 52 rebounds to 25 rebounds (against UMKC). I just thought that was a phenomenal stat. Certainly, right now rebounding is one of our weaknesses. We have to shore it up and do a better job.
I don't mind telling you guys, when we've talked about how hard this schedule is, this is one of those games we were referring to. Everybody wants to talk about Minnesota, Arkansas, Louisville, UNLV, but this team is as good if not better than some of those teams. We know how good they are. It's also a game right before Christmas break, which is always a dangerous game for a lot of people.Â
Do you guard Kedar Edwards with a forward or a guard?
We have some length with Armon (Fletcher) that we feel like we can guard him with. We went over film this morning, and the thing that this kid does is plays hard all the time. He never takes a moment off. For us, not only is that something we're concerned about, we also draw conclusions from it that that's how hard we have to play as well.
Rebounding — is it more finding the guy you are guarding or looking for the ball?
When you struggle, it's versus athleticism and length, and we don't have that. We're not very athletic and we're not very lengthy in certain of our positions. To me, rebounding has always been about those guys that want to fight and compete. I remember when we played Drake, and Drake was in the top 20, and Drake had a bunch of guards, but they were one of the best rebounding teams in the country. This is when I was at Missouri State. The only reason they were good was because they just went after the ball. This kid we're going up against tomorrow night is 6-foot-4. He goes after the ball. You have to have a little bit of heart and a little bit of toughness about yourself.Â
If you win this game you'll be above .500, and with how tough the schedule was, does that really build some confidence?
I think so. If you had told us at the start of the season with the schedule we have, that we'd have a chance to be above .500, I think your fans are not happy, but we're realistic. We understand all of this. Everybody wants me to make a comment about the strength of our schedule right now. I don't think I can tell you if it's helping or hurting us until the end of the season, but I still draw the conclusion it's got to help us.Â
UT Martin shoots 50 percent from the field. Do they get great shots?
Any time you shoot a high percentage is because you're getting a lot of layups and scoring in transition. They're scoring 80 points a game. They also have four guys averaging double figures. That's really impressive.
Leadership-wise how much does Mike Rodriguez and Sean O'Brien's voice register with the team?
It's the key to the success of our basketball season. I won't hide from that question. I won't hide from that comment. I've always said you're only as good as your seniors. Coaches coach and teach, but players lead. You gotta have players on the floor who are vocal at all times.Â
When do you need to make a decision on possibly redshirting Tyler Smithpeters?
I think we're getting there. We had every desire of wanting to play him in Vegas. We thought about playing him tomorrow night, and still, we're not going to take that off the table. We may play him against UT Martin. We're trying to shrink that clock, and the thing about the clock is it keeps moving. We'll make a decision pretty quick. The decision has to be made with Tyler, his mom and dad, the medical staff. It changes everything. It changes recruiting and a lot of lineups. The other thing is, there's no guarantee. That's the gamble. There's no guarantee he'd receive it. You have to apply for it. I really believe he'll get it. You have to be upfront about it with everybody involved in the decision.
Regarding Anthony Stewart (former Saluki assistant and current UT Martin head coach), how hard is it to get a second chance?
I think the world of Anthony. Every time I've seen Anthony where I'm at recruiting, he's the first guy to come up to me in the gym, how you doing? The reason we had any success my first (two) years is Desmar Jackson, and that all went back to Anthony. What he's done with this program at Martin is phenomenal.Â
If you fail in your first chance as a Division I coach, how hard is it to get a second chance?
In today's society, we don't like to give second chances in the sports industry. Everybody wants fixes — fixes now, quick fixes right now. That's not the way it works. You'll find out that any program that's always stuck with a coach, or that's had longevity, especially at the mid-major level, that it takes so much time to get a program stable. Then at this level, you're also cyclical in a lot of ways. It's going to happen to Wichita State, it's going to happen to Northern Iowa, it happened to Southern Illinois, it happened to Missouri State. It happens everywhere. At the top level it doesn't happen very often, but at this level it's really difficult.
You had other opportunities to take different jobs at Kansas?
I wasn't ever leaving Kansas. I had no desire to leave Kansas. None. The only way way I would ever leave Kansas was if I found a job that I really, honestly knew it would be a dream job. I'm at Southern Illinois. Why would a guy ever leave Kansas? You're talking about one of the top five programs all time. I didn't want to leave, but I knew about this community, the tradition of this University, I knew how important basketball was at Southern Illinois University. I went after this job. It wasn't one of these things — I'm at Kansas — you can come to me. Absolutely not. I courted this job. I had other opportunities to take other jobs. I didn't want them.Â
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Basketball
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