Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
21-7, 10-5
Bradley
4-24, 2-13
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bradley | 34 | 25 | 59 |
| Southern Illinois | 36 | 35 | 71 |
Men's Basketball holds off Bradley, 71-59
02/17/2016 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois overcame an off night by superstar guard Anthony Beane to pull away late and beat Bradley, 71-59, on Wednesday night at SIU Arena.
Coming off back-to-back 31-point games, Beane missed his first 12 shots tonight before finally connecting on two late 3-pointers to finish with six points. They were clutch triples, though, and came on back-to-back possessions, helping Southern push a precarious five-point lead to 11 with three minutes to go in the contest.
"If we don't score there, whew, man, it'd be like me and Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant," said SIU head coach Barry Hinson. "We'd of been in a bear fight."
After holding Beane down all night, those two treys were a gut punch to a surprisingly competitive Bradley team that wasn't expected to challenge a veteran SIU club. The Braves (4-24, 2-13) played eight freshmen and one sophomore, and they were without one of their top players, Luuk VanBree, who was injured a day earlier in practice.
"We didn't give (Beane) any clean looks to get himself going until when it mattered," said first-year Bradley head coach Brian Wardle. "That's what a really good senior does. He kind of buried us with those back-to-back threes."
For most of the night, it was Sean O'Brien who picked up the scoring slack for the Salukis (21-7, 10-5), who remained tied for third place with Evansville. The 6-foot-7 junior forward scored 24 points on 11-of-13 shooting from the field. He frequently established deep post position for easy layups.
"On the post-iso play, O'Brien scored five layups," Wardle lamented. "We went over that about 15 times, we watched it on film, we obviously didn't teach it enough."
The Salukis eked out a 36-34 lead at halftime and Hinson expressed displeasure with his team's defense.
"My wife could have dribble-driven us the first half," he said, semi-seriously after the game.
SIU's defensive intensity picked up in the second half, holding Bradley to just one field goal in the first eight-and-half minutes. The Braves committed 23 turnovers in the game and the Salukis grabbed a dozen steals.
"They shoot gaps, they gamble -- they've got a high-risk, high-reward (defense) when they play us," Wardle said. "It's smart, though. We're young and our decision-making is questionable at times."
Outside of O'Brien's scoring in the post, Southern's offense labored much of the night. The team shot 42 percent from the field and 27 percent from outside the arc. Junior point guard Mike Rodriguez had a positive offensive performance, though, with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting. It was the most points he's scored since recording 15 in the season opener against Air Force.
"(Mike) had a good game tonight, attacked the basket, made a big three right when we needed it," Hinson said.
Bradley out-rebounded SIU, 41-33, and with many of Beane's shots coming up short, Hinson determined his team had tired legs.
"When all those things are in combination, then maybe we went a little too hard the last couple of days," he said.
The highlight of the game, according to Hinson, came after he encouraged Beane to keep shooting, despite his struggles.
"(Anthony) looked at me and he said, `Coach - I'm not worried about it. We're winning,'" Hinson retold. "That's when you love being a head coach. What a great quote from a great kid."
