Saturday, January 21
Carbondale, Ill.
7:00 PM
Southern Illinois University
vs
Northern Iowa
Men's Basketball hosts Northern Iowa on Saturday in White Out game
01/20/2017 | 3:51:00 | Men's Basketball
Southern Illinois (11-9, 4-3) hosts Northern Iowa (7-11, 2-5) on Saturday at 7 p.m. This is a "White Out" game in which fans are encouraged to wear white to the arena. The Salukis have a 21-6 record all-time against the Panthers at SIU Arena. UNI has won four of the last five meetings overall between the teams, however. SIU's win in that span came at home on Jan. 2, 2016. In that game, Anthony Beane matched his career high with 32 points, including 6-of-10 makes from 3-point.
Head coach Barry Hinson met with the media prior to Friday's practice.
How do you bounce back from the Drake game?
I think that's the question, the headline going into this game. You're playing a team that's won two games in a row, and you have another team that's playing in a game that just lost a heartbreaker. How do the Dawgs bounce back? Hopefully, we do that through great practice, energy and enthusiasm. This is conference basketball. It's the dog days of college basketball. It's going to be like that. Our players have got to get this in their head, and maybe our fans as well, we have no games on our schedule, zero games, that we can walk into and say we're going to win the ballgame. We haven't  had a game like that all year long. This will be my 36th year of coaching, and I've never been through a season where I had no games, where you just felt like you could relax. Our only non-Division I game was after we had lost two games in a row. We didn't even know if we were going to beat the non-DI opponent. That's how much our confidence was shaken up at the time. This has been a really stressful, tough year for us, but I have to think that it pays off down the stretch.
How have the kids responded in practice?
We haven't practiced. We're going to practice today. I felt like it was a time for us to watch film and for our guys to be able to see. It's one thing to talk about it, the guys need to come back and see it. I've said this over the years and I complete agree with it — adults, we have a hard time letting go, but kids are different. I wish I could be a kid again. I wish I had their resilience that I could let stuff go. I can't think of a game where we've been beat where we didn't come out the next game and play really well.
What do you need to do to stop Bennett Koch from getting to the free throw line?
First of all, you have to stay on the ground — you can't take shot fakes. He's crafty. Everybody right now is attacking us inside-out, which they should, that's what we're trying to do to people as well. It's going to be a big game for Thik (Bol), Austin (Weiher) and Rudy (Stradnieks). Can you guard on the block? That's obviously where they're going.
What are you looking to do to improve on the defensive side of the ball?
We have to get better. Our defense has improved dramatically. We're not in last place, we're probably in the middle of the pack. I don't really know where we are in the conference. I don't look at conference stats until the midway mark. When we get through playing at Wichita State next week, I'll start paying attention to the stats conference-wise. I've always done that as a coach. Non-conference stats don't mean anything to me. Some teams play really tough schedules like we did, some people don't play tough schedules, so statistics are very skewed. I still know this, you can't give up 88 points and win a basketball game. We still scored 84, so it's not offense right now. On the road, we have to be able to guard better.Â
Northern Iowa starting 0-5 was maybe unexpected, but obviously a talented basketball team. What challenges are you looking for?
This time last year they were 2-6, and they (end up) one game from the Sweet 16. I can promise you, I don't know who is looking at records, but I know one guy that's not. I've been in this league a long time. As a matter of fact, I've been in this league longer than any other coach. I know for a fact they're going to play really well. Here come the Panthers. They've won two in a row, doesn't surprise me one bit. They're not going to finish last. They're not going to finish in the bottom half. You can put that in the bank.Â
How does having three go-to scorers help your offense?
I think you saw at Drake that we started shooting the ball better, specifically in the second half, we go 6-for-8 from the three. It's the team that I thought we have. I think we have guys that can shoot the ball. Leo Vincent still, for whatever reason, is in a slump. We need to get Leo going because he's one of the best shooters on the team.Â
Head coach Barry Hinson met with the media prior to Friday's practice.
How do you bounce back from the Drake game?
I think that's the question, the headline going into this game. You're playing a team that's won two games in a row, and you have another team that's playing in a game that just lost a heartbreaker. How do the Dawgs bounce back? Hopefully, we do that through great practice, energy and enthusiasm. This is conference basketball. It's the dog days of college basketball. It's going to be like that. Our players have got to get this in their head, and maybe our fans as well, we have no games on our schedule, zero games, that we can walk into and say we're going to win the ballgame. We haven't  had a game like that all year long. This will be my 36th year of coaching, and I've never been through a season where I had no games, where you just felt like you could relax. Our only non-Division I game was after we had lost two games in a row. We didn't even know if we were going to beat the non-DI opponent. That's how much our confidence was shaken up at the time. This has been a really stressful, tough year for us, but I have to think that it pays off down the stretch.
How have the kids responded in practice?
We haven't practiced. We're going to practice today. I felt like it was a time for us to watch film and for our guys to be able to see. It's one thing to talk about it, the guys need to come back and see it. I've said this over the years and I complete agree with it — adults, we have a hard time letting go, but kids are different. I wish I could be a kid again. I wish I had their resilience that I could let stuff go. I can't think of a game where we've been beat where we didn't come out the next game and play really well.
What do you need to do to stop Bennett Koch from getting to the free throw line?
First of all, you have to stay on the ground — you can't take shot fakes. He's crafty. Everybody right now is attacking us inside-out, which they should, that's what we're trying to do to people as well. It's going to be a big game for Thik (Bol), Austin (Weiher) and Rudy (Stradnieks). Can you guard on the block? That's obviously where they're going.
What are you looking to do to improve on the defensive side of the ball?
We have to get better. Our defense has improved dramatically. We're not in last place, we're probably in the middle of the pack. I don't really know where we are in the conference. I don't look at conference stats until the midway mark. When we get through playing at Wichita State next week, I'll start paying attention to the stats conference-wise. I've always done that as a coach. Non-conference stats don't mean anything to me. Some teams play really tough schedules like we did, some people don't play tough schedules, so statistics are very skewed. I still know this, you can't give up 88 points and win a basketball game. We still scored 84, so it's not offense right now. On the road, we have to be able to guard better.Â
Northern Iowa starting 0-5 was maybe unexpected, but obviously a talented basketball team. What challenges are you looking for?
This time last year they were 2-6, and they (end up) one game from the Sweet 16. I can promise you, I don't know who is looking at records, but I know one guy that's not. I've been in this league a long time. As a matter of fact, I've been in this league longer than any other coach. I know for a fact they're going to play really well. Here come the Panthers. They've won two in a row, doesn't surprise me one bit. They're not going to finish last. They're not going to finish in the bottom half. You can put that in the bank.Â
How does having three go-to scorers help your offense?
I think you saw at Drake that we started shooting the ball better, specifically in the second half, we go 6-for-8 from the three. It's the team that I thought we have. I think we have guys that can shoot the ball. Leo Vincent still, for whatever reason, is in a slump. We need to get Leo going because he's one of the best shooters on the team.Â
Players Mentioned
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