Men's Basketball hosts Indiana State on Wednesday night

Wednesday, January 4

Carbondale, Ill.

7 PM

Southern Illinois University

Indiana St.

01/03/2017 | 3:59:00 | Men's Basketball

Watch Listen Live Stats Game Notes Tickets

By: By Tom Weber, SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois (8-7, 1-1) hosts Indiana State (6-8, 0-2) in a Missouri Valley Conference matchup at SIU Arena on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Salukis are 49-10 all-time versus Indiana State at home. Last year, SIU swept the season series versus the Sycamores, 2-0. Prior to that, Indiana State had won four-straight.

Head coach Barry Hinson met with the media after Tuesday's practice.

How long will Armon Fletcher be out?
I always tell you exactly what the medical staff tells me. He is unlikely for tomorrow. [The foot] was not broken, nor was it dislocated. We didn't read the radiologist report until last night at 8 o'clock. We got word this morning at 9:30 that it was not broken or dislocated. That is great news. From beyond that we are day-to-day. It is based on pain tolerance. We can't aggravate it or hurt it anymore. It is based on his pain tolerance. It's a mid-foot sprain. I'm not a podiatrist. He's got a hurt foot.

Was it originally recommended that he rest for a few weeks before he played?
That was exactly what we were told at first. They're still leaning more toward that. They're also saying that the days of rest that he's had have helped, except on one pressure point. He said he felt better today, but we didn't allow him to do any work today and we won't let him do any work tomorrow. We might run him through tomorrow at warm-up to see how it is. We want him to play. We need him to play. Knowing that I can't damage him any further makes it a lot of difference, but it depends on Armon and his pain tolerance.

What stands out about Indiana State?
I think their size. No question, size and girth. We just watched film, and we talked about it. They've got girth. We can't let them have angles to the basket. They had really big, big plays down the stretch against Missouri State and it was their big guys making plays, specifically around the basket. [Brandon] Murphy got hammered on the shot that he made to tie it. I'm blown away that he didn't get a free throw. They hit him right on the top of the head. He got a dunk with .6 seconds and got fouled, but they didn't call it. They made two big plays down the stretch. They're much more mobile than they were in the past. Their size and girth bothers me a little bit, because we don't have that.

How long will you consider playing more zone defense?
I think we're going to play zone because zone is good for us. We held Drake to 27 percent when we were in our zone. That's some of the best numbers we've had all year long. I've got to get out of my head that zone is a bad word. For whatever reason, I've gotta get this Mr. Iba stuff out of here.

How has Crishawn Cook progressed throughout the season?
One thing he can do for us is guard. He can guard as well as anyone we have on the floor. He will struggle on the offensive end. I hope we don't get to that point, but if we do, we certainly will do that. Crishawn comes up because of Armon being out. Armon would have to be out, Jonathan [Wiley] would have to foul out and Austin [Weiher] would have to foul out for that to take place. We've ran Austin at the three some this week. We've run both of those guys at the guard spots all week.

The Drake win gave the team confidence. Has that carried into practice?
When we practice in the morning, we aren't very good. We don't have good bio-rhythms. We make them practice in the morning to get them off their feet. I'd like to tell you we've had a lot of spirited and enthusiastic practices, but guys that are 18 to 21 years-old, they're not enthusiastic in the morning about anything except going to the bathroom and eating breakfast. I do think it carries over for the game. The confidence will carry over specifically for the guys that have not played a lot or haven't played those spots on the floor. I liked what I saw the other night. I think it will help us a tremendous amount, especially knowing what it was like going into the game. It was one of the most depressed locker rooms I've ever been in before a game. We had literally just find out that Armon wouldn't play. You could tell all the kids we're stunned and their heads were down. We needed somebody to step up and our guys did.

Do you feel like Leo Vincent is back now?
I don't think you can say you're back after one game. I think certainly his confidence level should be better. You'd have to ask Leo that. I can't answer it for him. My confidence has never wavered in Leo. I've always told you, and I will continue to tell you, that I'm more worried about them on the defensive end. Certainly, we need them to make shots. We can't do what we did at Bradley and have Armon and Leo go 2 for 18 [from three]. We can't do that. If we didn't have confidence in Leo we wouldn't have played him the other night and certainly going 5-for-8 from three is pretty good.

Jonathan Wiley had his best performance as a Saluki. What is he doing well?
Jonathan is caught in a conundrum. Sean O'Brien, our best player, is right in front of him. He doesn't get the minutes that he needs to get to get better. Now that he's playing a little bit with Armon it gives him time. Time heals all wounds and it will help Jonathan a lot. I think Jonathan can be a particularly good player for us tomorrow night in the ball game because he is hard to guard. He is unorthodox. He likes to defend and go to the glass.

He played multiple positions in junior college. What is his best role?
I think it depends on the game. I think it depends on the matchup. He is certainly more comfortable in the hybrid spot. I don't think he's a post player and I don't think he's a guard. I think he is a true hybrid. That's why we recruited him. We saw a lot of Sean O'Brien in him. His passing skills aren't as good, but I think they're improving. We certainly need him to be in that role especially for next year.

Is Sean O'Brien running the show, rather than the guards, a better option for the offense?
Our emphasis is always to get the ball to Sean O'Brien. We want to play everything through him. That's [the coaches'] emphasis. Sometimes it doesn't quite make it to the floor. That's why you've seen us break out of huddles and sometimes we yell the word "focus." We've got the attention span of a five-year-old. I know that because I have a five-year-old grandson. I know what I can relate it to. As soon as we get better in that regard, I think we'll get better on the floor.

Did you impress on Sean Lloyd to get more rebounds?
I challenged him before the last game. I challenged him to get five offensive rebounds, instead he decided to get seven defensive rebounds in the first half. We need him to get rebounds on both ends of the floor, because we aren't getting any rebounds out of our three spot right now. We were earlier in the year. I think Armon fell in love with floating around the perimeter and we've got to get him going to the boards.

What difficulties does Everett Clemons bring to your guards?
That's all we talked about today. He is the head of the snake. I think Clemons is the best player on Indiana State. I know who the leading scorer is, but the best player is Everett Clemons. I thought that last year. He is close to being the leading rebounder. He's leading in assists. He's the second-leading scorer. I think he is their best player. It's a huge matchup for us tomorrow night.