Sunday, December 31
Carbondale, IL
3 PM
Southern Illinois University
9-6, (1-1)
67
vs
70
Drake
8-7. (1-1)
1
2
F
Drake University
36
34
70
Southern Illinois
26
41
67
Late rally falls short as Drake tops Men's Basketball, 70-67
12/31/2017 | 7:03:00 | Men's Basketball
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Three days after pulling off an upset at Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois became an upset victim itself, falling to Drake at SIU Arena on Sunday in a 70-67 stunner.
The Salukis (9-6, 1-1) were coming off their first road win at UNI in 14 years, but none of the momentum from that victory carried over, as they trailed the entire game and by as many as 16 points before mounting a furious rally that fell just short.
Picked to finish last in the Missouri Valley Conference preaseson poll, the Bulldogs (8-7, 2-0) sprinted to an 18-6 lead and led by double digits for most of the rest of the game. They were up by 13 points with less than four minutes to play, before Southern forced four turnovers and reeled off a frantic 13-2 run to cut it to 69-67 on an Aaron Cook 3-pointer with 44 seconds left.
After Drake's Reed Timmer missed a layup with 22 seconds to play, SIU had a chance to tie or take the lead, but Armon Fletcher missed a three and the Salukis were forced to foul Graham Woodward with seven seconds. Woodward left SIU an opening by missing the second free throw, and Fletcher had a decent look at another three that hit the backboard before rimming out at the buzzer.
Timmer led Drake with 20 points and five assists, while forward Nick McGlynn added 17 points. The Bulldogs snapped a 10-game road losing streak and won for only the third time on the road in their last 42 tries.
"They've been hearing a lot about not having success on the road," said first-year Drake head coach Niko Medved. "They came ready to play today. Clearly, we jumped on these guys."
In what promises to be a wacky MVC season, Drake finds itself in unfamiliar territory — atop the MVC standings — quite a surprise for a program that hasn't produced a winning record in the league in 10 years.
"I don't care about the past," Medved said. "That has nothing to do with me. We just try to focus on what we believe we need to do. It's a two-way street. These kids have been unbelievable for me. They've bought in."
After the game, Southern Illinois head coach Barry Hinson announced that senior forward Thik Bol, who had practiced twice this week and warmed up before today's game, would be sidelined the rest of the season with the knee injury that has kept him off the floor to date.
"We had to announce that to our guys this morning," Hinson said. "I'm extremely disappointed in what this team is going through. It's about to drive us nuts. This team can't take much more adversity. We were at such a high yesterday at the end of practice, and as high as we've been, we hit the lowest point this morning."
The Salukis have encountered a variety of maladies during the first two months of the season. Point guard Marcus Bartley missed six games with a broken wrist. Reserve guard Eric McGill is out with a hand injury. The flu bug has been going around the team and kept backup center Rudy Stradnieks out tonight, on a night when starter Kavion Pippen went 4-for-13 from the field.
"We missed Rudy today," Hinson said. "You can't miss nine shots and the guy scores 17 on you."
Several players have had lesser injuries that haven't kept them out of the lineup. Sean Lloyd wore a protective mask on his broken nose and scored 13 points today on 6-of-13 shooting.
"Those shots he missed — he can't see with the mask," Hinson said. "I kept yelling at our trainer, 'he's got to take the mask off, he can't see!'"
Fletcher led Southern with 15 points and 12 rebounds, but he too, had the flu.
"I'm not making excuses, guys, I don't do that," Hinson said. "We haven't made excuses all year long. This team is struggling right now with the adversity we're having."
The final shooting numbers were less than stellar for both teams — Drake was 5-of-22 from 3-point, while Southern was 6-of-25.
"I thought we had a lot of good looks from three tonight that didn't go in, but I suppose they would say the same thing," Medved said. "It's crazy how basketball works. I thought we had some opportunities, some great looks that didn't go in at that 5-6 minute mark. We knew they were going to make one more run."
Even with a four-guard lineup, the Salukis had a size advantage over Drake, which played only two players taller than 6-foot-3. That led to a 44-37 rebounding edge and a season-high 14 offensive boards for the Salukis. Still, Drake had a 36-34 advantage in points in the paint.
"We know we're not the biggest team, we're not the most athletic team, but they really work hard together," Medved said.
SIU will look to bounce back on Wednesday when it hosts Evansville, which is 0-2 in the league.
"We just couldn't get them going tonight and it's my job to get these guys back," Hinson said. "I tried to address it before the game. I think when you look at the stats, you ask yourself, what happened? I'm trying to explain what I think happened as best I can."
The Salukis (9-6, 1-1) were coming off their first road win at UNI in 14 years, but none of the momentum from that victory carried over, as they trailed the entire game and by as many as 16 points before mounting a furious rally that fell just short.
Picked to finish last in the Missouri Valley Conference preaseson poll, the Bulldogs (8-7, 2-0) sprinted to an 18-6 lead and led by double digits for most of the rest of the game. They were up by 13 points with less than four minutes to play, before Southern forced four turnovers and reeled off a frantic 13-2 run to cut it to 69-67 on an Aaron Cook 3-pointer with 44 seconds left.
After Drake's Reed Timmer missed a layup with 22 seconds to play, SIU had a chance to tie or take the lead, but Armon Fletcher missed a three and the Salukis were forced to foul Graham Woodward with seven seconds. Woodward left SIU an opening by missing the second free throw, and Fletcher had a decent look at another three that hit the backboard before rimming out at the buzzer.
Timmer led Drake with 20 points and five assists, while forward Nick McGlynn added 17 points. The Bulldogs snapped a 10-game road losing streak and won for only the third time on the road in their last 42 tries.
"They've been hearing a lot about not having success on the road," said first-year Drake head coach Niko Medved. "They came ready to play today. Clearly, we jumped on these guys."
In what promises to be a wacky MVC season, Drake finds itself in unfamiliar territory — atop the MVC standings — quite a surprise for a program that hasn't produced a winning record in the league in 10 years.
"I don't care about the past," Medved said. "That has nothing to do with me. We just try to focus on what we believe we need to do. It's a two-way street. These kids have been unbelievable for me. They've bought in."
After the game, Southern Illinois head coach Barry Hinson announced that senior forward Thik Bol, who had practiced twice this week and warmed up before today's game, would be sidelined the rest of the season with the knee injury that has kept him off the floor to date.
"We had to announce that to our guys this morning," Hinson said. "I'm extremely disappointed in what this team is going through. It's about to drive us nuts. This team can't take much more adversity. We were at such a high yesterday at the end of practice, and as high as we've been, we hit the lowest point this morning."
The Salukis have encountered a variety of maladies during the first two months of the season. Point guard Marcus Bartley missed six games with a broken wrist. Reserve guard Eric McGill is out with a hand injury. The flu bug has been going around the team and kept backup center Rudy Stradnieks out tonight, on a night when starter Kavion Pippen went 4-for-13 from the field.
"We missed Rudy today," Hinson said. "You can't miss nine shots and the guy scores 17 on you."
Several players have had lesser injuries that haven't kept them out of the lineup. Sean Lloyd wore a protective mask on his broken nose and scored 13 points today on 6-of-13 shooting.
"Those shots he missed — he can't see with the mask," Hinson said. "I kept yelling at our trainer, 'he's got to take the mask off, he can't see!'"
Fletcher led Southern with 15 points and 12 rebounds, but he too, had the flu.
"I'm not making excuses, guys, I don't do that," Hinson said. "We haven't made excuses all year long. This team is struggling right now with the adversity we're having."
The final shooting numbers were less than stellar for both teams — Drake was 5-of-22 from 3-point, while Southern was 6-of-25.
"I thought we had a lot of good looks from three tonight that didn't go in, but I suppose they would say the same thing," Medved said. "It's crazy how basketball works. I thought we had some opportunities, some great looks that didn't go in at that 5-6 minute mark. We knew they were going to make one more run."
Even with a four-guard lineup, the Salukis had a size advantage over Drake, which played only two players taller than 6-foot-3. That led to a 44-37 rebounding edge and a season-high 14 offensive boards for the Salukis. Still, Drake had a 36-34 advantage in points in the paint.
"We know we're not the biggest team, we're not the most athletic team, but they really work hard together," Medved said.
SIU will look to bounce back on Wednesday when it hosts Evansville, which is 0-2 in the league.
"We just couldn't get them going tonight and it's my job to get these guys back," Hinson said. "I tried to address it before the game. I think when you look at the stats, you ask yourself, what happened? I'm trying to explain what I think happened as best I can."
Team Stats
DU
SIU
FG%
.426
.394
3FG%
.227
.240
FT%
.765
1.000
RB
37
44
TO
8
11
STL
5
6
Game Leaders
Pts
15
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
13
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
C
/ Men's Basketball
F
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