Men's Basketball welcomes NIT championship team back for Saturday's game versus Evansville

Saturday, February 11

Carbondale, Ill.

3:00 PM

Southern Illinois University

Evansville

Men's Basketball welcomes NIT championship team back for Saturday's game versus Evansville

02/10/2017 | 3:28:00 | Men's Basketball

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By: By Tom Weber, SIUSalukis.com

Southern Illinois (14-12, 7-6) hosts Evansville (12-14, 3-10) on Saturday at 3 p.m. at SIU Arena, as Saluki Athletics celebrates the 50-year anniversary of SIU's 1967 NIT national championship. Fans will have the opportunity to take a picture with the NIT trophy in the lobby before the game. The following players will be introduced at halftime the game: Roger Bechtold, Walt Frazier, Dick Garrett, Willie Griffin, Bobby Jackson, Rick Millis, Clarence Smith, Jay Westcott and Creston Whitaker. Frazier will join the broadcast team on the MVC TV network during a segment midway through the second half.

The telecast will be cleared live on FOX Sports Midwest, FOX Sports Indiana and FOX Sports Kansas City, Comcast SportsNet Chicago, ESPN3 (outside the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska), DirecTV (FOX Sports Midwest – Channel 671; Comcast SportsNet Chicago – Channel 665), Dish Network (FOX Sports Midwest – Channel 418; Comcast SportsNet Chicago – Channel 429) and AT&T U-verse (FOX Sports Midwest -- Channels 748 and 1748; Comcast SportsNet Chicago – Channels 740 and 1740).

Head coach Barry Hinson met with the media prior to Friday's practice.

Is your team the 30 percent shooting team or the 50 percent shooting team?
I like to always think we're the 50 percent team, but obviously we didn't show that at Northern Iowa. My wife said I can't say we're the best shooting team I've coached, so I can't say that anymore. I do believe in these guys. I do believe they have the capability of making shots. For whatever reason, we didn't the other night. It was almost like influenza struck our team, not one guy. It's very unusual to find that when you play everybody, all nine guys, not one guy can make a shot. We weren't able to the other night. I think you have to give a lot of credit to Northern Iowa. I think they had a lot to do with that as well. We went back and charted the game, we were 6 for 19 on layups. That goes to show you we just had a bad night.

Your team got in foul trouble the first time you played Evansville. How will you stay out of it this time?
Yeah, as a matter of fact, we had lots of foul trouble. We didn't play every well in the first half. Michael didn't play very well. Sean [O'Brien] didn't get to play hardly at all in the first half. We ended up having foul trouble even with Sean again in the second half. There's no question in my mind that this game will go down to the wire. It's going to be a tough game. They've won two games in a row, they're feeling very confident. They've got the leading scorer in the conference. Their offense is dictated by him, so we have to do a great job of guarding. I think after the night that we just had at Northern Iowa, we've got to come back and be able to prove to people that we have the ability to score. Hopefully, we'll be able to do that.

Jaylon Brown is terrific at getting free throw attempts. What do you tell your players to stay off of them?
It's hard. It's really hard. He initiates contact and hopefully the officials will start recognizing that. He's a lot like Mike [Rodriguez] in a lot of ways. Mike initiates contact in the lane, but Jaylon initiates contact all over the floor. You've just got to be smart. Show all 10 fingers and get your hands back. You've got to make sure to be moving your feet because he's so good at drawing the foul.

Have you noticed any improvement from the depth on your bench? It's seems like the team has gotten much deeper.
I think our bench has helped us. Our interior substitutions haven't done what they're capable of doing, but certainly our guards have. Leo has moved up to almost 36 percent from three in the conference. He's starting to shoot the basketball the way we thought that he could. I think Jonathan Wiley has really helped us, specifically at rebounding and defending. I'm kind of proud of our bench. Those guys specifically. Austin [Weiher] and Rudy [Stradeniks], they need to pick it up. They need to play better. They've got the talent. Those two guys can help us a lot. They've got the ability to do so, they've just got to get a little more aggressive.

Can a bad shooting performance carry over to the next game?
I think with a lot of teams it would, but we have the attention deficit of a four-year old, so we're pretty good at releasing things in the moment. I really don't worry about anything holding over with our guys as a positive or a negative. I think they're pretty good at releasing anything out of their little heads.

Armon [Fletcher] has had tough shooting nights recently. Have you challenged him to go to the basket more?
I may have challenged Armon a little bit too much as of late. I haven't been real happy with his progress. He is a much better player than what he has shown. Certainly we have great expectations for him and I've really challenged him here as of late. We will just see if it works.

Will your perimeter defense carry over from the Northern Iowa game?
Yeah, that's one thing that I think were biting on right now. We are continually getting better defensively. Our defense has gotten so much better. It's the best defense we've played all year long. You hold Northern Iowa to 49 points on their home floor. Eleven percent from three. Thirty-seven percent from the field. We can't beat that. The only reason we didn't out rebound them is because we shot the ball so bad that the numbers a skewed. When you shoot the ball as bad as we did you don't get a lot of rebounds, so it's hard to catch up. That's the encouraging thing coming out of there. We know we can guard. We know we can play defense. We've just got to find a way to get the ball in the basket.

Evansville will bring a big crowd with them. Will that take away from the home court advantage at all?
I know they'll bring a good crowd. They always have. It goes back to the days of when the SIU vs. Evansville games meant a lot with Jerry Sloan playing for the Purple Aces and what was going on with us. Yeah, I think it just adds to the environment. I think this will be the largest crowd we've had in our facility all year long. Matter of fact, we have a chance for these next three games to be the largest crowds we've had. I know our guys are excited. I don't know if they're quite as excited as I am. They don't understand the magnitude of what these guys did. They don't understand what the NIT meant in relationship to the NCAA. The NIT was better. It was a more prestigious tournament. I don't think the guys remember Walt Frazier as much as I do. I am a student. I am a junior high kid wearing my Puma Clydes because of this guy. A guy that I've never met. And I'm 12 years old and I've got to have my Puma Clydes. I can tell you exactly what they were, Navy blue suede with the white Puma. I remember it to this day. I remember when I got them. Tennis shoes weren't even big deal back then. Matter of fact, we couldn't afford them. I bugged my mom and dad to get a pair. The only pair I had before that were called Flash and Dashes. They were the only pair of tennis shoes I bought. I bet we paid $4 for them, maybe not even that much. The Puma Clydes, I remember them. I remember how he dressed. He's a fashion icon. I can't wait to see him. I can't wait to see what he wears. We're going to get him to speak to our team. I'll be giddy. I don't know how our kids will be. They know LeBron. They don't even really know about Bird and Magic anymore. I can't wait to meet all the other guys. I think this is an opportunity to show our respect to all of those guys.