Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Saturday, February 11
Carbondale, Ill.
3:00 PM
Southern Illinois University
14-13, (7-7)
70
vs
75
Evansville
13-14, (4-10)
1
2
F
Evansville
36
39
75
Southern Illinois
26
44
70
Photo by: Madison Case
Evansville picks up first conference road win by topping Men's Basketball, 75-70
02/11/2017 | 7:10:00 | Men's Basketball
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Evansville won its first conference road game of the season on Saturday, beating Southern Illinois, 75-70, and spoiling the party for a season-high crowd of 5,490 that welcomed back Walt Frazier and the rest of the 1967 NIT champions for their 50-year anniversary.
The Purple Aces (13-14, 4-10) unleashed a precise half-court offense that featured players cutting to the basket for frequent easy buckets. They shot 54 percent from the field and had a 42-28 advantage in points in the paint. The starting five scored all of Evansville's points, led by Duane Gibson's stat line of 27 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Guards Jaylon Brown (14) and Ryan Taylor (13) and center David Howard (12) joined him in double-figure scoring.
In the first meeting between the teams in Evansville on Jan. 14, SIU rallied from a big first-half deficit by employing a triangle-and-two defense that stymied the Aces. Today, Evansville was ready for it.
"Our guys did a good job of recognizing the creases on the inside of that triangle and we got some pretty good looks in there," said Evansville coach Marty Simmons, who has won four-straight games at SIU Arena.
For the second-straight game, the Salukis (14-13, 7-7) trailed from start to finish. Yes, the offense is laboring, but head coach Barry Hinson suggested the team's shooting woes may be affecting the defense as well.
"I'd love to talk about defense, but I can't because we didn't play any," he said. "We didn't play a lick of defense today. It's the only thing we've done good here over the recent games."
Two players stood out offensively for the Salukis. Leo Vincent came off the bench to score a season-high 21 points and was 5-of-9 from long range. Sean O'Brien had his eighth double-double of the season with 18 points and 13 rebounds. He was 8-of-11 from the field. Southern's other eight players combined to go 10-for-36. Three starters (Sean Lloyd, Armon Fletcher and Thik Bol) were 1-for-17.
Evansville led 36-26 at halftime and pushed the advantage to 45-30 on a transition layup by Gibson with 15:00 minutes to go, prompting a timeout by Hinson.
"It's the first time I've called a timeout all year long and accused them of quitting," he said. "There were two possessions in a row where they didn't try or run hard."
Southern cut the deficit to single digits, 51-42, on a layup by O'Brien with 8:40 to go, but Evansville countered with a 10-3 run to go up 61-45 with 5:26 left.
"We had three offensive situations today with the shot clock running down where we didn't do anything, we didn't even look like we knew what we were doing," Hinson said. "Other than that, we got shots where we wanted them and just couldn't make them. All our set calls were pretty good."
One bright spot for the Salukis was the play of freshman guard Aaron Cook, who had 11 points, three assists and three steals in 17 minutes. He had gone scoreless in four of the team's last seven games.
"I told him, in order for you to play, if you'll guard, if you'll defend, if you'll get us into our offense, you don't even have to worry about scoring — you can stay out on the floor," Hinson said. "Today, he defended, he got us into our offense, and what you found out is he relaxed and then he ends up making shots."
With four games left on the conference schedule, the Salukis are in fourth, and could still finish anywhere between third and seventh place, a fact Hinson said he impressed upon the team after the game.
"I struggle with the millennials — I don't know what's the best to tell them," Hinson said. "I'm kind of like the Good Book, 'the truth will set you free.' If you want to be third place, you gotta win three games. If you want to be fourth place, you have to win two games. If you don't win two games, you're part of a mixture where you could be anywhere from fifth through sixth or possibly in the play-in game."
SIU hosts league-leading Wichita State on Wednesday, and a lineup change may be forthcoming, Hinson added.
"My gut is right now, it's probably time for us to shake a few things up," he said.
The Purple Aces (13-14, 4-10) unleashed a precise half-court offense that featured players cutting to the basket for frequent easy buckets. They shot 54 percent from the field and had a 42-28 advantage in points in the paint. The starting five scored all of Evansville's points, led by Duane Gibson's stat line of 27 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Guards Jaylon Brown (14) and Ryan Taylor (13) and center David Howard (12) joined him in double-figure scoring.
In the first meeting between the teams in Evansville on Jan. 14, SIU rallied from a big first-half deficit by employing a triangle-and-two defense that stymied the Aces. Today, Evansville was ready for it.
"Our guys did a good job of recognizing the creases on the inside of that triangle and we got some pretty good looks in there," said Evansville coach Marty Simmons, who has won four-straight games at SIU Arena.
For the second-straight game, the Salukis (14-13, 7-7) trailed from start to finish. Yes, the offense is laboring, but head coach Barry Hinson suggested the team's shooting woes may be affecting the defense as well.
"I'd love to talk about defense, but I can't because we didn't play any," he said. "We didn't play a lick of defense today. It's the only thing we've done good here over the recent games."
Two players stood out offensively for the Salukis. Leo Vincent came off the bench to score a season-high 21 points and was 5-of-9 from long range. Sean O'Brien had his eighth double-double of the season with 18 points and 13 rebounds. He was 8-of-11 from the field. Southern's other eight players combined to go 10-for-36. Three starters (Sean Lloyd, Armon Fletcher and Thik Bol) were 1-for-17.
Evansville led 36-26 at halftime and pushed the advantage to 45-30 on a transition layup by Gibson with 15:00 minutes to go, prompting a timeout by Hinson.
"It's the first time I've called a timeout all year long and accused them of quitting," he said. "There were two possessions in a row where they didn't try or run hard."
Southern cut the deficit to single digits, 51-42, on a layup by O'Brien with 8:40 to go, but Evansville countered with a 10-3 run to go up 61-45 with 5:26 left.
"We had three offensive situations today with the shot clock running down where we didn't do anything, we didn't even look like we knew what we were doing," Hinson said. "Other than that, we got shots where we wanted them and just couldn't make them. All our set calls were pretty good."
One bright spot for the Salukis was the play of freshman guard Aaron Cook, who had 11 points, three assists and three steals in 17 minutes. He had gone scoreless in four of the team's last seven games.
"I told him, in order for you to play, if you'll guard, if you'll defend, if you'll get us into our offense, you don't even have to worry about scoring — you can stay out on the floor," Hinson said. "Today, he defended, he got us into our offense, and what you found out is he relaxed and then he ends up making shots."
With four games left on the conference schedule, the Salukis are in fourth, and could still finish anywhere between third and seventh place, a fact Hinson said he impressed upon the team after the game.
"I struggle with the millennials — I don't know what's the best to tell them," Hinson said. "I'm kind of like the Good Book, 'the truth will set you free.' If you want to be third place, you gotta win three games. If you want to be fourth place, you have to win two games. If you don't win two games, you're part of a mixture where you could be anywhere from fifth through sixth or possibly in the play-in game."
SIU hosts league-leading Wichita State on Wednesday, and a lineup change may be forthcoming, Hinson added.
"My gut is right now, it's probably time for us to shake a few things up," he said.
Team Stats
EVA
SIU
FG%
.540
.400
3FG%
.500
.353
FT%
.720
.696
RB
36
30
TO
15
11
STL
2
9
Game Leaders
Pts
21
FGM
6
3FGM
5
FTM
4
Pts
18
FGM
8
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
11
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
8
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
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/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
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