Men's Basketball hosts Maroon Out versus Wichita State on Wednesday

Wednesday, February 15

Carbondale, Ill.

6:00 PM

Southern Illinois University

Wichita St.

Men's Basketball hosts Maroon Out versus Wichita State on Wednesday

02/14/2017 | 4:33:00 | Men's Basketball

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By: By Tom Weber, SIUSalukis.com

Southern Illinois (14-13, 7-7) hosts Wichita State (23-4, 13-1) on Wednesday night at 6 p.m. in a Maroon Out game, in which fans are encouraged to wear maroon. The contest will be televised on Fox Sports Midwest, Comcast SportsNet Chicago, Fox Sports Indiana, Spectrum Sports Kansas City and ESPN3 (outside the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska).

The Shockers have won the last eight games between the teams and 14 of the last 16, dating back to 2010. The last time SIU beat Wichita State was at home, 64-62, on Feb. 5, 2013. Jalen Pendleton scored the winning basket with 2.0 seconds left on a goaltending call by Ehimen Orukpe. T.J. Lindsay (14), Desmar Jackson (11) and Jeff Early (11) helped SIU rally from a 17-point deficit.

In the first meeting with Wichita State, the Shockers dominated just about every statistical category during an 87-45 win over SIU on Jan. 24, such as rebounding (47-27), assists (21-3), points in the paint (44-16) and bench points (45-8). SIU played without guards Leo Vincent and Sean Lloyd.

Head coach Barry Hinson met with the media on Tuesday afternoon prior to practice.

Leo Vincent has really stepped up the last few games. Do you feel he'll play a big role against Wichita State since he didn't play against them the last time?
I think Leo's going to play a big role for the rest of the stretch. I think he's finally out of his funk. Now, obviously, Wichita will understand that and guard. They're the fourth-best defensive team in the country field goal percentage-wise.

Will he start?
No, he won't start. I really thought about it. He's really comfortable with his role right now. I don't want to mess that up. He's finally got into that role. I think we're just going to stick with him right now coming off the bench because he seems to be comfortable with it.

Are you thinking of starting Aaron Cook over Mike Rodriguez?
I thought about a lineup change going into this game, but because we need length, I'm just not able to do that right now. I'll make a good judgment of that after we play Wichita State. I anticipate that our guys will play well and compete more. Our practices have been far more designed about us and not so much about the opponent. We haven't had a day off yet. We'll take our day off after this game. Our practices have been very intense and orchestrated to be that way.

Normally this time of year your bench gets shorter. Are you looking at playing more guys if you can't get the right combination going?
Normally this time of year you're practicing 45 minutes to an hour and a half. I think we're too comfortable right now. I think anybody can come off the bench and play for us and what I'm leaning toward is playing the guys that compete and fight and try to win ballgames. I don't think there's been very many games this year where our guys haven't competed, but there was about a 10-minute stretch against Evansville where we did not compete. We got our heads down, we didn't focus on just being competitive. I watched a game last night where it would have been really easy to get your head down, but if you continue to compete, you get a chance to win the ballgame when I watched Kansas and West Virginia. That's all we're going to ask our guys to do is continue to compete.

Do you feel like you got their attention back?
I think you'll have to ask the players that. I think that's a question for them, I can't answer that. We'll find out obviously when we play Wichita tomorrow. It has been my desire to make sure these guys understand how important it is to play hard every possession, whether it be on the offensive end or the defensive end, and also, think. It's a mental game and you have to be able to focus. You've heard me say this how our attention spans are not very good. We've worked on that this week as well.

They're not invincible, but they've had some big wins against your program. Do you feel your team has a little bit of a block when it plays Wichita, as far as, I don't know if we can compete with them?
No, because the same block that's going on here is going on at every other facility in this league as well. There's only one place they've been beat, Illinois State. I don't think there's a block. I think they're deeper, they're more talented, but you're right, I don't think anybody's invincible. I've witnessed that throughout college basketball this year and throughout my coaching career. In my opinion, we're not playing Wichita State, we're playing ourselves. That's been our focus for the last three days. We have to be able to compete and do what we do and we'll see how that transitions over to the game.

Health-wise, is everyone ok to play tomorrow?
No. Thik Bol and Sean O'Brien have not practiced the last two days, nor has Aaron Cook. I told you guys I never play possum with injuries. Sean O'Brien will probably play tomorrow night. I anticipate Thik will get to play, but I don't know that for a fact. I think Aaron will be limited on his minutes, he hasn't been here for two days (flu).

Did the final three-minute flurry against Evansville help your team?
I certainly don't think it can hurt. Our offensive struggles — there's two things going on — we're not executing very well, and I think that has a lot to do with it. I think the biggest factor in all this is in between the ears. This is the only thing we've talked about the last two days. How tough are you? How tough are you mentally, how tough are you physically? What can you do? We've really challenged them. Our practices have been closer to the boot-camp style of practice. Normally this time of year, you don't have to do that. I felt like we needed to.

You're 12-3 when you have an advantage in points in the paint. Will that be a focal point?
It's been a focal point our whole season. The problem with Wichita State and Illinois State is their length really seems to give us difficulty in the paint. Our decision-making in the paint has been deplorable. It hasn't been good at all. This is something we emphasized the last three days. We've got guys that continue to go to the basket, when they need to pull up and shoot 15-foot jumpers, instead of going in there and getting their shot blocked. It's hard when you've done something your entire life, it's certainly hard to change that, a leopard don't change his spots. We've got to be able to attack the logo against teams that have size and length. If we can do that, I think we can play with anybody. We've only won two games all year long where we didn't win points in the paint, so that's how we're going to win.