Men's Basketball begins second half of Valley season at Missouri State on Saturday

SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (13-9, 5-4) at MISSOURI STATE (15-7, 5-4)
Jan. 27, 2018 • 5 p.m. CT
Springfield, Mo. • JQH Arena (11,000)
SIU leads, 45-37 (H: 25-9, A: 15-23, N: 5-5)

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Southern Illinois begins the second half of the conference season on Saturday when it travels to Missouri State for a 5 p.m. game televised live on ESPNU.

The Salukis have a five-game winning streak against Missouri State, having swept the season series from the Bears the last two seasons. Southern is 3-7 all-time against Missouri State at JQH Arena.

Barry Hinson is in his 15th season as a Missouri Valley Conference head coach. He coached nine seasons at Missouri State (2000-08) and compiled a 167-117 record. Since arriving at SIU in 2013, Hinson is 92-92 overall, 44-55 in the MVC and 7-5 against the Bears.

Missouri State head coach Paul Lusk is a Southern Illinois alum, where he scored 1,031 career points and helped lead the Salukis to three-straight NCAA Tournament appearances (1993-95). He returned for one season (2004) as an assistant coach for Matt Painter. That team went 25-5 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Lusk joined Painter on Purdue's staff the following year. Lusk is 7-7 in five-plus seasons against SIU.

Aaron Cook records career-high
G Aaron Cook (6-2, 185, So.) scored a career-high 25 points on Wednesday versus Indiana State. He had scored only 27 points in the previous five games combined.
   Cook has made significant improvement in his offensive game as a sophomore.
   2016-17   2017-18
Scoring   3.0 PPG   9.8 PPG
FG Percentage   .333   .474
3FG Percentage   .185   .406

Sean Lloyd Jr. does it all
G Sean Lloyd Jr. (6-5, 210, Jr.) impacts the game in many ways. He is second in scoring (12.5), first in minutes (33.9), second in 3-point shooting (.400), third in assists (2.2), first in steals (1.4) and typically guards the opponent's top scorer. Lloyd is the nephew of two-time MVC player-of-the-year Lewis Lloyd, who played two seasons at Drake (1980-81) and seven years in the NBA. Another uncle, Daryl Lloyd, also played at Drake and led the team in scoring in 1985 with 17.9 points per game.

Armon Fletcher increases output after move to "hybrid forward"
Since the Salukis switched to a four-guard offense on Dec. 13 and put G Armon Fletcher (6-5, 207, Jr.) at the "hybrid forward" position, his offensive numbers have shot up.
Position   GP   PPG   RPG   FG%   3FG%
Guard   7   11.9   4.7   .460   .296
Hyrbrid   14   15.6   6.0   .524   .383
   Fletcher had a career night at Valparaiso on Jan. 6 with 32 points and 14 rebounds. He became the first Saluki player to score 30+ points since Anthony Beane had 31 versus Drake on Feb. 13, 2016.

Kavion Pippen second in scoring among MVC newcomers
Juco transfer C Kavion Pippen (6-10, 240, Jr.) ranks second in scoring (11.5) among MVC newcomers, trailing only Illinois State's Milik Yarbrough (16.9). Pippen leads the team in field goal percentage (.523) and blocked shots (31), and has scored in double figures in all 15 games this season. The nephew of NBA legend Scottie Pippen was named MVC Newcomer of the Week on Nov. 12 and again on Dec. 4. He had a career-high 24-point outing versus Jackson State.

Dawg Bites
•The Salukis attempted a season-high 31 free throws in Wednesday's win over Indiana State.
•Tyler Smithpeters is 12-for-24 lifetime from 3-point range against Missouri State.
•In the last three games combined, SIU is 58-of-99 (.586) from the field in the second half.
•11 of Armon Fletcher's 25 steals this season have come in the last five games.
•The Salukis are 11-1 when they hold an opponent under 70 points and 2-8 when an opponent scores 70 or more.
•Barry Hinson (261) needs one win to pass Gregg Marshall (261), who coached 10 years in the MVC, for fourth all-time among league coaches.
•SIU has gone 104-consecutive games with at least one 3-point field goal.

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