Saturday, November 17
Carbondale, Ill.
7 p.m.
Southern Illinois University
1-2
78
vs
48
Arkansas - Pine Bluff
0-3
1
2
F
Arkansas-Pine Bluff
23
25
48
Southern Illinois
40
38
78
Salukis cruise over Arkansas Pine Bluff, 78-48
11/17/2018 | 9:36:00 | Men's Basketball
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois men's basketball team opened the game on an 8-1 run and cruised to a 30-point win over Arkansas Pine Bluff on Saturday night at SIU Arena. SIU was limited to eight players due to injury, but all eight played double-figure minutes and all eight scored in the 78-48 SIU win.Â
"You take two of your top eight players out of the lineup, including one All-League guy, and everyone has to step up," SIU head coach Barry Hinson said. "All eight guys contributed at one time or another. That was our message: Do your job."
The Salukis (1-2), coming off back-to-back games against ranked teams to open the season, jumped out to a 20-point lead less than 14 minutes into the game and took a 17-point lead into halftime. Arkansas Pine Bluff (0-3) never led, and Southern limited the Golden Lions to 18-for-58 shooting (31 percent) in the game. SIU has limited opponents to 37 percent shooting through three games.
"Our defense has been pretty spectacular in the first three games we've played," Hinson said.
SIU's defense was particularly impressive against Pine Bluff guard Martaveous McKnight, who was coming off a 41-point game against Colorado State. SIU limited McKnight to 11 points on 4-for-17 shooting.
"There's a reason he's the preseason Player of the Year in his league and is one of the nation's leading scorers," Hinson said. "He got our attention. It was the same thing we did the time before with the kid from Buffalo (CJ Massinburg) that was averaging 33 (points). The thing McKnight does, he shoots 27 times a game, and tonight, he only got 17 shots. I have to give credit to our guys. A lot of times, you give credit to the guy guarding him, but it's the other guys around him and the big guys because they set so many ball screens. Our big guys helped guard him, as well."
While SIU's defense was dominating, the offense was humming, shooting 49 percent for the game and hitting nine 3-pointers. The Salukis racked up 21 assists on 28 made shots, and four players had at least four assists in the game. Marcus Bartley set his SIU high with 20 points and went 6-for-9 from the 3-point line.Â
"Our whole objective was turn down a good shot for a great shot," Hinson said. "Make the extra pass. Don't play selfish. We talked about that all night long: Don't shoot a three until the ball has touched a big man's hand or the high post. I'll tell you what: Our guys did a good job."
Rudy Stradnieks had a career-best 12 points and went 5-for-8 from the field. Brendon Gooch, who made his first career start, responded with career bests of nine rebounds and four assists. Darius Beane had eight rebounds (four offensive) and four assists in 29 minutes off the bench.Â
Aaron Cook had 16 points and four assists; and Sean Lloyd Jr. stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals in the win. The win was Hinson's 100th at SIU, becoming the program's eighth head coach to achieve 100 career wins at Southern Illinois.
After the game, Hinson praised the 4,003 fans who came to SIU Arena to cheer on the team.Â
"When you're 0-2 and your students are gone (for fall break) and we have 4,000 in the stands tonight, that's an unbelievable credit to our community, our region and our fans," Hinson said. "Our kids were in the locker room before the game saying, 'We're going to have to create our own energy.' We didn't have to do that. Our fans did that. We are so appreciative of them showing up tonight."
The Salukis are back at home at 7 p.m. on Monday night against Howard. Special $10 tickets are available to fans by calling 877-SALUKIS or by visiting SIUSalukis.com/tickets. Members of the Kids Club can also receive free admission on Monday night. For more information about the Kids Club, visit SIUSalukis.com/kidsclub.
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Team Stats
ARPB
SIU
FG%
.310
.491
3FG%
.120
.409
FT%
.563
.765
RB
32
43
TO
15
16
STL
8
7
Game Leaders
Pts
20
FGM
6
3FGM
6
FTM
2
Pts
16
FGM
7
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
12
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
6
Pts
12
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballF
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