Friday, November 9
Lexington, Ky.
6:00 PM
Southern Illinois University
0-1
59
at
71
Kentucky
1-1
1
2
F
Southern Illinois
28
31
59
Kentucky
31
40
71
Photo by: Michael Dann
Salukis open season with hard-fought 71-59 loss at No. 2 Kentucky
11/09/2018 | 10:24:00 | Men's Basketball
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Southern Illinois basketball team dropped a hard-fought 71-59 game at No. 2 Kentucky on Friday night in Rupp Arena. After the Salukis took a 44-37 lead with about 14 minutes left in the game, Kentucky responded with a 10-2 run to take the lead and never trailed the rest of the way.
"I thought we gave everything," SIU head coach Barry Hinson said. "I asked our guys to do three things: play your butts off, play unselfish, and stick to the game plan. I thought we went 3-for-3. This is what I told my guys: There's a difference between losing and getting beat. Losing is unacceptable. We got beat tonight."
The Salukis were bidding for the program's first win over a team ranked No. 2 nationally since 1967. SIU (0-1) led in the game for most of the first half and spent more time with the lead than Kentucky did for the game.
"Southern Illinois, veteran players, well coached," Kentucky head coach John Calipari said. "Barry does a great job with the team. An NCAA-Tournament level team, missing threes today or they could have easily beat us. A hard second game. I'm still mad we scheduled it."
Ultimately, Kentucky's length and a 48-19 rebounding advantage proved to be the difference.
"I'd really like to get a lot taller," Hinson said. "We're going to start working on that when we get on the bus. We have a bunch of tall pills that we're going to start taking. They're placebos, but we'll see if they work."
Despite the size disadvantage, Southern Illinois used its senior-laden lineup to force 19 Kentucky turnovers and win the points-off-turnovers battle 19-11. Southern's leading returning scorer, All-District guard Armon Fletcher, was limited to 15 minutes due to foul trouble. SIU endured foul trouble all night, with each of Southern's five starters going into halftime with at least two fouls.
"In the past, when we've had a guy foul out, or we've went to a short bench, we haven't executed like we did tonight," Hinson said. "I'm more than encouraged."
Center Kavion Pippen and guard Aaron Cook picked up much of the slack, combining for 34 points. Pippen, facing preseason All-American Reid Travis, scored 16 points and grabbed seven boards, while limiting Travis to six points and four rebounds. Cook scored 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting and added two assists and two steals, while Marcus Bartley added four assists.
"Aaron was a floor general," Hinson said. "I thought he kept us under control. We kept telling him and Marcus (Bartley), 'Keep control of the game.' For the most part, I think we did that."
Kentucky was coming off a 118-84 loss to Duke in the season opener before rebounding with the win over SIU. Hinson warned fans ahead of the game that an angry Kentucky team would come out the aggressors, but SIU met that and started the game on a 7-2 run and led for most of the first half before a Kentucky run gave the Wildcats a 31-28 lead at halftime. Again, SIU matched the intensity to start the second half, opening the period on a 16-5 run.
"For the majority of the game, we went head-to-head, toe-to-toe, fist-to-fist with them," Hinson said. "We knew we would catch them at their best tonight. We knew what we were going to get, and for the most part, our guys handled it."
After SIU opened up a 44-37 lead with 14:30 remaining, an "S-I-U!" chat emerged from the Rupp Arena crowd of 20,277. Kentucky came out of a timeout with back-to-back 3-pointers by Quade Green and Immanuel Quickly to get the crowd into the game and start the game-deciding run.
"Those were the back-breakers," Hinson said. "Our goal the whole night was to protect the paint as much as possible, and for the most part, we did a good job of that."
Southern Illinois turns around and hosts Buffalo on Monday night at SIU Arena. The Bulls are ranked No. 2 in the mid-major top-25 and return almost everyone off last year's team that beat Arizona by 21 in the NCAA Tournament.
"We're going to have to play our tails off," Hinson said. "(UK fans) know, they played them in the NCAA Tournament last year. We play Buffalo at our place. We're going to get ready to play. We said all along we're going to find out a lot about our basketball team in the first two games. I think we will. I hope we found out a lot tonight. We have to get better for Monday."
"I thought we gave everything," SIU head coach Barry Hinson said. "I asked our guys to do three things: play your butts off, play unselfish, and stick to the game plan. I thought we went 3-for-3. This is what I told my guys: There's a difference between losing and getting beat. Losing is unacceptable. We got beat tonight."
The Salukis were bidding for the program's first win over a team ranked No. 2 nationally since 1967. SIU (0-1) led in the game for most of the first half and spent more time with the lead than Kentucky did for the game.
"Southern Illinois, veteran players, well coached," Kentucky head coach John Calipari said. "Barry does a great job with the team. An NCAA-Tournament level team, missing threes today or they could have easily beat us. A hard second game. I'm still mad we scheduled it."
Ultimately, Kentucky's length and a 48-19 rebounding advantage proved to be the difference.
"I'd really like to get a lot taller," Hinson said. "We're going to start working on that when we get on the bus. We have a bunch of tall pills that we're going to start taking. They're placebos, but we'll see if they work."
Despite the size disadvantage, Southern Illinois used its senior-laden lineup to force 19 Kentucky turnovers and win the points-off-turnovers battle 19-11. Southern's leading returning scorer, All-District guard Armon Fletcher, was limited to 15 minutes due to foul trouble. SIU endured foul trouble all night, with each of Southern's five starters going into halftime with at least two fouls.
"In the past, when we've had a guy foul out, or we've went to a short bench, we haven't executed like we did tonight," Hinson said. "I'm more than encouraged."
Center Kavion Pippen and guard Aaron Cook picked up much of the slack, combining for 34 points. Pippen, facing preseason All-American Reid Travis, scored 16 points and grabbed seven boards, while limiting Travis to six points and four rebounds. Cook scored 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting and added two assists and two steals, while Marcus Bartley added four assists.
"Aaron was a floor general," Hinson said. "I thought he kept us under control. We kept telling him and Marcus (Bartley), 'Keep control of the game.' For the most part, I think we did that."
Kentucky was coming off a 118-84 loss to Duke in the season opener before rebounding with the win over SIU. Hinson warned fans ahead of the game that an angry Kentucky team would come out the aggressors, but SIU met that and started the game on a 7-2 run and led for most of the first half before a Kentucky run gave the Wildcats a 31-28 lead at halftime. Again, SIU matched the intensity to start the second half, opening the period on a 16-5 run.
"For the majority of the game, we went head-to-head, toe-to-toe, fist-to-fist with them," Hinson said. "We knew we would catch them at their best tonight. We knew what we were going to get, and for the most part, our guys handled it."
After SIU opened up a 44-37 lead with 14:30 remaining, an "S-I-U!" chat emerged from the Rupp Arena crowd of 20,277. Kentucky came out of a timeout with back-to-back 3-pointers by Quade Green and Immanuel Quickly to get the crowd into the game and start the game-deciding run.
"Those were the back-breakers," Hinson said. "Our goal the whole night was to protect the paint as much as possible, and for the most part, we did a good job of that."
Southern Illinois turns around and hosts Buffalo on Monday night at SIU Arena. The Bulls are ranked No. 2 in the mid-major top-25 and return almost everyone off last year's team that beat Arizona by 21 in the NCAA Tournament.
"We're going to have to play our tails off," Hinson said. "(UK fans) know, they played them in the NCAA Tournament last year. We play Buffalo at our place. We're going to get ready to play. We said all along we're going to find out a lot about our basketball team in the first two games. I think we will. I hope we found out a lot tonight. We have to get better for Monday."
Team Stats
SIU
UK
FG%
.411
.444
3FG%
.313
.286
FT%
.667
.704
RB
19
48
TO
13
19
STL
7
5
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
18
FGM
7
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
16
FGM
7
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
8
FGM
2
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
6
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
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