Men's Basketball hosts rematch with Missouri State

MISSOURI STATE (17-10, 7-7) at SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (17-10, 9-5)
TV: MVC TV, FOX SPORTS MIDWEST
Feb. 14, 2018 • 7 p.m. CT
Carbondale, Ill. • SIU Arena (8,284)
SIU leads, 46-37 (H: 25-9, A: 16-23, N: 5-5)

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois hosts Missouri State on Wednesday night in a rematch of a thriller at Springfield on Jan. 27, which SIU won, 79-77. Armon Fletcher banked home the game-winner on the right baseline with six seconds left and MSU's Jarrid Rhodes missed a potential game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer. The Salukis blistered the nets by shooting 64 percent from the field, including 8-of-13 from 3-point range. They led by as many as 13, but had to hold off a furious comeback by the Bears who twice tied the game in the final 90 seconds. Alize Johnson had a 29-point, 12-rebound effort for Missouri State. It was the Salukis' sixth-straight win over Missouri State.

SIU's 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 96-93, including 8-5 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 7-8 as a head coach vs. SIU.

Barry Hinson press conference transcript

What was the thought on bringing Jonathan Wiley back on Sunday?
Getting him on the floor as fast as possible. It's not rocket science, as soon as we could get him out there we wanted to get him out there. Isn't it ironic the first time he goes out there and gets a rebound and almost goes down on his knee? Checks it out real quick and finds out what it meant to us. He went 13 minutes, went 4-for-4 from the free throw line. Jonathan is never going to take a bad shot. He's the most unselfish kid we probably have on our team, and he'll do all the dirty stuff that a guy doesn't want to do. I don't want to make a mountain out of molehill, but I do think this will be a huge spark to us and a huge lift down the stretch.

Obediah Church and Alize Johnson are big rebounders for Missouri State — having Wiley back has to help.
I think it's a big help for us just because of defense and rebounding. He played 13 minutes the other night and had four rebounds. This is a guy who is fourth on our team in rebounding, averaging seven points. That doesn't sound like a lot, but when you're going down the stretch of things in a race, that's a lot. We all know there were games this year when Jonathan was the best player on the floor. He's going to be limited, he's going to have some pain. Like I said, the knee's not healed, it's the exact same it was. I think it shows you how gutty this kid is and his pain tolerance level. That's a testament to his character.

Kavion Pippen named MVC Newcomer of the Week for the second time in a row.
Can we do it three weeks in a row? It's a great honor. I think the most impressive stat is not what he's doing but how he's getting better. He's continually getting better. He went through the lull where he got tired and worn down, but when you guys asked me about Jonathan, that's where KP will improve simply for the fact he's going to get some rest. From the moment we left Stillwater from our scrimmage until one week ago, he did not have a sub in practice or basically a game. That's incredible. Little guys can handle that, but that's hard on big guys, hard on their joints, hard on their bodies, hard on their feet. You carry the frame he's carrying, we can say all we want about blocked shots, points scored, rebounds — the most impressive stat is the amount of minutes he's logged not only in games but in practice.

Would he have developed this fast if Thik Bol had not gotten hurt?
I think you're right, that's the byproduct. You have no choice but to develop. At the same time, you have no choice to have a lull. Most junior college players you get a year-and-half out of them and they have a semester where they have a lull. KP had his lull period and I think we're through that.

Pippen has a very intimidating force in Alize. He has to have a good game, doesn't he?
We held Alize one point shy of 30 last time we played them and won. I went into the media room and said we did a great job on Alize, held him to 29 and 12, a double-double. He's the guy. He's averaging 17 and 12 in conference play. If you don't pay attention to him, you have issues. We better do a better job on him this time around. What's happened is the supporting cast around Alize is playing so much better. They're starting a different lineup, they're a completely different team. I think we're a different team. That's when we kind of hit our stretch. I think this will be a heckuva game.

How does the absence of Reggie Scurry affect the game?
I don't know, because we didn't play against Scurry. It's hard for me, because he didn't play the first time. Just from what I've seen on film, it's the same as the absence of Jonathan Wiley we've had, or any player you've had who could come in and contribute.

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Thik Bol

Armon Fletcher

Kavion Pippen

Jonathan Wiley

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