Southern Illinois University
Evansville
Men's Basketball wraps up regular season at Evansville
02/23/2018 | 1:49:00 | Men's Basketball
- SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (19-11, 11-6) at EVANSVILLE (16-14, 6-11)
- TV: ESPN3
- Feb. 24, 2018 • 1 p.m. CT
- Evansville, Ind. • Ford Center (10,000)
- SIU leads, 69-56 (H: 42-17, A: 24-37, N: 3-2)
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois wraps up its regular season on Saturday at 1 p.m. when it plays at Evansville in a game televised live on ESPN3. With an SIU win or an Illinois State loss at Loyola, the Salukis will clinch the No. 2 seed at next week's MVC Tournament. If SIU loses and Illinois State beats Loyola, the Salukis will be the No. 3 seed. Prior to this year's second-place finish, the highest SIU has placed in the last 10 years is third (2008 and 2017). It last won the MVC title in 2007.
The Salukis are 2-5 all-time versus Evansville at the Ford Center, with wins coming in 2014 and 2017. Head coach Barry Hinson has a 19-11 mark all-time versus the Purple Aces, including 4-7 while at SIU. In the first meeting between the teams this season, Southern Illinois overcame a four-point deficit in the final two minutes to slip past Evansville, 65-63, in Carbondale on Jan. 3. In the final 90 seconds, Evansville made three turnovers and Dru Smith missed a potential game-winning 3-pointer as time expired.
Dawg Bites
•The last time SIU won 11 games in conference play was 2016. The last time it won more than 11 was in 2007 (15).
•With one road game remaining, the Salukis have matched last year's road win total of five. They had nine in 2016.
•12 of SIU's 17 conference games have been "one-possession games" (three points or less) during the final three minutes of regulation.
•SIU has shot better than 50 percent during the second half in nine of its last 12 games.
•F Jonathan Wiley has played the last four games after missing 11 games with a knee injury.
•The Salukis are 8-2 in games decided by five points or less this season.
•The Salukis are 14-1 when they hold an opponent under 70 points.
•SIU has swept the series from three MVC foes so far (Northern Iowa, Missouri State, Indiana State). That's the most sweeps since the 2016 team swept four opponents (Missouri State, Bradley, Drake, Indiana State).
• Three of SIU's last five games have gone to overtime. Last year, the team played in a school-record four overtime games.
Armon Fletcher moves to forward
Since the Salukis switched to a four-guard offense on Dec. 13, and moved G Armon Fletcher (6-5, 207, Jr.) to the "hybrid forward" position, the team is 15-7 and his stats have shot up.
Position GP PPG RPG FG% 3FG%
Guard 8 11.9 4.7 .460 .296
Hyrbrid 22 15.1 5.3 .507 .373
Fletcher had a career night at Valparaiso on Jan. 6 with 32 points and 14 rebounds. He made the game-winning basket at Missouri State with six seconds left, and the go-ahead 3-pointer versus Valparaiso with less than a minute left on Feb. 3.
Kavion Pippen third in scoring among MVC newcomers
Juco transfer C Kavion Pippen (6-10, 240, Jr.) ranks third in scoring (12.6) among MVC newcomers, trailing only Illinois State's Milik Yarbrough (17.0) and Valparaiso's Bakari Evelyn (12.8). Pippen leads the team in field goal percentage (.563) and blocked shots (38), and has scored in double figures in all but six games this season. The nephew of NBA legend Scottie Pippen is a four-time winner of the MVC Newcomer of the Week (Nov. 12, Dec. 4, Feb. 5, Feb. 12).
Sean Lloyd Jr. with a big week
G Sean Lloyd Jr. (6-5, 210, Jr.) averaged 17.0 points in SIU's two overtime wins last week. He was 15-for-25 (.600) from the field and tied a career-high with 21 points against Missouri State. He scored 20 of SIU's 35 second-half points. Against Indiana State, he had 13 points, including the game-tying layup with 15 seconds left that sent the contest to overtime, and a 3-pointer in overtime that put SIU up by five.
Four Salukis average double figures
The Saluki have four players averaging double figures in scoring this season — Armon Fletcher, Sean Lloyd, Kavion Pippen and Aaron Cook. The last season this happened was in 2002-03, when Kent Williams, Jermain Dearman, Darren Brooks and Stetson Hairston were all double-figure scorers. Since 1950, there have been 13 Saluki teams that have had four or more double figure scorers.
Aaron Cook one of MVC's most improved players
G Aaron Cook (6-2, 185, So.) has made significant improvement in his offensive game as a sophomore.
2016-17 2017-18
PPG 3.0 10.1
FG % .333 .459
3FG % .185 .409
Assists 30 76
Tyler Smithpeters with treys in 14-straight games
A 24-year-old senior who took a medical redshirt last season, G Tyler Smithpeters (6-4, 203, Sr.) made at least one 3-pointer in 14-straight games from Jan. 3 to Feb. 17. He ranks No. 10 all-time at SIU in 3-pointers with 143. The Salukis are 28-17 when Smithpeters makes multiple 3-pointers in a game, including 11-5 this season.
