Saturday, January 12
Carbondale, Ill.
3 p.m.
Southern Illinois University
9-8, 2-2MVC
61
vs
65
Valparaiso
11-6, 4-0MVC
1
2
F
Valparaiso
32
33
65
Southern Illinois
25
36
61
Valpo slips past SIU, 65-61
01/12/2019 | 7:42:00 | Men's Basketball
Photo Gallery
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois men's basketball team suffered a 65-61 loss to Valparaiso on Saturday afternoon at SIU Arena. The Crusaders shot 48 percent from the field and improved to 4-0 in the Missouri Valley Conference.
SIU (9-8, 2-2 MVC) struggled from the field, shooting 38.5 percent for the game. The Salukis grabbed 22 offensive rebounds to earn 13 more shots than Valpo (11-6, 4-0 MVC), but Kavion Pippen (23 points, 10-for-19 shooting) was the only SIU player to hit better than 50 percent of his shots, and Southern's 13 turnovers resulted in 18 Valpo points.
"Those are the three things that when I look back at this game, we're going to talk about: defense, turnovers, and you have to make shots," SIU head coach Barry Hinson said.
Both teams pounded the ball inside all game. While Pippen carried SIU, Valpo big men Derrik Smits and Jaume Sorolla combined for 23 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
Smits, who came into the game shooting 56 percent from the free throw line, went 8-for-9 to lead the Crusaders. SIU, which had shot 20 or more free throws in seven-straight games before Saturday's loss at Drake, was held off the free throw line in the first half and finished 3-for-7 from the stripe.
"When you don't get to the free throw line, I don't think it's so much what they did; I think it's what we did. We didn't attack," Hinson said.
After SIU went on a 10-2 run early in the game to take a 17-10 lead with 12:19 to go in the first half, neither team scored for nearly four minutes. When Valpo finally broke the dry spell, the Crusaders closed the half on a 22-8 run that saw them go 9-for-10 from the field in the final 8:44.
The Salukis trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half but nearly came all the way back. Down by nine points with 5:14 to go, Southern responded with an 8-1 run over the next two minutes to get within one possession with three minutes to play. The Salukis got within two points after Armon Fletcher's free throw with 40 seconds left, but former Saluki Deion Lavender took a pass from Smits and hit a layup with 13 seconds on the clock to push the lead back to two possessions and seal Valpo's 4-0 start to MVC play.
The Salukis are one of four MVC teams that sit at 2-2 after four league games, and Southern travels to face Illinois State, another 2-2 team, on Tuesday night in Normal, Ill.
"I'm going to say what I've said all year: You can't panic. You can't get too high; you can't get too low," Hinson said. "They're a good team. I think we're a good basketball team. We just didn't make shots today and we didn't guard the way we're capable. Those are correctable."
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois men's basketball team suffered a 65-61 loss to Valparaiso on Saturday afternoon at SIU Arena. The Crusaders shot 48 percent from the field and improved to 4-0 in the Missouri Valley Conference.
SIU (9-8, 2-2 MVC) struggled from the field, shooting 38.5 percent for the game. The Salukis grabbed 22 offensive rebounds to earn 13 more shots than Valpo (11-6, 4-0 MVC), but Kavion Pippen (23 points, 10-for-19 shooting) was the only SIU player to hit better than 50 percent of his shots, and Southern's 13 turnovers resulted in 18 Valpo points.
"Those are the three things that when I look back at this game, we're going to talk about: defense, turnovers, and you have to make shots," SIU head coach Barry Hinson said.
Both teams pounded the ball inside all game. While Pippen carried SIU, Valpo big men Derrik Smits and Jaume Sorolla combined for 23 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
Smits, who came into the game shooting 56 percent from the free throw line, went 8-for-9 to lead the Crusaders. SIU, which had shot 20 or more free throws in seven-straight games before Saturday's loss at Drake, was held off the free throw line in the first half and finished 3-for-7 from the stripe.
"When you don't get to the free throw line, I don't think it's so much what they did; I think it's what we did. We didn't attack," Hinson said.
After SIU went on a 10-2 run early in the game to take a 17-10 lead with 12:19 to go in the first half, neither team scored for nearly four minutes. When Valpo finally broke the dry spell, the Crusaders closed the half on a 22-8 run that saw them go 9-for-10 from the field in the final 8:44.
The Salukis trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half but nearly came all the way back. Down by nine points with 5:14 to go, Southern responded with an 8-1 run over the next two minutes to get within one possession with three minutes to play. The Salukis got within two points after Armon Fletcher's free throw with 40 seconds left, but former Saluki Deion Lavender took a pass from Smits and hit a layup with 13 seconds on the clock to push the lead back to two possessions and seal Valpo's 4-0 start to MVC play.
The Salukis are one of four MVC teams that sit at 2-2 after four league games, and Southern travels to face Illinois State, another 2-2 team, on Tuesday night in Normal, Ill.
"I'm going to say what I've said all year: You can't panic. You can't get too high; you can't get too low," Hinson said. "They're a good team. I think we're a good basketball team. We just didn't make shots today and we didn't guard the way we're capable. Those are correctable."
Team Stats
VALPO
SIU
FG%
.481
.385
3FG%
.267
.364
FT%
.733
.429
RB
28
45
TO
7
13
STL
7
7
Game Leaders
Pts
23
FGM
10
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
5
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
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