Sunday, January 31
Carbondale, Ill.
5 p.m.
Southern Illinois University
8-6,2-6MVC
71
vs
68
Northern Iowa
5-11,3-7MVC
1
2
F
UNI
24
44
68
Southern Ill.
37
34
71
Salukis outlast UNI, 71-68
01/31/2021 | 7:55:00 | Men's Basketball
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The SIU men's basketball team built up a 16-point first half lead and held on for a 71-68 win over Northern Iowa on Sunday night at Banterra Center.Â
"I'm proud of our guys," SIU head coach Bryan Mullins said. "This last month has been a grind. They all stayed here over the holidays due to COVID. Then, obviously, we had a pause due to COVID, but we stuck together. I think we're a much better team than when we went to Drake. We lost Marcus (Domask, foot injury), and we just kept fighting. We've had great practices, the limited amount we've had. To come back on a back-to-back and get a win against a championship-level program, it's about the character of our young guys. They're excited to continue to get better, and we still have more than half of the Valley season ahead of us. I think our best basketball is ahead of us, and we need to continue to get better through practicing."
The Salukis (8-6, 2-6 MVC) hit 15 3-pointers, the most for an SIU team since 1998, and Lance Jones hit seven of them, the most by any SIU player since Kent Williams in 2000. The last one was the biggest: Jones hit a shot-clock-beating 3-pointer with 22 seconds left to secure SIU's win and snap a six-game skid.Â
In a game that was nationally televised on ESPN2, the Salukis built up a 16-point lead in the first half and led by 13 at the break. Northern Iowa (5-11, 3-7 MVC) chipped away in the second half and got SIU's lead down to two in the final two minutes of the game. UNI had the ball with a chance to take the lead, but the Salukis got the game's biggest defensive stop, and Steven Verplancken Jr. hit the last of his four 3-pointers to push SIU's lead back to five. The Panthers cut it back to three with under a minute to go, setting the stage for Jones' shot-clock beating dagger with 22 seconds left.Â
"We're continuing to learn how to win with our young guys," Mullins said. "Every timeout, every huddle, the belief was there. The right things were being said on the court. Lance's leadership today was the best he's had in his SIU career. He played a great floor game. Obviously, he hit some big shots, but his body language and the confidence that he instills in his teammates rubs off on everyone. They never wavered today. Even when we made a ton of mistakes and didn't execute sometimes, we believed we were going to win."
The Salukis had several standouts in the game. Verplancken scored 14 points and hit four 3-pointers. Anthony D'Avanzo played arguably his best game as a Saluki and recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. D'Avanzo and Kyler Filewich (10 points, 6 rebounds) were huge on the boards -- SIU became the first team to outrebound Northern Iowa in more than a month.Â
But the star was Jones. He was great in the first half with 11 points and five assists, but even bigger in the second half. He scored 16 of his game-high 27 in the second half. One day after being scoring 7 points with three turnovers on 3-of-8 shooting in 18 minutes, he played all 40 minutes in tonight's game and finished with six assists against just two turnovers. And he added five rebounds and two steals on the top of everything else.
"Lance is a great player, and he has a chance to be a really high-level player if he continues to put in the work and believe in himself," Mullins said. "Yesterday, he was disappointed in himself, and we talked late last night. He came ready to go today in the film session and the walk-though. I thought he was as focused as he's ever been today."
Beyond Jones' six assists, Dalton Banks added five dimes and D'Avanzo had four. The Salukis had 16 assists in the game. SIU improved to 4-1 this season and 12-2 in the Mullins era when it has 15+ assists.Â
"Our biggest focus this morning was all the times we could have made that one-more pass," Mullins said. "Northern Iowa really packs the paint, so they're living with those threes. Our guys did a great job of making the extra pass. Any time we get over 15 assists, that's pretty good for our club, and we have a pretty good record. We have to continue to stress that and get better at it because we do have a bunch of guys who can make shot from the perimeter."Â
UP NEXT: SIU travels to Peoria for back-to-back games against Bradley this weekend. Both Saturday and Sunday's games will tip off at 3 p.m. CT.Â
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"I'm proud of our guys," SIU head coach Bryan Mullins said. "This last month has been a grind. They all stayed here over the holidays due to COVID. Then, obviously, we had a pause due to COVID, but we stuck together. I think we're a much better team than when we went to Drake. We lost Marcus (Domask, foot injury), and we just kept fighting. We've had great practices, the limited amount we've had. To come back on a back-to-back and get a win against a championship-level program, it's about the character of our young guys. They're excited to continue to get better, and we still have more than half of the Valley season ahead of us. I think our best basketball is ahead of us, and we need to continue to get better through practicing."
The Salukis (8-6, 2-6 MVC) hit 15 3-pointers, the most for an SIU team since 1998, and Lance Jones hit seven of them, the most by any SIU player since Kent Williams in 2000. The last one was the biggest: Jones hit a shot-clock-beating 3-pointer with 22 seconds left to secure SIU's win and snap a six-game skid.Â
In a game that was nationally televised on ESPN2, the Salukis built up a 16-point lead in the first half and led by 13 at the break. Northern Iowa (5-11, 3-7 MVC) chipped away in the second half and got SIU's lead down to two in the final two minutes of the game. UNI had the ball with a chance to take the lead, but the Salukis got the game's biggest defensive stop, and Steven Verplancken Jr. hit the last of his four 3-pointers to push SIU's lead back to five. The Panthers cut it back to three with under a minute to go, setting the stage for Jones' shot-clock beating dagger with 22 seconds left.Â
"We're continuing to learn how to win with our young guys," Mullins said. "Every timeout, every huddle, the belief was there. The right things were being said on the court. Lance's leadership today was the best he's had in his SIU career. He played a great floor game. Obviously, he hit some big shots, but his body language and the confidence that he instills in his teammates rubs off on everyone. They never wavered today. Even when we made a ton of mistakes and didn't execute sometimes, we believed we were going to win."
The Salukis had several standouts in the game. Verplancken scored 14 points and hit four 3-pointers. Anthony D'Avanzo played arguably his best game as a Saluki and recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. D'Avanzo and Kyler Filewich (10 points, 6 rebounds) were huge on the boards -- SIU became the first team to outrebound Northern Iowa in more than a month.Â
But the star was Jones. He was great in the first half with 11 points and five assists, but even bigger in the second half. He scored 16 of his game-high 27 in the second half. One day after being scoring 7 points with three turnovers on 3-of-8 shooting in 18 minutes, he played all 40 minutes in tonight's game and finished with six assists against just two turnovers. And he added five rebounds and two steals on the top of everything else.
"Lance is a great player, and he has a chance to be a really high-level player if he continues to put in the work and believe in himself," Mullins said. "Yesterday, he was disappointed in himself, and we talked late last night. He came ready to go today in the film session and the walk-though. I thought he was as focused as he's ever been today."
Beyond Jones' six assists, Dalton Banks added five dimes and D'Avanzo had four. The Salukis had 16 assists in the game. SIU improved to 4-1 this season and 12-2 in the Mullins era when it has 15+ assists.Â
"Our biggest focus this morning was all the times we could have made that one-more pass," Mullins said. "Northern Iowa really packs the paint, so they're living with those threes. Our guys did a great job of making the extra pass. Any time we get over 15 assists, that's pretty good for our club, and we have a pretty good record. We have to continue to stress that and get better at it because we do have a bunch of guys who can make shot from the perimeter."Â
UP NEXT: SIU travels to Peoria for back-to-back games against Bradley this weekend. Both Saturday and Sunday's games will tip off at 3 p.m. CT.Â
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Team Stats
UNI
SIU
FG%
.491
.463
3FG%
.280
.500
FT%
.429
.667
RB
32
36
TO
14
16
STL
12
8
Game Leaders
Pts
27
FGM
10
3FGM
7
FTM
0
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
4
FTM
0
Pts
11
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
3
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballF
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