Southern Illinois University
7-3,1-3MVC
Drake
13-0,4-0MVC
Drake completes two-game sweep of SIU
01/04/2021 | 10:00:00 | Men's Basketball
DES MOINES, Iowa - Drake completed a two-game sweep of the SIU men's basketball team with an 86-55 win at Knapp Center on Monday night. Drake stayed undefeated with its nation-leading 13th win of the season.
"Obviously, Drake was the better team these two games," SIU head coach Bryan Mullins said. "They played extremely well again tonight. We have to do a better job taking care of the ball and guarding defensively. We need to get back to practice and fix some things to get ready for the Indiana State series (next weekend)."
The Bulldogs (13-0, 4-0 MVC), who are ranked No. 20 in the nation in the NET ratings that were released earlier in the day, made a statement with two wins over SIU (7-3, 1-3 MVC), which came in with wins over Murray State and at Butler. After an 18-point win on Sunday, Drake led by 20 at halftime today and cruised in the second half to a 31-point win over the Salukis.
After a 9-9 tie in the game's opening six minutes, Drake went on a 19-4 run and led by as many as 22 in the first half. SIU went on a 7-0 run early in the second half to force a Drake timeout, but the Bulldogs responded to that with 19-1 run to end any hopes of a Saluki comeback.
In both games of the series — the Missouri Valley Conference has instituted back-to-back games against the same opponent for league games this season — turnovers were costly. SIU did not commit an egregious number of turnovers — just 12 on Sunday and 14 today — but Drake seemingly took advantage of every single one. Between the two games, Drake scored 36 points on 26 SIU turnovers (21 points on 14 turnovers today).
"We had careless turnovers again today," Mullins said. "It helped them in the first half, and carried into the second half, as well. We need to do a better job taking care of the ball."
Drake's experience was evident. The Bulldogs have a roster full of fourth- and fifth-year players, while KenPom ranks SIU as one of the 10 least-experienced team in all of Division I basketball. SIU played 11 players in the game, and 10 of them are freshmen or sophomores.
"We have a long way to go," Mullins said. "We need to keep getting better as a team. Obviously, we have a young group. We want to be playing our best basketball toward the end of February. The only way to do that is continue to get better through practice. We need to get more organized on both sides of the ball, and that starts with me."
Against the older and more physical Bulldogs, SIU needed to keep rolling from the 3-point line, where the Salukis came into the game ranked sixth in the nation for 3-point field goal percentage, but SIU struggled in the first half, going 0-for-11. The Salukis connected in the second half, going 7-for-14 from downtown after the break, but it was too late against a hot-shooting Drake team that shot 60% from the field for the game, including 9-of-15 from the 3-point line.
"I thought we got some good looks in the first half. We were 0-for-11 in the first half, but only one was a tough look. We got 10 good looks, and these guys put in the work, so I trust them shooting it."
UP NEXT: SIU hits the road again next weekend. The Salukis play back-to-back at Indiana State on Saturday and Sunday. Both games will tip at 12 p.m. CT.
