Saturday, December 11
Tulsa, Okla.
1 PM
Southern Illinois University
5-4,1-0MVC
65
at
69
Tulsa
5-5,0-0AAC
F
Southern Ill.
65
Tulsa
41
28
69
Tulsa slips by Men's Basketball, 69-65
12/11/2021 | 3:42:00 | Men's Basketball
TULSA, Okla. — Ben Coupet scored a career-high 27 points for Southern Illinois, but Tulsa hung on for a 69-65 win on Saturday at the Reynolds Center.
The Salukis (5-4) rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit to tie the game, 60-60, on a 3-pointer by Troy D'Amico with 3:13 remaining.
The Golden Hurricane (5-5) scored the next five points, all on free throws. Although SIU's Marcus Domask drained a 3-ball to cut it to 65-63 with 36 seconds to go, Southern never had possession with a chance to tie during the final minute.
"It's such a fine margin between being a good team and a great team," said SIU head coach Bryan Mullins, whose squad had its three-game winning streak snapped. "This was a high-level college game, and the Valley's not going to be any easier."
Tulsa came out of the gate on fire, hitting its first four 3-point tries to build a 16-11 lead. Then it was Southern's turn to heat up — with Coupet burying a couple treys and Domask another — during a 10-0 run to seize a 21-16 lead.
Against a Tulsa zone, the Salukis made 15-of-34 (44.1 percent) shots from behind the arc, including 6-of-11 from deep by Coupet. SIU made only 8-of-23 shots from two-point range, though.
"I thought all of our guys took good threes today," Mullins said. "I thought we did a good job against their zone, getting it inside and then out. We just have to be able to finish some of those tough baskets in the paint a little bit better."
Tulsa converted 7-of-11 shots from downtown in the first-half, to build a 41-33 halftime lead. The Salukis held them to 0-for-3 shooting from deep in the second half and just 34.8 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes. Mullins said he's looking for more consistency on the defensive end.
"We didn't guard the way we needed to in that first half," Mullins acknowledged. "The possession-by-possession mentality and consistency — we have to continue to get better at that. We play extremely hard. Our kids never want to lose, it's just, can we do it for 40 minutes? That's going to be the challenge moving forward for this group."
The Golden Hurricane were focused on holding Southern's top scorers in check. Domask scored 16 on 6-of-18 shooting from the field and led the team with seven assists. Lance Jones had eight points and played just 19 minutes due to foul trouble.
In fact, fouls were a key factor in the outcome of the game, with SIU whistled for 18 fouls and Tulsa only eight.
"We sent them to the free throw line a couple times where we have to do a better job kind of reaching for the lights and being disciplined on lane-line drives," Mullins said. "Offensively, we did enough things right to win the game, it was just the inconsistency defensively."
The Salukis return home on Wednesday night for a 7 p.m. tip against regional rival SEMO.
The Salukis (5-4) rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit to tie the game, 60-60, on a 3-pointer by Troy D'Amico with 3:13 remaining.
The Golden Hurricane (5-5) scored the next five points, all on free throws. Although SIU's Marcus Domask drained a 3-ball to cut it to 65-63 with 36 seconds to go, Southern never had possession with a chance to tie during the final minute.
"It's such a fine margin between being a good team and a great team," said SIU head coach Bryan Mullins, whose squad had its three-game winning streak snapped. "This was a high-level college game, and the Valley's not going to be any easier."
Tulsa came out of the gate on fire, hitting its first four 3-point tries to build a 16-11 lead. Then it was Southern's turn to heat up — with Coupet burying a couple treys and Domask another — during a 10-0 run to seize a 21-16 lead.
Against a Tulsa zone, the Salukis made 15-of-34 (44.1 percent) shots from behind the arc, including 6-of-11 from deep by Coupet. SIU made only 8-of-23 shots from two-point range, though.
"I thought all of our guys took good threes today," Mullins said. "I thought we did a good job against their zone, getting it inside and then out. We just have to be able to finish some of those tough baskets in the paint a little bit better."
Tulsa converted 7-of-11 shots from downtown in the first-half, to build a 41-33 halftime lead. The Salukis held them to 0-for-3 shooting from deep in the second half and just 34.8 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes. Mullins said he's looking for more consistency on the defensive end.
"We didn't guard the way we needed to in that first half," Mullins acknowledged. "The possession-by-possession mentality and consistency — we have to continue to get better at that. We play extremely hard. Our kids never want to lose, it's just, can we do it for 40 minutes? That's going to be the challenge moving forward for this group."
The Golden Hurricane were focused on holding Southern's top scorers in check. Domask scored 16 on 6-of-18 shooting from the field and led the team with seven assists. Lance Jones had eight points and played just 19 minutes due to foul trouble.
In fact, fouls were a key factor in the outcome of the game, with SIU whistled for 18 fouls and Tulsa only eight.
"We sent them to the free throw line a couple times where we have to do a better job kind of reaching for the lights and being disciplined on lane-line drives," Mullins said. "Offensively, we did enough things right to win the game, it was just the inconsistency defensively."
The Salukis return home on Wednesday night for a 7 p.m. tip against regional rival SEMO.
Team Stats
SIU
Tulsa
FG%
.404
.468
3FG%
.441
.500
FT%
.571
.750
RB
31
31
TO
11
9
STL
6
6
Game Leaders
Pts
27
FGM
9
3FGM
6
FTM
3
Pts
16
FGM
6
3FGM
4
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
6
FGM
2
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
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