Wednesday, December 22
San Francisco, Calif.
4:00 PM
Southern Illinois University
7-5,1-0MVC
52
at
64
San Francisco
12-1,0-0WCC
1
2
F
Southern Ill.
26
26
52
San Francisco
36
28
64
Men's Basketball falls at San Francisco, 64-52
12/22/2021 | 7:00:00 | Men's Basketball
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — In its final non-conference road game, Southern Illinois dropped a 64-52 decision at San Francisco on Wednesday afternoon.
One of college basketball's top mid-major programs this season, the Dons (12-1) improved to 8-0 at home and added to a resume that already includes wins over Arizona State, Nevada and UNLV.
"When you're playing a top-25 team, an NCAA Tournament team on the road, you've got to be locked in every single possession," said SIU head coach Bryan Mullins, whose team dropped to 1-3 on the road.
On the plus side, the Salukis (7-5) were able to dictate the tempo and force a possession-by-possession battle. They just couldn't make open looks from long range, connecting on 3-of-20 tries from behind the 3-point line, and missing 14 of their first 15.
"Some of the best shooters on our team uncharacteristically not having a good shooting night," Mullins acknowledged.
Playing more than 2,100 miles from home and two time zones away, Southern did bring its usual hustle and competitiveness. The Dawgs clawed back at the end of both halves, trimming a 20-point second-half deficit to nine with 3:48 remaining in the game.
"These guys always fight and respond when they're not playing well," Mullins said. "The guys made it a game at the end and we had a couple possessions to cut it to seven or (less) and we just had some costly turnovers."
In fact, Southern's 14 turnovers on the day were the most since its season opener at Little Rock. During the recent stretch in which the Salukis won five of their last six games, the assist-to-turnover ledger leaned heavily in their favor.
Offensively, SIU forward J.D. Muila had a career high 11 points and made 5-of-7 shots. Ben Coupet Jr. added 12 points and made two of the team's 3-pointers.
Defensively, the Salukis struggled to contain San Francisco's 1-2 punch of Jamaree Bouyea (20 points, eight rebounds, five assists) and Yauhen Massalski (18 points, nine rebounds).
"I thought we did a good job taking away their threes," Mullins said. "They're one of the highest-volume 3-point shooting teams in the country and we limited them to 5-for-17. We wanted to make them beat us two at a time. I thought Bouyea got going in the first half a little bit too much and we had to change some things in the second half."
"We definitely have to get better on defense," Muila added. "I felt we didn't do a great job, especially me. That's what I do — I'm supposed to play defense. I didn't play my best defensive game."
The Salukis will take a short Christmas break before returning home on Dec. 28. The conference schedule resumes on Jan. 2 versus Loyola.
One of college basketball's top mid-major programs this season, the Dons (12-1) improved to 8-0 at home and added to a resume that already includes wins over Arizona State, Nevada and UNLV.
"When you're playing a top-25 team, an NCAA Tournament team on the road, you've got to be locked in every single possession," said SIU head coach Bryan Mullins, whose team dropped to 1-3 on the road.
On the plus side, the Salukis (7-5) were able to dictate the tempo and force a possession-by-possession battle. They just couldn't make open looks from long range, connecting on 3-of-20 tries from behind the 3-point line, and missing 14 of their first 15.
"Some of the best shooters on our team uncharacteristically not having a good shooting night," Mullins acknowledged.
Playing more than 2,100 miles from home and two time zones away, Southern did bring its usual hustle and competitiveness. The Dawgs clawed back at the end of both halves, trimming a 20-point second-half deficit to nine with 3:48 remaining in the game.
"These guys always fight and respond when they're not playing well," Mullins said. "The guys made it a game at the end and we had a couple possessions to cut it to seven or (less) and we just had some costly turnovers."
In fact, Southern's 14 turnovers on the day were the most since its season opener at Little Rock. During the recent stretch in which the Salukis won five of their last six games, the assist-to-turnover ledger leaned heavily in their favor.
Offensively, SIU forward J.D. Muila had a career high 11 points and made 5-of-7 shots. Ben Coupet Jr. added 12 points and made two of the team's 3-pointers.
Defensively, the Salukis struggled to contain San Francisco's 1-2 punch of Jamaree Bouyea (20 points, eight rebounds, five assists) and Yauhen Massalski (18 points, nine rebounds).
"I thought we did a good job taking away their threes," Mullins said. "They're one of the highest-volume 3-point shooting teams in the country and we limited them to 5-for-17. We wanted to make them beat us two at a time. I thought Bouyea got going in the first half a little bit too much and we had to change some things in the second half."
"We definitely have to get better on defense," Muila added. "I felt we didn't do a great job, especially me. That's what I do — I'm supposed to play defense. I didn't play my best defensive game."
The Salukis will take a short Christmas break before returning home on Dec. 28. The conference schedule resumes on Jan. 2 versus Loyola.
Team Stats
SIU
USF
FG%
.340
.510
3FG%
.150
.294
FT%
.722
.778
RB
28
36
TO
14
16
STL
5
7
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
12
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
4
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
6
FGM
0
3FGM
0
FTM
6
Players Mentioned
G
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