Thursday, December 18
Carbondale, IL
8 PM
Southern Illinois University
6-6,0-1MVC
68
vs
75
Illinois State
9-3,1-0MVC
1
2
F
Illinois St.
30
45
75
Southern Ill.
35
33
68
Drew Steffe
Photo by: Abby Harris
Turnovers plague Southern again as physical Redbirds surge late to take Valley opener
12/18/2025 | 11:48:00 | Men's Basketball
CARBONDALE, Ill. - After leading by as much as eight early in the second half, Illinois State stormed back to top Southern Illinois 75-68 Thursday night in Carbondale. The Redbirds' comeback effort was aided by 16 turnovers from the Salukis and a career-high 22 points from junior Ty Pence.
Head Coach Scott Nagy attributed a lack of physicality from his team to the second-half performance.
"They turned up their physicality, and we just didn't match it," he said. "It's one of the reasons why we had nine turnovers at the half, that they just pushed us around, and we just weren't very physical."
Southern's leading scorer Quel'Ron House was on fire early, scoring 10 of Southern's first 12 points. A balanced attack led by House had Southern up by five at the half.
A three-point play from Rolyns Aligbe put a jolt of energy into the Banterra Center as the Salukis led 42-34 at the 16:55 mark of the second half. The resilient Redbirds responded with a 9-0 run, quieting the crowd and paving the way for Illinois State to go in front.
Chase Walker put the Redbirds up 61-52 with just over six minutes remaining with a layup the fans and SIU coaching staff alike questioned for a potential travel. Nagy's reaction drew a technical foul, putting life back into his team, but the deficit became too large for his team to stage a comeback.
Free throws were hard to come by for both squads. Illinois State shot an abysmal 38.9% (7-for-18), but Southern did themselves no favors, shooting just 54.5% (12-for-22) themselves.
Down the stretch, Southern could only get as close as five with just 15 seconds remaining, and Illinois State would come away with the seven-point victory.
SIU drops to 6-6 in MVC play and 0-1 in MVC play. The loss also marks Southern's first at home.
UP NEXT
The Dawgs will head to their first conference road test at Bradley on Sunday. The Braves defeated Indiana State with a 108-99 overtime thriller on Thursday.
FOLLOW THE SALUKIS
Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Salukis by visiting SIUSalukis.com as well as following the team on X at @SIU_Basketball, Instagram at @SIU_Basketball, and Facebook at Facebook.com/SIUBasketball. Fans can also download the "Salukis" mobile app from the App Store or Google Play Store.
Head Coach Scott Nagy attributed a lack of physicality from his team to the second-half performance.
"They turned up their physicality, and we just didn't match it," he said. "It's one of the reasons why we had nine turnovers at the half, that they just pushed us around, and we just weren't very physical."
Southern's leading scorer Quel'Ron House was on fire early, scoring 10 of Southern's first 12 points. A balanced attack led by House had Southern up by five at the half.
A three-point play from Rolyns Aligbe put a jolt of energy into the Banterra Center as the Salukis led 42-34 at the 16:55 mark of the second half. The resilient Redbirds responded with a 9-0 run, quieting the crowd and paving the way for Illinois State to go in front.
Chase Walker put the Redbirds up 61-52 with just over six minutes remaining with a layup the fans and SIU coaching staff alike questioned for a potential travel. Nagy's reaction drew a technical foul, putting life back into his team, but the deficit became too large for his team to stage a comeback.
Free throws were hard to come by for both squads. Illinois State shot an abysmal 38.9% (7-for-18), but Southern did themselves no favors, shooting just 54.5% (12-for-22) themselves.
Down the stretch, Southern could only get as close as five with just 15 seconds remaining, and Illinois State would come away with the seven-point victory.
SIU drops to 6-6 in MVC play and 0-1 in MVC play. The loss also marks Southern's first at home.
UP NEXT
The Dawgs will head to their first conference road test at Bradley on Sunday. The Braves defeated Indiana State with a 108-99 overtime thriller on Thursday.
FOLLOW THE SALUKIS
Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Salukis by visiting SIUSalukis.com as well as following the team on X at @SIU_Basketball, Instagram at @SIU_Basketball, and Facebook at Facebook.com/SIUBasketball. Fans can also download the "Salukis" mobile app from the App Store or Google Play Store.
Team Stats
ILS
SIU
FG%
.492
.491
3FG%
.276
.308
FT%
.389
.545
RB
36
34
TO
13
16
STL
8
10
Game Leaders
Pts
22
FGM
11
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
17
FGM
7
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Pts
8
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's BasketballG
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