SIU trails W. Kentucky 40-32 at half

By: Luis Medina

The SIU men’s basketball team finds itself trailing Western Kentucky, 40-32 at half time. It is the fourth straight game in which Southern finds itself looking up at the half.

Despite shooting 48 percent in the first half, the Salukis have committed 12 turnovers, which has plagued their offensive efforts. SIU seemingly misses freshman center Nick Evans, who will miss at least 4 weeks with a wrist injury he suffered in New York. Senior forward Tony Boyle has already found himself in foul trouble as he has picked up 3 early fouls spending the last 8:51 sitting with his teammates on the bench.

It’s the Carlton and Kevin show for the Dawgs as Fay and Dillard lead the team in scoring with 9 and 8 points apiece. The dynamic scoring duo has combined to nail four of its five 3-point attempts.

If SIU wants to pull off a comeback victory, it will have to stop Sergio Kerusch, who has a career-high in points (15) through 20 minutes of play. Kerusch has been nearly unstoppable, hitting 70 percent (7-for-10) from the field.

Check back after the game for a recap of tonight’s happenings.

SIU to face UCLA in consolation game

By Luis C. Medina

It’ll be a battle of teams who are coming off bitter defeats in the semifinals of the 2K Sports Classic.

SIU will be looking to rebound from a 25-point loss at the hands of the No. 5 ranked Duke Blue Devils. Oh, and it doesn’t get easier for the Salukis. Standing in their way will be a very unhappy No. 4 ranked UCLA team coming a off a 55-52 loss against Michigan.

Finally, the Maize and Blue have something to cheer about. Now, if they can only somehow knock off Duke tomorrow and the Ohio State University Saturday … Ann Arbor might burn down in joy.

…

SIU head coach Chris Lowery talks about schedule difficulty, well, it doesn’t get much difficult than facing the No. 5 and No. 4 teams in the nation on back-to-back nights.

Tip off is slated for 4 p.m. from Madison Square Garden. I’ll be here. Heck, I might not leave. I might stay the night in the building.

Duke snaps SIU’s win streak…

By Luis C. Medina

…and by snapped I mean totally destroyed it to the point where one wouldn’t be able to know that SIU had a winning streak to begin with.

OK, maybe that was a little bit harsh (OK, a lot) but the point is Duke played like the No. 5 ranked team in the country as it used a 54-point second half to spark a 25-point victory.

Despite the blow out loss, the game wasn’t without its tense moments.

The Blue Devils led the Salukis 29-23 at half time as the team’s fought to a defensive struggle. SIU forced 17 first half turnovers, but was unable to convert a lot of those into points. Their inability to score off turnovers hampered their chances of scoring an upset win.

Carlton Fay led the offense with 17 points, but he missed a few “gimme” baskets. Nick Evans scored 7 in the first half, but he missed easy buckets, got into foul trouble and was beaten by center Brian Zoubek, who scored 10 points and grabbed six boards.

However, all is not lost, Saluki Nation. SIU gets a chance to avenge its loss against the loser of the Michigan-UCLA game. In either case, it won’t be easy because as I type this, the Wolverines hold a 40-36 lead over the Bruins with 10:20 to play.

Facing the No. 4 & 5 ranked teams in a weekend is a lot to ask or a lot of ball clubs. Especially a club that just came off a 25-point loss.

Live! from New York…

By Luis C. Medina

… it’s Saluki basketball.

After 16 hours of driving and passing through countless towns I’ve never heard of and will likely never hear of again, the trio in charge of covering tonight’s game between SIU and No. 5 Duke has finally arrived in New York City.

That’s right sports fans: Sean McGahan, Steven Rickerl and yours truly have touched down in the Big Apple and are currently prepping for the Salukis’ biggest challenge since their Sweet 16 run in 2007.

SIU enters the game as a 12.5 point underdog as it aims to even the all-time series against the Blue Devils at two apiece.  Duke has taken the last two from the Dawgs, but the “UnderDawgs’” only win came in Madison Square Garden.  The venue in which tonight’s matchup will take place.

As for the media buzz from NYC, The NY Post says the ACC power highlight the 2K Sports Classic’s final four field as SIU doesn’t have the “name recognition” the other programs in the field, No. 4 UCLA and Michigan – who by the way hasn’t done much in the basketball world since Chris Webber called a timeout his team didn’t have.

I digress.  Here’s a tidbit from The Post:

“Though Southern Illinois doesn’t have the name recognition of the other three teams in the semifinals, the Salukis went to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament two years ago before settling for an NIT berth last season.

It’s this kind of event that gets Southern Illinois coach Chris Lowery’s juices flowing. …”

You know what else gets Lowery’s juices flowing?  Winning.

SNY.TV gives the Salukis a brief run-down with this little nugget:

“The Blue Devils should be tested Thursday by Southern Illinois, which is likely hoping for a repeat of the 1967 NIT game in which Salukis star Walt Frazier helped send Duke packing on the way to the championship.”

Really?  Likely hoping?  I’m sure Lowery & Co. are coming here for pizza, Nathan’s hot dogs and a trip to Coney Island.  Heck, they might not show up to the game.  Oh, wait.  Maybe not.

Charlie Ogburn of the Duke Chronicle sets the table from the Blue Devil side of things while I have done the same for the Daily Egyptian.

Stay classy, Carbondale.  You’re being well represented in the Mecca of basketball.

Lennon could become historic SIU head coach

By: Brian Feldt

With one game remaining on the SIU football team’s 2008 schedule, the Salukis are already guaranteed a winning record.

SIU will finish with either a 8-3 record or a 9-2 record, depending on the outcome of Saturday’s game against Illinois State. But no matter the outcome, SIU head coach Dale Lennon will have made history at the season’s end.

Lennon will become just the fourth coach in SIU history to record a winning record in his first season as Saluki head coach. The others are Rey Dempsey (1976, 7-4), Carmen Piccone (1959, 5-4) and William McAndrew (1913, 4-2-1).

Lennon downplayed the notion that the feat was anything special in practice Tuesday, but Lennon is probably more concerned with Saturday’s matchup than he is with making history without the words national championship in them.

Speaking of national championship, the last SIU head coach to record a winning season in his first season as SIU shot caller was Rey Dempsey, who led the Salukis to the 1983 national championship.

Furthermore, Lennon could become just the third coach in Missouri Valley Football Conference history to win the conference crown in his first season as head coach.

The only others to complete that task were Northern Iowa’s Mark Farley (2001) and Darrell Mudra (1985).

No matter Saturday’s results, though, Lennon will have completed the most successful first season by a head coach in the history of the SIU football program.

SIU isn’t intimidated by Duke’s prestige

By Luis C. Medina

In the spirit of this upcoming trip to New York City, I’d like to quote Yankees Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra, who once said “Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical.”

And while Yogi made his living on the diamond and not the hardwood, the same can be applied to the game played with the orange roundball. By the sound of things, several members of the SIU men’s basketball team are taking Berra’s saying to heart.

Head coach Chris Lowery is taking it as if it was just another game:

“We don’t ever look at it as a bigger school. We think how we play prepares us to play anybody. We always talk about how we practice and how we do things … it’s to compete against the highest level.”

Sophomore forward Carlton Fay said even though Duke is always talented, SIU is going to have to impose its style of play on the Blue Devils:

“You hear about them (Duke) all the time, and you see them on ESPN every other day, but they’re a great ball team. They’ve got a bunch of players, but what we’ve got to do is go over there and play our game.”

Senior guard Bryan Mullins has played on the big stage before and he is looking to come out of the Garden with a few victories:

“It’s an experience that all of us are going to remember, and I think we’re excited. But now we don’t want to just go there and play or go there to have fun, we’re going there to win and we expect to win some games out there.”

Defense delievers in a big way

By Luis C. Medina

On paper, the 38-35 SIU win looked like a shootout. Despite the 73 points scored in the game, it was the defense that was the ball game’s deciding factor.

The Salukis scored 35 points in the first half, but it didn’t keep the South Dakota State defense from showing up with a strong second half that limited SIU to only a fourth quarter field goal.

While the Jackrabbits were jumping on Saluki ball carriers in the second half, their offense turned around and scored 14 unanswered points in the third quarter. Quarterback Ryan Berry victimized the Saluki secondary to the tune of 286 yards and 3 touchdown passes.

However, it was Berry’s two interceptions that seemingly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

SIU safety Marty Rodgers turned Berry’s first INT into a pick-six, returning it for a 57-yard touchdown. His second came under more dramatic circumstances.

Berry drove SDSU down the field efficiently, completing six of his first eight passes as the Jackrabbits looked poise to tie or take the lead. But when faced with a backside blitz, Berry floated a pass towards the right sideline in an effort to get the ball out of bounds so his offense could see another down.

Instead, it landed in the hands of cornerback James Wheeler, and for the second time in as many weeks the SIU football team walked away with a victory thanks to its defensive secondary.

SIU rains threes, reigns supreme over UMass

By Luis C. Medina

The SIU men’s basketball game against UMass read almost like a Charles Dickens novel.

The first half provided the worst of times for Saluki shooters as they were shutout in their attempts beyond the arc.

0-for-8 wasn’t going to cut it.

The second half painted a much different tale as SIU was able to mount a comeback behind 9 second-half three point buckets as the Salukis overcame an 11-point halftime deficit to win 80-73.

Freshman Kevin Dillard led the way with 4 second-half threes en route to a 14-point 6 assist performance. A confident Dillard nailed bucket after bucket, including one from beyond NBA range as a double-digit deficit turned into an SIU lead in almost the blink of an eye.

When it was all said and done, SIU and its fans were celebrating the best of times and a date with Duke in New York City.

SIU boasts best bench

By Luis C. Medina

The SIU men’s basketball team received a much needed boost from its bench to beat California (Pa.), 66-52.

Five of the six Saluki reserves logged double-digit minutes in Tuesday night’s win en route to outscoring their opponents 31-11 and each played a significant role in helping SIU score 42 second-half points.

Freshman Kevin Dillard, who started SIU’s first preseason game, came off the bench to score nine points and dish nine dimes and provide a spark to what was a sluggish Saluki offense in the first half. Watching Dillard and Mullins orchestrate the offense in the second half was music to the ears of the home crowd. Especially Dillard’s behind-the-back wrap around pass to set up a hustling Nick Evans.

“He ran the floor,” Dillard said. “Whenever big men run the floor, you have to reward them.”

Evans has been a pleasure to watch so far in his career. No, he’s not going up against the world’s greatest talent, but what he does on the floor will translate against any opponent. Like Dillard said, he runs the floor. He’s always hustling. He’s always trying to establish himself in the low post. Even coach Chris Lowery jokingly warned against Evans being a ball-hog.

He notched eight points and grabbed five rebounds in 16 energy-filled minutes.

The most encouraging thing about Evans is that he gets it. I know that gets thrown a lot in sports, but talking to him on SIU’s Media Day, he understands all the work he did before games with Brad Korn will pay dividends this year and beyond. Evans wants to work hard and is working hard and sometimes that’s all you need to get by to win.

And with Tony Boyle struggling to score two points in 11 minutes, Evans’ efforts were very much needed.

SIU’s roster might not be full of All-Americans, but a roster that runs at least 10 deep will help the Salukis make up what they lack elsewhere.

Ex(hibition) marks the spot

By Luis C. Medina

On paper, fans of the SIU men’s basketball team should be happy with the pair of victories the team has posted this week in its exhibition season.

But once reality sets and the casual eye goes over the box score, Saluki fans might just be happy they escaped with a win.

In its first matchup, SIU committed 34 turnovers, including 8 by freshman guard Kevin Dillard – who had many impressive moments in his debut.

Sophomore Carlton Fay has provided the offensive punch he was expected to give last year, but early game foul trouble has limited his playing time.

And then there’s the defense, the calling card of SIU basketball since the day I stepped on to the Carbondale campus. With 1:38 remaining in the game, I was half-way through my game story, ready to almost glad-hand SIU, who limited Southwest Baptist’s star player in the second half as the team looked ready to cruise to an 18 point victory.

Somehow, someway, an 18-point lead was cut to 4 points with 19 seconds left.

But in the end, SIU held on.

Let the record show that won’t cut it. Not with Saluki Nation. Not with Chris Lowery. Not with anyone.

The games count in the standings beginning Tuesday night.

I expect the real SIU (whatever that may be) to show up ready to play ball.

Thankfully for Saluki fans, their coach feels the same way.