Previewing SIUE vs. Illinois State

Have to make this quick today folks! I'm at my internship right now and heading up to BloNo this afternoon for the game. We will have a live chat and all that good stuff.

Tonight, two teams that scored in the 40's during their first game of the season meet. As we know, SIUE dropped a 66-46 decision at Illinois, while the Redbirds lost 56-47 at Fresno State, which is a long way from Normal. (Get it?)

The Redbirds lead the all-time series between the two teams 6-0,which includes a 92-64 spanking last year in BloNo.

I don't think that will happen tonight.

ISU, while probably destined to finish near the bottom of the Missouri Valley Conference (because it is stacked this year) is a team that returns a lot from last year, but is still suffering the after affects of losing two of the biggest weapons to come through the program in quite a while: Osiris Eldridge and Dinma Odiakosa. SIU-c ended their season last year at the MVC tournament in St. Louis with a 57-54 win. I was there. It was a mediocre season at best. ISU finished 12-19 with a 4-14 mark in the MVC. They were just 2-10 away from home. Tim Jankovich's seat has got to be feeling a little bit warm these days. ISU is a bit past its prime, in terms of when they probably should have went to the NCAA tournament. It's back to the drawing board in Normal.

They are dangerous at Redbird Arena, though. They were 10-9 at home last year including the big win over SIUE.

Let's forget that game. Corey Wickware scored 25 points to lead the Cougars and nobody else really showed up. Nikola Bundalo fouled out of the game with 10 minutes left in the second half and Anthony Mitchell fouled out as well. Blake Mischler and Jackie Carmichael each had 18 points, Trey Blue had 14 and Tony Lewis had 10. The Redbirds got scoring from a lot of different sources in that game. They outrebounded SIUE 38-28, but the Cougars were only -4 in the turnover department. The fouls are really what killed them. ISU was 33-36 from the free-throw line.

The Redbirds projected starting linuep tonight features Carmichael, who is 6-foot-9, and scored 12 points against Fresno State. Carmichael is short, compared to what we saw against Illinois and matches up well on paper with Derian Shaffer. Both are ahtletic at the five spot. ISU also starts Anthony Cousins, Nik Moore, Jon Ekey and John Wilkins. Ekey is 6-foot-7 and Wilkins is 6-foot-9, so ISU does have a small size advantage tonight. The SIUE front line goes 6'8, 6'6, 6'6. While they are not as tall as Illinois, Carmichael and Ekey were No. 1 and 2 in the MVC blocking shots last year. SIUE has to be careful. Also, watch out for Blue off the bench. He can shoot the rock.

Keys to the game:

Rebounding: SIUE doesn't have to win the battle of the boards, but keep it within five and go after them hard.
Shooting: Maybe the night in Bloomington helped. SIUE took the bus on game day to Champaign Monday and struggled, shooting just 29 percent. They have to be better.
Stay out of foul trouble: Last year's game at ISU was bad. They were disciplined at Illinois and never got the benefit of the doubt.
Get off to a fast start and be in it at halftime: This is always a key to the game.
Defense: Keep them under 70. Jankovich's teams are 46-10 when they score 70.

I know I'll be seeing some of you in Normal. Hope to see the rest of you on the chat. Safe travels.

Posted in: Archives