Looking back and the week ahead: SEMO, Tennessee State and Austin Peay

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Approx. 40 general admission tickets remain for the game Saturday against No. 10 Murray State (18-0) at the Vadalabene Center. Student vouchers became available today and the lower bowl is gone. Get there fast or miss out on the best night of your life.

While the Cougars try to avoid looking ahead to the biggest basketball game arguably in the history of the Vadalabene Center Saturday, we look back on a disappointing week to say the least. SIUE is now 5-10 overall after a fantastic start to their first season competing in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Cougars started out fast against Southeast Missouri State and came back from an 11 point deficit only to see it resurface and to fade down the stretch in an 85-68 loss at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau. A few days later, they fell behind and managed to score just one point in the first five minutes of play at Tennessee State, but made a run to take what seemed to be a commanding 14 point second lead just to see it disappear in a 52-49 loss.

SIUE 68, SEMO 85

Through the early portion of the OVC schedule we keep hearing from our friends across the league about how balanced it is...outside of Murray State. On any given night, anyone in the OVC can beat anyone else...except Murray State. This game and the Cougars game against Eastern Illinois are prime examples of this. In each game, we see similarities, and each time when the Cougars fail to show up the end result is not pretty. We look at the scoreboard and see SIUE lost by 17 points. Meanwhile, SEMO improved to 4-1 in the OVC, showing just how far that program has come. The fact is, SIUE isn't too far behind anyone...which the exception of Murray State.

This was a game until late in the second half. The Cougars had the lead for a large chunk of the first half, and the halftime score of 46-39 probably should have been a little closer if SIUE executed correctly. The shot clock was turned off and the Cougars had one final possession to cut into a 43-39 lead. Lennox Forrester called a timeout with 15 seconds left after an offensive rebound and a missed shot attempt by Michael Birts. Mark Yelovich got the shot with five seconds left but rushed it a bit and the Redhawks rushed down the court, giving Logan Nutt an opportunity to burry a wide open three, his first of the season.

That play right before the half really made the game, even though SIUE was able to take a one point 53-52 lead eight minutes into the second half. Down the stretch, SIUE was outscored 33-15. That's not going to get it done folks.

We did see a balanced effort offensively from the Cougars, as four of the five starters finished in double-figures. Jerome Jones took some bad shots, but finished with 19 points. Still, 1-8 from 3-point range and 7-20 from the field isn't anything to brag about. Kris Davis had 15, including a 3-5 effort from beyond the arc, Yelovich had 13 and Derian Shaffer had 12.

SIUE 49, Tennessee State 52

It's about learning how to win games. SIUE has been competitive all season long with the exception of their games against Illinois State and SIU Carbondale. You can argue they were competitive against Illinois and Eastern Illinois just because they played horrible against the Panthers. It has been rare for the Cougars to come out completely over-matched this season. 

This one was hard to watch, especially since I was relegated to watching the score on my iPhone.

SIUE does not know how to finish off games and win. This was the second big lead the team has lost this season, the other being against Hampton in the Cancun Challenge. If those two games went any bit differently, we are 7-8, which is a ton better than 5-10.

It came down to rebounding. Tennessee State collected 40, the Cougars 27. SIUE is 0-6 when they get 27 or less rebounds. (Thanks for the memo, @SIUEbot).

In such a low scoring game, it is hard to imagine it is even possible to lose a 14 point lead. That's nearly a third of your points in the game. It happened.

As a result, TSU shut the Cougars out on second-chance points (10-0) and they had just three offensive rebounds. SIUE shot 41 percent from behind the arc: Corey Wickware was 3-4 and Kris Davis was 2-5. Mark struggled, and as a result the team shot just 33 percent total.

Despite shooting 30 percent in the first half, SIUE had a 24-17 lead at the break. It has to get better than that, and while it did so did the Tigers after a slow start. They shot 52 percent in the second half and SIUE shot 36.

Learning to win is like learning to fly when you aint' got wings.

Up next: Austin Peay

Before the big game against Murray we have to deal with the Gov's from Austin Peay. If there is such a thing as a trap game at home this would be the one. You don't want to get caught looking ahead whatsoever, and human nature will probably run its course. Austin Peay was picked to finish first in the OVC, but they have struggled consistently throughout the year and at one point were 0-8.

They are also coming off a game against Tennessee State, but they won their match-up 69-63 and are trying to right the ship, standing at 6-13. They still have a long way to go and are still underachieving but have started to show signs of life.

This is a special game for Austin Peay, which concerns me even more. They have two Edwardsville natives on their roster, and although Anthony Campbell, who was supposed to lead the Gov's to the promised land is out for the season (again) with a knee injury, he will be happy to be back, as will Will Triggs, who averages 7.3 points and 5.1 rebounds for APSU.

The Govs' front court is led by TyShaun Edmonson, who is a 33 percent 3-point shooter and averages 12.7 per game. Josh Terry isn't far behind at 12.6.

Austin Peay is a good team although their record fails to show it. SIUE can't overlook anybody on the schedule, especially a Division I team. There is no margin for error. A winning conference record on the ESPN graphic Saturday should be enough motivation.

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