The Cougars continue to be a conundrum. They are hot and cold, yes and no. This week, SIUE split a pair of Ohio Valley Conference games, falling to Eastern Illinois at home while picking up their first road victory since 2010 and first in the OVC. Still, 3-1 is looking pretty damn good. SIUE's RPI is 292, the first time in a while I remember them being in the top 300 this late in the season. Thanks to Jonathan for pointing that one out.
SIUE 59, Eastern Illinois 73
I never count this team out at halftime. There is always some reason to hold out hope. At the same time, you can never count the opposition out at halftime when the Cougars have a lead. They are just that inconsistent of a team. This was one of those games.
Trailing 34-21 at the break, the Cougars needed to figure things out and fast. They didn't adjust fast enough, because just 2:05 into the second half the team found itself in a 20-point hole at 43-23. A 5-0 run made it a 43-28 game, giving us a slim glimmer of hope that just maybe things could turn out a bit differently. EIU led by as many as 21 with 6:05 remaining in the game, but the Cougars to a point finished strong instead of curling into the fetal position and making the embarrassment at home even worse.
This was a sloppy game on both accounts. Neither team looked good early and EIU never really looked to be that dominating. The Cougars played soft, and you can blame foul trouble for that. Mark Yelovich was playing for much of the second half with four fouls after three in the first half and another quick one to start the second. SIUE lost six potential points because of charging fouls in the paint, neither of which really appeared to fully evident. The charging calls on both ends seemed to affect the Cougars more. EIU was getting tons of easy buckets in transition and SIUE seemed to back off a bit on defense trying to avoid the block rather than take the charge, which probably would have been called anyways. They weren't holding their ground at all in the zone defense and EIU capitalized on a weak effort, one Lennox Forrester called his team's worst of the season. That's a bold statement, considering the Cougars scored just 38 points in a 30 point loss at Redbird Arena in November.
The three point shooting was off, and when that happens it often times means a long night for the Cougars. Kris Davis led the team with 14 points split evenly between the two halfs. He was 1-2 on his 3-point attempts, and EIU did a good job eliminating the Cougars best outside shooter, which was surprising given they entered the game with the worst 3-point defense in the OVC, allowing 39 percent shooting from beyond the arc. All 7 of Davis' team-leading points in the first half came from the free-throw line, while the team shot just 27 percent. That won't get anything accomplished. In the end, Yelovich (12) and Jerome Jones (11) also finished in double-figures, but questionable shot selection, soft defense and an overall lackluster effort proved enough to hand SIUE their first OVC loss.
EIU was led by the coach's son, Joey Miller. He poured in 24 points.
SIUE 69, UT Martin 65
Was it over? of course not. The Skyhawks went on a 10-0 run to get within seven. The Cougars stretched their lead back to 14 and won by four. This was not a game for the faint of heart.
Mike Liabo was the reason this was a game to begin with. The UT Martin start scored 26 points and was 9-16 from the field including four 3-point buckets. SIUE countered with the duo of Corey Wickware (19 points) and Mark Yelovich (18 points).
The 3-point basket once again played a major part in the Cougars success. While they struggled against EIU, they were 6-14 (42 percent) at Martin. Keeping the Skyhawks away from the free throw line (7-9) didn't hurt either.
Yelovich was one rebound (9) away from a double-double.
Just an impressive road effort given the circumstances. Martin isn't going to be an NCAA tournament anytime soon, but the Cougars are displaying the ability to win in the conference, and anything but an 0-4 record at this point is really exceeding expectations, given SIUE was picked to finish dead last in the league. A lot of people may have felt three OVC wins would probably have been a ceiling for the season, and could have also argued three was probably too high. At this rate, there is no reason not to believe SIUE can keep winning and win in the future against these teams.
It's a matter of consistency, and while it has been rough, I have said for a long time SIUE can compete in this league and for an NCAA tournament birth in the future because of a few factors. We don't have football and are located in a large metropolitan area that is not already littered with conference teams like Nashville. Of course, it gets tougher next year with the addition of Belmont, but they just suffered a bad home loss to Lipscomb. Anything is possible.
Next up: Southeast Missouri
The Redhawks are also 3-1 in the OVC and boast an 8-8 record overall. The only time I saw them play this season was their 83-68 loss at Missouri, and I was impressed with their effort against the unbeaten Tigers in Columbia. They were right in the game at halftime, but Mizzou was just too strong down the stretch.
Like the Cougars, you can write off two games on their schedule. A 95-60 win over Harris Stowe and an 82-72 win over Hannibal LaGrange, but being a similar opponent you can't help but think of the whipping SIUE put on the Trojans.
SEMO has improved over the last few years and isn't the perennial doormat they were when SIUE topped them on New Year's Eve in 2008. The last few times these schools have met was not pretty. The Redhawks beat SIUE 83-63 at the Vadalabene Center last year and in 2010 walked away with an easy 68-49 win at home. I have a feeling this could be a lot like the game we just saw against Eastern. SEMO is a team we should be able to play close, but just something about it troubles me. Maybe it's the recent history.
In the OVC, SEMO has beat Morehead State, a team running around with its head cut off over the loss of Kenneth Faried by 16 points, routed Jacksonville State and edged Martin by two. Their OOC schedule included a road loss and a paycheck courtesy of Oregon and a few bad looking losses to UMKC, Arkansas State and Central Arkansas. Write it off if you must, but they did lose an exhibition game to Division II Harding University at the Show Me Center. In the regular season, SEMO is 6-2 at home.
Anthony Allison, a senior who killed the Cougars the last few years is gone, but the Redhawks do have guys who can hurt you. Tyler Stone (15 ppg) Leon Powell (11.3 ppg) and Marland Smith (10.8 ppg) can provide offense in a lot of different ways. Smith can really shoot the three (not at a Kris Davis level, but 42 percent is pretty good) Stone averages more than seven rebounds per game and Stone and Powell have combined for 35 blocks on the season. The Redhawks bench isn't a slouch either.
As always, I won't make a prediction, but this game will be a true test for both schools. SEMO is trying to stay out of the bottom of the conference where it has been for too long and SIUE is trying to never find itself there in the first place. At 3-1, both of these teams are a surprise, but only one will come out 4-1. Hopefully we get a close game and these two schools of relative geographic proximity can develop some sort of inter-conference rivalry, because it has been something SEMO has been missing out on for a long time in the OVC and something SIUE has yet to develop.
2 comments:
do they swipe student id's at all? i still have mine from last semester and was wondering if could use it or just buy ticket?
Haha, nope, they just look at them ;) You're good!
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