There has to be more to this, because Ebube's been a spark on quite a few occasions during the season. It's unconscionable that he only saw 3 entire minutes in a double-OT game when you already have such a short bench to begin with.50 minutes of basketball and Scottie Ebube played 3 minutes today. His defense I'm sure is the reason why but what a way to go out.
Unconscionable? He gave up 6 points in the first half by completely being out of position or being too slow to recover in a switch.
As the game went on we can’t have a 40% free throw shooter in the game. He’s god awful at the line. Embarrassing to be honest.
I love Scottie but this game was a terrible match up for him. I’m in agreement that most times he needs way more minutes but it wasn’t this one.
We needed Ebube to play more than three minutes because let's face it, a lot of these dudes were running on fumes at this point of the season.
At some point that responsibility has to fall on the head coach.
There has to be more to this, because Ebube's been a spark on quite a few occasions during the season. It's unconscionable that he only saw 3 entire minutes in a double-OT game when you already have such a short bench to begin with.50 minutes of basketball and Scottie Ebube played 3 minutes today. His defense I'm sure is the reason why but what a way to go out.
Unconscionable? He gave up 6 points in the first half by completely being out of position or being too slow to recover in a switch.
As the game went on we can’t have a 40% free throw shooter in the game. He’s god awful at the line. Embarrassing to be honest.
I love Scottie but this game was a terrible match up for him. I’m in agreement that most times he needs way more minutes but it wasn’t this one.
I don’t have the energy to fully reply, but give me a break. If you can’t find a way to get meaningful production out of Ebube against a below-.500 team, that’s poor coaching. You have to live with some mistakes to get the upside.
As for the fourth foul on X, they had a foul to give. It made sense if it wasn’t X’s fourth. So also bad coaching there.
My biggest takeaway is Mullins over-relied on Trent Brown for five years and it wasn’t enough to get where we need to go. Very much on display tonight at both ends. Terrific kid but not a 30 minute guy on a contending team.
What a sad state of affairs.
UIC scored 50 points in the paint tonight.There has to be more to this, because Ebube's been a spark on quite a few occasions during the season. It's unconscionable that he only saw 3 entire minutes in a double-OT game when you already have such a short bench to begin with.50 minutes of basketball and Scottie Ebube played 3 minutes today. His defense I'm sure is the reason why but what a way to go out.
Unconscionable? He gave up 6 points in the first half by completely being out of position or being too slow to recover in a switch.
As the game went on we can’t have a 40% free throw shooter in the game. He’s god awful at the line. Embarrassing to be honest.
I love Scottie but this game was a terrible match up for him. I’m in agreement that most times he needs way more minutes but it wasn’t this one.
FIFTY.
You have to put a big man in there at some point to intimidate UIC's guards from driving to the lane all night long, or you risk giving up a ton of points at the rim, which is exactly what happened tonight.
And who's been SIU's most consistent big man (when he plays!)... Ebube.
Mullins' complete inability to understand how to utilize Ebube this season may have been his biggest coaching failure this season, along with not being able to develop ANY bench productivity. Why have guys sitting at the end of the bench and never use them? No wonder McGee left the team - he couldn't even get a single second of playing time on Senior Night.
UIC scored 50 points in the paint tonight.There has to be more to this, because Ebube's been a spark on quite a few occasions during the season. It's unconscionable that he only saw 3 entire minutes in a double-OT game when you already have such a short bench to begin with.50 minutes of basketball and Scottie Ebube played 3 minutes today. His defense I'm sure is the reason why but what a way to go out.
Unconscionable? He gave up 6 points in the first half by completely being out of position or being too slow to recover in a switch.
As the game went on we can’t have a 40% free throw shooter in the game. He’s god awful at the line. Embarrassing to be honest.
I love Scottie but this game was a terrible match up for him. I’m in agreement that most times he needs way more minutes but it wasn’t this one.
FIFTY.
You have to put a big man in there at some point to intimidate UIC's guards from driving to the lane all night long, or you risk giving up a ton of points at the rim, which is exactly what happened tonight.
And who's been SIU's most consistent big man (when he plays!)... Ebube.
Mullins' complete inability to understand how to utilize Ebube this season may have been his biggest coaching failure this season, along with not being able to develop ANY bench productivity. Why have guys sitting at the end of the bench and never use them? No wonder McGee left the team - he couldn't even get a single second of playing time on Senior Night.
The part I dont get is last season JD Mulia got as many minutes as he wanted and he was awful at both ends of the court on top of being a poor rebounder. But Mullins just loved him for some baffling reason. Yet his hook on Ebube was lightning quick.
The part I dont get is last season JD Mulia got as many minutes as he wanted and he was awful at both ends of the court on top of being a poor rebounder. But Mullins just loved him for some baffling reason. Yet his hook on Ebube was lightning quick.
Disagree about awful at both ends of the court. Muila was a very good defender. Now the argument you can make is they should have sacrificed defense for more offense around Domask/Jones.
According to KenPom's win probability SIU has the 39th (UIC, 1.6%), 67th (Bradley, 2.5%), 79th (Missouri State, 2.8%), and 97th (Austin Peay, 3.1%) biggest collapses in college basketball this year.
Murray State is 54th (2.1%) for their choke against SIU this year.
@siudawgs Completely agree. The 3-pointers Trent hit tonight were big, but him giving up 30+ on the other end was bigger. Did anyone else notice the play toward the end when the PG saw Brown was guarding him, looked at his teammate (who was starting to set a ball screen), pointed at Brown (as if to say- look who's guarding me) and called for a clear-out? It worked, of course. He took Brown to the hole for another easy lay-up. That was very telling.
Sorry to keep piling on Brown (who seems like a terrific kid who made huge strides this season), but to me that was one of Bryan's biggest failures as a coach. Giving Brown 40 minutes per game and saying "we need his defense on the court" is one of the most baffling postgame statements Mullins made.
As puzzling as the unlimited PT for Brown was the lack of it for Ebube. Scottie dominated on the court just about every time he played, which was a whopping 2-3 minutes per game. If he plays tonight, we win that game easily. I have no doubt about it. Every time Rodney asked Mullins about it on postgame, his response was "yeah, we should've played Scottie more." WTF? Again, baffling.
Finishing 6th (after being picked 9th) and losing in the first round to the 11 seed in Year 5 is not "trending up" in my book. We lose our best player, have ZERO recruits signed for next year, and have no capable starting guards on our roster. Not one. Thursday night 4-out-of-5 years? Depressing.
Bryan is a great guy and a former Saluki. But if I'm the AD, this is an easy decision. I'll be shocked if Bryan has a job on Monday.
The part I dont get is last season JD Mulia got as many minutes as he wanted and he was awful at both ends of the court on top of being a poor rebounder. But Mullins just loved him for some baffling reason. Yet his hook on Ebube was lightning quick.
Disagree about awful at both ends of the court. Muila was a very good defender. Now the argument you can make is they should have sacrificed defense for more offense around Domask/Jones.
I guess I just disagree. He was slow. He wasn't particularly athletic. His positioning was awful.
Other teams front courts generally had their best games against Mulia. Watching him try to guard athletic or even halfway decent 5s was painful as they pretty effortlessly scored on him and rebounded him out of the gym.
Hiring a former player has not gone well for us, especially guards who wore #10. I think the absolute best thing for Mullins is to move on, he will always remember his years as a HC at SIU and will probably end up at another school being another Ben Jacobsen, but right now he still has a lot to learn. I hate it, but his record at SIU speaks for itself and if a coach can't do it five years, then it is doubtful he will do it in year 6, 7 or 8. Are we any better off than we were at the end of Hinson's last season? If that answer is no, then some decisions need to be made, and soon.
Was unable to follow the game last night as some personal matters took precedence, but it sounds like it was a microcosm of the season -- stretches of incompetence, stretches of brilliance, blown leads late in the game, missed opportunities, odd coaching decisions and just too much bad karma. Played hard as always, but it wasn't enough.
Onto the future. After so much discussion about it, I'm almost to the point of not being especially picky about what they do with the coaching situation, as long as they (and just who is "they"?) do it quickly. The transfer portal is looming and there's a lot of work to be done there, no matter who's coaching.
The PT for Ebube is a prime example of the coaching staff's refusal to make adjustments. Mullins stated previously this year that UIC is a bad match-up for Scottie because their center can stretch from the outside. In the three games vs. the Flames this season, Ebube played 3 minutes, 10 minutes, and 2 minutes.
I just don't understand how one could think that all of the other positives Ebube brings would be totally negated just because he might have to step out and cover someone like Flip Skobalj on the 3-point line. He is a monster presence offensively and on the boards who makes an impact nearly every time he's on the floor.
For the whole season, he averaged 6 points and 3.6 rebounds in only 11 minutes per game. That's incredible production in such limited time. Double all of those averages, give him the 22 minutes he deserves, and all of the sudden you have a big giving you 12 points and 7 rebounds per game. That's huge.
The defensive mismatch doesn't even make sense whenever you consider the fact that we switch on 100% of screens and have mismatches on essentially every single defensive possession anyway. That's why we often end up with X or Trent Brown trying to guard a 6'10 guy in the post. It doesn't make sense. To me, opposing teams continually (and wisely) choosing to employ bully ball with bigger guards on Trent Brown would be a much bigger concern than Ebube guarding a stretch 5. Scottie is still raw at times, but he actually does have great quickness and his defense has improved.
On a quick and semi-related side note, I also want to give Hensley major props for his defensive improvement. I thought he was a horrific defender early in his season, but yesterday he was playing exceptional defense.
It's almost like Mullins has tunnel vision about certain game decisions such as this. UIC has a stretch 5? Ebube isn't playing...and that's non-negotiable. Or even the thought of having Ebube/Hensley or Rupert/Hensley on the floor at the same time...not happening and non-negotiable because Mullins can only conceive one offensive big on the court at a given time.
These are just a few examples of what Bryan has pretty consistently shown over 5 years. Roster mismanagement and an inability to adapt. And where in the hell is the staff in all this? Good lord...it's your job to help the coach see things that he doesn't. The construction of the staff is another problem in itself. There should have been an older and more experienced assistant on that bench from day one.
I love Bryan, but man....all of this has just been so disappointing.
After uic ties the game with 3.8 seconds. I’ll take getting the ball over half court and calling a timeout for 1000 Alex. Didn’t freeze the free throw shooter. Didn’t do what a third grade coach would know to do and get the ball over the half and call a timeout. Instead calls a time out to dribble it full length. Other than that I don’t remember much from last night and I’m glad for it.
I was there from 74 to 81 and this team is heartbreaking to watch. They lost the last three games of the season when they should be playing their best. Mullins is not the answer for SIU.
Still decompressing from last night's disaster. Just unreal.
On the upside, we avoid losing to Bradley for the third time this year. No way they would win today after 2OT. Sorry if this was already posted. Trying to find anything positive in this debris field.
March on triumphantly!
