Evansville @ SIU 12/28/2020 5:00 PM ESPN+

I expect Mullins will have the guys locked in for today's second round with Evansville. We need a good statement win before the undefeated showdown against The Drake.

Mike Reis with Anthony D'Avanzo:

https://siusalukis.com/watch/?Archive=5395&type=Archive

Mike Reis with Bryan Mullins pregame:

https://siusalukis.com/watch/?Archive=5396&type=Archive

Salukis are favored by 8.5

I hope they can continue to play good D on Frederking (and to a lesser extent Kuhlman). If either one of those guys had gotten even somewhat on track yesterday, we would have been in more trouble than we already were in. (Hope it was the D and not just an off day.) 

I've been watching some American East basketball today and they've been doing back to backs like the Valley.  Vermont got upset by NJIT in double OT at home and UMBC lost to Binghamton in a pretty big upset at home.  

Mike Reis posted this clip, Armon Fletcher scoring 34 at Evansville in 2019:

https://soundcloud.com/mikereis-siu/lees-sports-saluki-flashback-122820

Evansville hitting their 3's early and lead 11-6

I can't believe these refs are falling for that flopping damned near every time. 

Need to do a better job at hitting open 3's today.  So far, Jones hits but D'Avanzo misses 2 wide open shots.  Meanwhile, Evansville "can't miss".  Need to withstand this start by E'ville and then put this team away.    

Harvey out early again - I didn't notice, but perhaps he was the reason for those open 3's by E'ville? 

This is not looking good.  Evansville has fresher legs as I suspected.

SIU might lose by 20. They are playing awful. 

E-ville looking really sharp, and we are not; they are completely dictating how this game is being played. 

Evansville is determined to win this game by shooting nothing but 3's.  Nice response by the Salukis though.

Wow, to me Dembele looks like he's practically playing on a pegleg. He looks maybe 80 percent.

But he still manages a score!