SIU swaps out NAIA Missouri Baptist for SWAC Grambling State on Tuesday.
The Tigers are 3-9 on the year and #332 in KenPom with two non-D1 wins and a D-1 win against #316 Morgan State.
Grambling State is coached by Donte Jackson in his 5th season as head coach. He's 65-66 overall as head coach.
Meet the Tigers:
Grambling State plays pretty much all Juniors & Seniors and are the 57th most experienced team in the country (average 2.37 years). The Tigers play at a pretty fast tempo, 71st in the country. Grambling State were picked 4th in the preseason SWAC media poll.
The Tigers are among the worst in the nation in a good amount of offensive and defensive stats. On the offensive end, they're 337th in the country in effective field goal % (42.6%) and 349th in the country in 2 point field goal % (40.3%). They're 342nd in the country in turnover % on the offensive end (23.6%) and tend to get blocked often as they're 341st in the country in block % on the offensive end (13.4%). Grambling State doesn't shoot many 3's at all, they're 342nd in the country in three point attempts per field goal attempts (28.5%). One thing they've done well this year is get to the free throw line. The Tigers are 101st in the country in free throw attempts per field goal attempts (33%) and 20.8% of their points come from the free throw line which is 46th in the country.
On the defensive end, things haven't gone much better. They're 355th in the country opposing offensive rebounding % (38.7%) and 332nd in the country in 3 point % against (38.7%). Teams have been able to get to the free throw line a bunch against the Tigers, they're 300th in the country in free throw attempts per field goal attempts on the defensive end (36.1%).
Grambling State's leading scorer is 6'6 Senior Cam Christon averaging 11.7 points per game. Christon started his collegiate career at Boise State before transferring to Grambling State after one season. Last season Christon averaged 13.7 points per game and led to him being named to the SWAC All-Preseason First Team this offseason. Christon is 13-28 from 3 so far this season (46.4%) good for 73rd in the country.
SIU and Missouri Valley fans will be familiar with 6'1 Senior guard Danya Kingsby. Kingsby played two season at JUCO Southern Idaho before transferring to Bradley. After two seasons at Bradley, Kingsby transferred to Grambling State this offseason. This season, Kingsby is averaging 10.8 points per game on 35.5% shooting and he's getting the most shots and possessions on the team.
6'1 Junior Tra'Michael Moton leads the Tigers in assists with 3.2 assists per game. Moton is 178th in the country in assist rate (25.7%) and 273rd in the country in free throw rate (40.0%).
6'8 Junior A.J. Taylor leads Grambling State in rebounding with 6.7 rebounds per game. Taylor with a 3 star JUCO player out of Southwest Mississippi Community College and played 1 game at NC State in 2019-20 before missing the rest of the season with an injury. Taylor is 395th in the country in defensive rebounding % (18.4%) and 187th in the country in block % (5.0%).
Links:
Grambling State Game Notes
Go Grambling Message Board (have to register to see boards)
Bryan Mullins Press Conference 12/27
Nice scouting report on such short notice thank you for your hard work
Bryan Mullins with the media:
Bryan Mullins with Mike Reis pregame:
https://siusalukis.com/watch/?Archive=6007&type=Archive
Brown has been practicing and sounds like he might play in this one
Curious to see how our defense handles a team that runs and guns all day.
Should be interesting
Grambling St while 3-9 has played a tough schedule. I see Grand Canyon, Alabama Birmingham, Texas Tech, New Mexico, Iowa state, TCU and Connecticut. I would imagine they won't be scared and will play competively. To win by the 17 points we are favored by we will need to play fairly well ourselves. Speaking only for myself I am very glad we got a game tonight and the opportunity to sharpen up before the serious business we will face when Loyola arrives this weekend.
Grambling St while 3-9 has played a tough schedule. I see Grand Canyon, Alabama Birmingham, Texas Tech, New Mexico, Iowa state, TCU and Connecticut. I would imagine they won't be scared and will play competively. To win by the 17 points we are favored by we will need to play fairly well ourselves. Speaking only for myself I am very glad we got a game tonight and the opportunity to sharpen up before the serious business we will face when Loyola arrives this weekend.
If I was a betting man, I wouldn’t wanna have SIU winning by that much.
I bet they’re not as bad as their record indicates. They have only played TWO home games.
Is there any concrete belief Trent will play some tonight ?
D'Amico is out with COVID and Banks is out with illness. Trent Brown is warming up and expecting to play.
SIU will win by 16pts. : )
It's always annoyed me that the Banterra on the court is green.
Great start for Jones & Domask
Trent Brown making his season debut
