SIU looks to avoid an 0-3 home Valley start on Wednesday against Indiana State
The Sycamores best win this season by KenPom is against #121 Bradley at home. They also have a 40 point beatdown against #188 Old Dominion on a neutral court. Indiana State has played the 18th toughest schedule in the country.
The Sycamores are coached by first year head coach Josh Schertz. Schertz came over from DII Lincoln Memorial where he went 337-69 and made the NCAA DII Final Four twice.
Meet the Sycamores:
The Sycamores were picked 9th in the Valley in the media preseason poll and Tyreke Key was named to the MVC Preseason First Team. Key chose to come back another season with the new head coach but ended up needing shoulder surgery and is out for the season. Schertz was known in the DII levels for playing at a fast tempo and he's continued that at Indiana State. The Sycamores are 48th in the country in adjusted tempo. With the coaching turnover, the Sycamores are one of the youngest and most inexperienced teams in the country. Indiana State is 346th in the country in experience (0.99 years) and 319th in the country in minutes continuity from last season (24.5%).
On the offensive side, Indiana State has been a decent shooting team this season. The Sycamores are 111th in the country in effective field goal % (51.6%) and 36th in the country in 2 point % (55.0%). Indiana State is 252nd in the country in 3 point % (31.7%) but the Sycamores take a lot of 3's as they're 31st in the country in 3 point attempts per field goal attempts (45.9%) and 36% of their total points come from 3 (72nd in the country). If the game is close down the stretch, the Sycamores have been a good free throw shooting team. They're 72nd in the country in free throw % (74.5%). Like SIU, Indiana State struggles at offensive rebounding as they're 349th in the country in offensive rebounding % (19.5%) and the Sycamores also struggle at getting to the free throw line as they're 316th in the country in free throw attempts per field goal attempts (24.3%).
The Sycamores have struggled a bunch on the defensive end this season. The Sycamores are 285th in the country in effective field goal % against (52.6%), 322nd in the country in 3 point shooting % against (36.8%), and 225th in the country in 2 point shooting % against (50.8%). Teams against Indiana State are getting 35% of their total points from 3 pointers which is 73rd in the country. Indiana State is the 3rd worst team in the country in block % on the defensive end (3.5%). One thing the Sycamores do well is rebounding on the defensive end as they're 33rd in the country in offensive rebounding % against (23.8%).
Indiana State's leading scorer is 6'4 Senior Cooper Neese averaging 15.3 points per game. Neese was a 3 star recruit out of Cloverdale, IN and signed with Butler out of high school. He never ended up playing at Butler and transferred to Indiana State in Fall 2017. In his first season, Neese averaged 8.2 points per game and was named to the All-MVC Freshman Team. This season, Neese has struggled from 3 but he gets a ton of shots up (29-99, 29.3%) but has taken a big jump up in scoring going from 9.5 points per game last year to over 15 points per game this year.
The Sycamores' leader in rebounds per game with 5.9 and assists per game with 2.9 is 6'6 Senior Cameron Henry. Henry spent 3 years at DII Lincoln Memorial with Schertz and averaged 15.1 points per game and 6 rebounds per game in his final season there. Henry's game has translated well to D1 this season and Henry is Indiana State's leader in shots and possessions. Henry is 133rd in the country in % of possessions when he's on the court (27.8%) and 331st in the country in shot % when he's on the court (26.2%). Henry is 301st in the country in defensive rebounding % (19.3%) and 209th in the country in assist rate (24.5%). Henry is 302nd in the country in 2 point % (52-89, 58.4%) and has been good at drawing fouls as he's 438th in the country in fouls drawn per 40 minutes (4.4) and 473rd in the country in free throw rate (32.6%).
6'6 Junior Xavier Bledson also came over from DII Lincoln Memorial with Schertz and Henry and is averaging over 11 points per game and is 93rd in the country in assist rate (29.2%). Bledson is also 157th in the country in free throw % (27-32, 84.4%).
Full Indiana State/SIU games on YouTube:
1979:
1/3 Indiana State 79 SIU 72 (Road)
1990:
3/3 SIU 70 Indiana State 54 (MVC Tournament Quarterfinals)
2003:
1/25 SIU 60 Indiana State 48 (Home)
2004:
1/7 SIU 67 Indiana State 50 (Road)
2005:
2/28 SIU 60 Indiana State 52 (Road)
3/5 SIU 64 Indiana State 49 (MVC Tournament Quarterfinals)
2016:
1/20 SIU 79 Indiana State 66 (Home)
2018:
2/17 SIU 76 Indiana State 72 OT (Road)
Links:
Bryan Mullins pregame with Mike Reis
Need a W in a big way. This one wouldn't be easy even if it weren't on our 3rd game in five days.
Character game. Coming off three tough losses, especially the past two at home, and playing for the third time in five days against a fresher opponent.
I do think this group has high character, but this game is concerning for the aforementioned reasons, and Indiana State is playing some pretty feisty ball under Schertz.
As close to a must-win as it gets for mid-January if contending for an upper-half finish is going to remain realistic.
I am hoping we can come out early and take some control over the game. The slow starts have been hurting and putting us in a constant catch up mode. We need to learn how to put that on the opponent.
snow and sleet predicted in cdale starting wednesday afternoon. I hope it goes around us again, especially the ice, so it won't hurt the crowd.
I am hoping we can come out early and take some control over the game. The slow starts have been hurting and putting us in a constant catch up mode. We need to learn how to put that on the opponent.
It seems to be the "2nd quarter" that is hurting us recently. Failing to close out the first half well has been the worst part of the previous 2 games.
Excellent report as usual on the Trees but what is more impressive is 3 in five days and all extensive thanks for the hard work
Thanks to The Salukiworld for getting this thread going.
The comments just today in the Drake thread are bordering on delusional.
There is glass half full and then there’s Tell Me You Haven’t Been Watching the Salukis without telling me.
Hoping we can play a strong first half in this Wednesday game.
Thanks to The Salukiworld for getting this thread going.
The comments just today in the Drake thread are bordering on delusional.
There is glass half full and then there’s Tell Me You Haven’t Been Watching the Salukis without telling me.
Hoping we can play a strong first half in this Wednesday game.
A lot of misinformation on that thread, both on the positive and negative side. And folks clearly divided into two camps of "everything will be fine" and "step off the ledge." I tend to be the latter, but only about this year's team. We just aren't good enough yet.
I still have faith in the Mullins regime long-term. I believe we are heading in the right direction. Just not as quickly as most of us had hoped. This team has two really good players and a bunch of role players, question marks, and downright deficiencies.
Ebube will help tremendously with rebounding, defending, and inside scoring. Wonders will be a big-time scorer. We absolutely need at least one more athletic difference-maker to replace Coupet. Looks like that will be a seasoned guard from either the juco ranks or the transfer portal. I hope the staff can deliver on that.
We also need Brown and Harvey to show they can stay healthy. If all that happens, we could be ready to compete next year. Oh, and in the meantime....go Salukis- beat Indiana State tomorrow! 😏
Thanks to The Salukiworld for getting this thread going.
The comments just today in the Drake thread are bordering on delusional.
There is glass half full and then there’s Tell Me You Haven’t Been Watching the Salukis without telling me.
Hoping we can play a strong first half in this Wednesday game.
A lot of misinformation on that thread, both on the positive and negative side. And folks clearly divided into two camps of "everything will be fine" and "step off the ledge." I tend to be the latter, but only about this year's team. We just aren't good enough yet.
I still have faith in the Mullins regime long-term. I believe we are heading in the right direction. Just not as quickly as most of us had hoped. This team has two really good players and a bunch of role players, question marks, and downright deficiencies.
Ebube will help tremendously with rebounding, defending, and inside scoring. Wonders will be a big-time scorer. We absolutely need at least one more athletic difference-maker to replace Coupet. Looks like that will be a seasoned guard from either the juco ranks or the transfer portal. I hope the staff can deliver on that.
We also need Brown and Harvey to show they can stay healthy. If all that happens, we could be ready to compete next year. Oh, and in the meantime....go Salukis- beat Indiana State tomorrow! 😏
Completely agree. BM will get it done. We're not quite there yet - the injuries/illness have really hurt. I've tempered my expectations this year but still optimistic long term.
Good to see Brown back and hitting some threes and playing with more aggression and confidence. He and Harvey hitting some threes would really make a difference offensively.
My glass is half full for 2 reasons...
1) This means more to Bryan Mullins than it means to any of us. You can tell with every word he says how much this matters to him. Not for himself like the one who came before him, but for the school, the fans, the community and his players. He is going to get it right. He won't stop until he gets it right. He is the person for this job.
2) My expectations for this year were very scaled back once I saw the amount of players returning this year who should have graduated. Again, we should have gained a lot of ground this year just by departure of others teams players and it just did not happen. Someone would have to explain to me how we were supposed to take a huge leap over Drake and UNI this year when neither team lost anything. Drake returned everyone, so did UNI and added back their 4 star potential NBA player. I never expected to pass those teams, so it doesn't shock me that we are close but just not quite over the hump.
