Last game of the regular season
Links:
Southern Illinoisan Recap of Game 1
Things I’d like to see today:
1. Steadier PG play from both Jones and Banks
2. Verplancken show he can string consecutive good games together
3. Fewer desperate possessions at the end of the shot clock
Loyola is going to try to take away the 3 today so there might be some driving/cutting lanes available. Hopefully they can play well enough to build some confidence for Thursday in STL. A Thursday win is probably the realistic goal for what’s left of this season.
Bryan Mullins pre-game:
4 minutes into the game and SIU has 4 turnovers
7 turnovers now in the first 8 minutes. Salukis are hanging in there for now but they've got to take care of the ball.
Man SIU has a shot to take the lead and have a 2 on 1 after a turnover and Harvey travels under the rim.
SIU is getting to the rim and shooting 63.6% which is keeping them in this but Loyola has 7 more shots so far because of the 9-3 turnover difference right now
One positive today has been Lance Jones' ability to get to the rim. Hoping to see more of this in St. Louis next week and for sure next season.
Loyola 38
SIU 25
Halftime
Jones the leading scorer with 9 at the half. Salukis shoot 55.6% but 13 turnovers to Loyola's 4 is gonna be the difference here. Also 15 points from Krutwig.
The sloppiness on offense is tough to watch (yes, I know Loyola is great on D).
Another scoreless first half from the starting 2-guard.
And Harvey looks overmatched more often than not.
Bad half for SIU overall. Need to take care of the ball. Jones shooting well and scoring at the rim, but turning the ball over. D'Avanzo and Verplancken played decent, everyone else not so much. You can tell Filewich has hit a wall. Missing shots he normally makes. I think he's tired.
The sloppiness on offense is tough to watch (yes, I know Loyola is great on D).
Another scoreless first half from the starting 2-guard.
And Harvey looks overmatched more often than not.
Harvey is a complete mess right now and it's not encouraging that he's gotten worse as the season has gone on. Maybe it's COVID or maybe it's the level of competition. SIU really needed someone other than Jones to step up with Domask gone and you'd think Harvey would be that guy.
The sloppiness on offense is tough to watch (yes, I know Loyola is great on D).
Another scoreless first half from the starting 2-guard.
And Harvey looks overmatched more often than not.
Harvey is a complete mess right now and it's not encouraging that he's gotten worse as the season has gone on. Maybe it's COVID or maybe it's the level of competition. SIU really needed someone other than Jones to step up with Domask gone and you'd think Harvey would be that guy.
Level of competition.
The sloppiness on offense is tough to watch (yes, I know Loyola is great on D).
Another scoreless first half from the starting 2-guard.
And Harvey looks overmatched more often than not.
Harvey is a complete mess right now and it's not encouraging that he's gotten worse as the season has gone on. Maybe it's COVID or maybe it's the level of competition. SIU really needed someone other than Jones to step up with Domask gone and you'd think Harvey would be that guy.
Level of competition.
Verplancken's overall game is much better than Harvey's right now. I also think Verplancken has a higher upside. Harvey is such a defensive liability that when he isn't giving us offense he is a huge liability.
The sloppiness on offense is tough to watch (yes, I know Loyola is great on D).
Another scoreless first half from the starting 2-guard.
And Harvey looks overmatched more often than not.
Harvey is a complete mess right now and it's not encouraging that he's gotten worse as the season has gone on. Maybe it's COVID or maybe it's the level of competition. SIU really needed someone other than Jones to step up with Domask gone and you'd think Harvey would be that guy.
Level of competition.
As I've said before, this team is going to have to do a lot of hard work this offseason if they want to be competitive against the top of the Missouri Valley next season. I think people think Domask, Muila, Wonders, Ebube, D'Amico are gonna come in and this thing is gonna jump to a contending team. I don't really see it especially with players around the Valley returning. I think even a healthy team next season is around the Thursday bubble again unless there's some major improvements.
