SIU travels to Clarksville, TN on Saturday to face Austin Peay.
Meet the Governors:
Austin Peay came into the season picked 2nd in the ASUN Preseason Coaches Poll behind Lipscomb and 3rd in the Media Poll behind Lipscomb and Eastern Kentucky.
The Governors are coached by Corey Gipson in his 2nd year as head coach. Gipson is a former player at Austin Peay and was an assistant for 7 seasons at Missouri State under Paul Lusk and Dana Ford before getting the head coaching job at Northwestern State. In his one season at Northwestern State, Gipson went 22-11. Last season in his first year at Austin Peay, Gipson led the Govs to a 19-16 (10-6) record and a loss in the ASUN Championship to Stetson. Last season in Carbondale, the Governors beat the Salukis 70-68.
Austin Peay started this season 3-0 with a win against #71 Butler. They've since lost 5 of their last 6 including a loss at #293 Morehead State. The Govs have played the 55th toughest schedule in the country thus far by KenPom. They come in as one of the shortest teams in the country at an average height of 75.9" (344th nationally).
It's been a struggle on the offensive end this year for Austin Peay. They play one of the slowest paces in the country, they're 352nd in the country in adjusted tempo and 339th in the country in average possession length (19.4 seconds). The Govs are 334th in the country in effective field goal % (44.4%), 291st in the country in 3 point % (29.8%), and 331st in the country in 2 point % (44.2%).
It's been a struggle on both ends for the short Governors to grab rebounds. They're 314th in the country in offensive rebounding % (24.7%) and 311st in the country in defensive rebounding % (34.1%).
One area where Austin Peay has had some success in is creating turnovers on the defensive end. They're 100th in the country in turnover % (19.4%) and 135th in the country in steal % (10.4%).
The leading scorer for the Govs is 6-2 Junior LJ Thomas averaging 18.1 points per game. Thomas was a 3 star recruit out of Carrboro, North Carolina and started his career at NC State where he spent 2 seasons. Thomas played in 42 games off the bench for the Wolfpack and sparingly played. The Govs this year run their team around Thomas. He's 44th in the country of % of minutes played (87.8%), 13th in the country in % of possessions (32.9%), and 11th in the country in % of shots taken (35.5%). Thomas is 316th in the country in assist rate (22.4%).
The main 3 point threat on Austin Peay is 6-2 Senior Isaac Haney. Haney started at Missouri State and left with Gipson to Northwestern State and left with him again to Austin Peay. Haney is 105th in the country in 3 point % this year (12-26, 46.2%). **Haney has missed the last 3 Austin Peay games after playing 10 minutes in the Georgia State game. Can't find any info on his status for Saturday so it's possible SIU misses him.**
Links:
After a mostly rocky first month-plus of the season, it would be nice to play well in these last two non-conference games, winning at least one and ideally both, for the team to rebuild some confidence heading into MVC play.
Listening to the preview podcast with Luke and Rodney, it sounds like Austin Peay has a few key guys who have been out whose status was up in the air for Saturday, so that'll be something to watch. Something else that stood out, statistically, was that SIU been subpar at forcing turnovers so far... seems like that should be a strength of the team with SIU's length/athleticism, and it would help them get out in transition like they want to if they can get more deflections and steals.
This'll be the first game this year I won't be able to watch but here's hoping they can avenge last year's disappointing home loss.
Agree that winning the next two games would be a very good/positive juncture moving forward. I am looking for continued improvement after nearly a week of practice. Getting off to a better start would be one area to watch, while seeing an overall better effort on both sides of the ball.
GO DAWGS!!!
Sharp is starting over Mayo
OMG, the ESPN+ stream is trash! 😡🤬
Not sure what's happening in Clarksville but this stream is unwatchable right now.
Every 30 seconds the feed goes off
actually, i am kind of grateful it keeps going to black.
Why did APSU leave their classic gym for this arena?
Peay is playing super aggressive on D and it’s bothering us. Lot of laziness too from us on defense and rebounding
SIU looks so undisciplined right now
