My thoughts on players:
Domask- Started off so well but finished 4-14 for 13 points. Obviously need more from him going forward but also hasn't played since January so I think he'll be fine.
Filewich- Expected more but he got in foul trouble early and never got in a rhythm.
Verplancken- Hit his 3's, not too much to complain about here. Liked how he played.
Banks- Maybe the biggest disappointment of the night for me. I expected him to make a bit of a jump this year but he showed nothing tonight. 19 minutes, 1 point, 1 rebound, 1 assist.
Jones- 8 turnovers cannot happen but he was really the only source of offense tonight. Like how he got to the rim and hit some big shots.
Muila- Looked like SIU was watching his minutes and was a bit sluggish early but provided some good defense down the stretch and a big rebound late.
D'Avanazo- Defense was a little iffy but went 3-3 for 6 points and pulled in 5 rebounds. Can't complain here.
Harvey- Another disappointment here. He's not great on defense so he has to provide more on offense and he went 1-5 with 4 turnovers. One positive is he was grabbing rebounds.
Coupet Jr- Didn't provide much in the 2nd half but was impressed with him in the 1st half. Not sure why SIU went away from him.
D'Amico, Wonders, Ebube played a combined 1 minute. Makes this loss sting a bit more. You lose to a lowly rated team and get nothing out of your Freshmen class, which people were excited about. This team isn't young anymore.
Glad hoops are back, but this team is not ready for prime time. First game, I know but another really poor performance overall, first 10 minutes aside. LOTS of work to do. Still not worried.
Well, you should be. We have nothing. No point guard. No shooters. No inside presence. No ball handlers. No passers. No defenders. No coaching. No discipline. No confidence. We played like a scared grade school team tonight.
Well I'm not. Was it ugly? Absolutely! Am I disappointed? Definitely!
Not a Kool-aide drinker by any means either. First game on the road, after a weird ass Covid season, with a few guys still hobbling. Not how you start, but how you finish (maybe I am overly optimistic).
What does bother me along with the turnovers, poor passing, out of control play etc. is Mullin's extra pass mantra. Looks to me like they have coached wide open shots OUT of their offense. With respect to Harvey for example, it appears he is afraid to shoot a wide open shot because he MUST pass again. And how in the hell do you have a shot clock violation there at the end coming out of a timeout for Chrissakes?
Again, lots of work to be done including coaching.
March on triumphantly!
I can see the mood around here doesn’t need any more dark thoughts but that was … wow.
The lack of poise was staggering.
And Harvey playing those kind of minutes … SMH, as the young folks say.
What a deflating start to the season.
So first game of the season, I get it, but 😮. Pitiful performance…Little Rock deserved that win. They better wake-up in a hurry or this could be a long season.
If it makes anyone feel any better. Ohio State won by only 1pt at home against Akron. Indiana barely beat Eastern Michigan. Arkansas (#16) is losing at home to Mercer. Missouri State is losing at home to SEMO. It happens.
Glad hoops are back, but this team is not ready for prime time. First game, I know but another really poor performance overall, first 10 minutes aside. LOTS of work to do. Still not worried.
Well, you should be. We have nothing. No point guard. No shooters. No inside presence. No ball handlers. No passers. No defenders. No coaching. No discipline. No confidence. We played like a scared grade school team tonight.
Well I'm not. Was it ugly? Absolutely! Am I disappointed? Definitely!
Not a Kool-aide drinker by any means either. First game on the road, after a weird ass Covid season, with a few guys still hobbling. Not how you start, but how you finish (maybe I am overly optimistic).
What does bother me along with the turnovers, poor passing, out of control play etc. is Mullin's extra pass mantra. Looks to me like they have coached wide open shots OUT of their offense. With respect to Harvey for example, it appears he is afraid to shoot a wide open shot because he MUST pass again. And how in the hell do you have a shot clock violation there at the end coming out of a timeout for Chrissakes?
Again, lots of work to be done including coaching.
I was thinking the same re: certain guys passing up good looks to make the extra pass. There’s a fine line between playing unselfish and being hesitant to score and attack.
I can see the mood around here doesn’t need any more dark thoughts but that was … wow.
The lack of poise was staggering.
And Harvey playing those kind of minutes … SMH, as the young folks say.
What a deflating start to the season.
Harvey showed me nothing. And this is after not showing much for 3/4 of last year after a hot start. His minutes certainly didn’t make sense tonight, in my opinion.
I would’ve rather seen Coupet, or any of the freshman. Especially in the last 5 minutes.
A plethora of head-scratching coaching decisions..
--Insert something witty here--
🙈🙉🙊
Looks like we are going to struggle against long teams. Lots of pass deflections that resulted in turnovers. I also think as a team we are not long and athletic enough. We will be susceptible to traps, double teams and ball hawking defense because we are not long and athletic enough. I think Coupet should have been in the game instead of Harvey for the last 5 minutes. Coupet entered the game with 5 seconds left following our shot clock violation after sitting for quite some time, if I remember correctly.
Certainly not Mullins finest moment, coaching wise. UALR exposed some serious SIU weaknesses. Hoping we improve dramatically or else it will be a very disappointing season!
SIU athletics is officially DEAD
we are going to be paying the bill for killer's personal selfish motivations for many years to come. the damage is deep. not relevant to tonight's disaster but get used to it.
Craving a McBride Special!
Wow... That was ugly. I don't know how to describe that game other than; head-scratching?
We looked pretty good for the first 10-12 minutes. Then it's like we blew a tire, didn't have a spare and kept driving on the flat.
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
If Mullins had the last name of the two previous coaches, he would get raked over the coals for this debacle.
Period. In a way, it’s good we didn’t pull that W out.
Arkansas team deserved it. SIU didn’t.
one of the worst performances I’ve seen in decades. And I was around pre-Rich Herrin.
oh he's getting kicked around pretty good. he's not getting a pass here.
i think we were way oversold on harvey. he look very much like eastern illinois level talent.
@insaluki 23 turnovers doesn’t ‘happen’. That’s bad. It’s discouraging. I’ll pocket a bad shooting night, but sloppy play is disconcerting.
Bow Em
Before tonight, I was amazed at how deep our team looked on paper this year. Now, I'm thinking about half these guys need to be recruited over.
But as others have said, the (lack of) coaching was the biggest shocker. I still have faith in Mullins & Co. But that faith is being seriously tested. I can't decide if our offense looks more like Gene Hackman in Hoosiers or a Lowery-coached team. I'm leaning toward the latter, since Gene's team could at least get a shot off (eventually).
I'm just so, so disappointed right now. 🙁
Straight trash second half and ESPN feed.
I don’t want to go to another casino ever.
But the good news is you won't have after you get a good job in cyber-security after getting your degree at LR.
