A football and basketball doubleheader for the Salukis on Saturday ends with SIU Basketball going for their 3rd straight win.
The Golden Eagles of Southern Miss are 4-4 on the season but their best win is against #236 UC San Diego.
Southern Miss is coached by 3rd year head coach Jay Ladner. Ladner went 511-189 as a high school head coach in Mississippi and then led Jones County Junior College in Mississippi to the JUCO National Championship. He then took the head coaching job at D1 Southeastern Louisiana where he went 76-88 and led them to the NIT in his fourth season. After 5 seasons at Southeastern Louisiana he was hired by his alma mater Southern Miss. It's been a struggle so far as they're a combined 21-43 in his 3 seasons so far.
This is a return game from 2 years ago when SIU played in Hattesburg in Mullins' first season. SIU played a 2-7 Golden Eagles team and saw a 24-7 start evaporate within minutes. SIU then went down 65-55 with 4:43 left in the game before going on a late 14-2 run to take a lead before losing in heartbreaking fashion 72-69. Marcus Domask led the Salukis with 17 points on 6-11 shooting. 
Meet the Golden Eagles:
Despite returning a good chunk of their minutes from last season, Southern Miss is still one of the youngest teams in college basketball. Their average experience is 1.26 years, 317th in the the country. The Golden Eagles were picked 12th of 14 in the Conference USA media preseason poll.
Southern Miss will play a much different tempo than what SIU saw with Evansville on Wednesday as the Golden Eagles are 92nd in the country in average possession length (16.5 seconds per possession).
One thing that stands out with Southern Miss is they don't take many 3's and when they do take 3's, they don't make many. The Golden Eagles are 340th in the country in 3 point attempts per field goal attempt and 348th in the country in 3 point percentage (25.2%). 18.8% of their points come from 3 pointers (352nd in the country) and 64.5% of their points comes from 2 pointers (4th in the country). On the defensive end, Southern Miss is 72nd in the country in block percentage.
The Golden Eagles' leading scorer is 6'10 Senior Isaih Moore. Moore was the 87th ranked power forward in the Class of 2018 and started his collegiate career at the College of Charleston where he struggled to earn minutes in 11 games played. Moore then transferred to Pearl River Community College in Mississippi where he was a third team NJCAA All-American and averaged 15.9 points per game and 9.1 rebounds per game. Jucorecruiting.com had him as the #14 JUCO in the class of the 2020 and he committed to St. John's for his Junior season. At St. John's, Moore started 8 games and averaged 9.2 points per game but decided to transfer to Southern Miss after his 1 season there. With the Golden Eagles, Moore is taking advantage of increased minutes averaging 13.9 points per game and 7.4 rebounds per game in 31.8 minutes per game. Moore has done most of his work close to the basket as he's 162nd in the country in 2 point % (36-55, 65.5%). He's also 229th in the country in effective field goal % and 264th in the country in true shooting %.
Southern Miss' leading rebounder is 6'8 Senior Tyler Stevenson with 8.3 rebounds per game. Stevenson is a local product from Columbus, MS and was named to the Conference USA All-Conference team by the media in preseason. Stevenson is currently 65th in the country in defensive rebounding percentage (25.9%) and tends to get to the free throw line a decent amount as he's 352nd in the country in the fouls drawn per 40 minutes and 380th in the country in free throw rate.
6'0 Junior Walyn Napper has been very impressive running the offense for the Golden Eagles this year. Napper leads the team with assists with 5.1 assists per game and is 13th in the country in assist rate (40.1%). Napper spent his first two years of his collegiate career at the College of Central Florida and Dodge City Community College. At Dodge City last season, Napper averaged 20 points per game and 8 assists per game.
The Golden Eagles' 2nd leading scorer is 6'3 Junior Tae Hardy but he missed the last game with a shoulder injury. Ladner said that Hardy will likely be out this week.
(Note: Southern Miss lists all their players a class younger than they are because of the extra COVID year, I bumped them all up a class because I hate when schools do that)
KenPom:
KenPom has the Salukis winning 68-59 and gives SIU an 81% chance of winning.
Links:
Brendan Mullins Radio Interview with Mike Reis
Dalton Banks River Region Evening Edition interview
Game is on Marquee Network DirecTV channel 664.
March on triumphantly!
Game is on Marquee Network DirecTV channel 664.
Good catch, I'll add it to the title. Those in Chicago with Marquee will be able to watch, think it's Channel 202 on Xfinity.
Brendan Mullins radio interview with Mike Reis:
https://siusalukis.com/watch/?Archive=5944&type=Archive
Some Cade Hornecker talk for those that follow recruiting
SIU favored by 10.5. Kind of surprised with Jones' status up in the air
SIU favored by 10.5. Kind of surprised with Jones' status up in the air
In general I would agree, but after looking at who they’ve played and the scores, they are pretty bad.
I think I would hold out Jones from this game no matter what. It’s not an important game and he’s essential to the Salukis having a good season.
SIU favored by 10.5. Kind of surprised with Jones' status up in the air
In general I would agree, but after looking at who they’ve played and the scores, they are pretty bad.
I think I would hold out Jones from this game no matter what. It’s not an important game and he’s essential to the Salukis having a good season.
Their best players are bigs at least as opposed to having a Givance. Although they have a 6'0 guard I didn't mention that scored 29 points in a game earlier this season. Hasn't done much besides that. I think Moore is the key player and he scares me. 6'10 and can fill it up.
SIU favored by 10.5. Kind of surprised with Jones' status up in the air
In general I would agree, but after looking at who they’ve played and the scores, they are pretty bad.
I think I would hold out Jones from this game no matter what. It’s not an important game and he’s essential to the Salukis having a good season.
Their best players are bigs at least as opposed to having a Givance. Although they have a 6'0 guard I didn't mention that scored 29 points in a game earlier this season. Hasn't done much besides that. I think Moore is the key player and he scares me. 6'10 and can fill it up.
That's OK....we can put the "three-headed monster" on him! 🤣
Sounds like Jones might have turf toe from the radio broadcast, also might play tonight but we’ll know in a few minutes
This team NEEDS Jones to be healthy in order to have any shot in conference, but if they play well they should not need him tonight. Either way SIU wins by double digits tonight. If I were a betting man. 😉
Lance Jones is in the lineup
https://twitter.com/SIU_Basketball/status/1467310307739586561
Lance Jones is in the lineup
https://twitter.com/SIU_Basketball/status/1467310307739586561
There is no way they would let Jones play if he wasn't healthy enough to. I love this starting line up !!!!!! Should be a really good defensive showing with this group.
Good start for Coupet. Nice rebound and putback and then a 3
Nice to see Jones hit a 3. He might need to rely a bit more on the jumper tonight to give the ankle/foot/toe a bit of a break with the cutting and stopping that is required when driving the lane.
