I'm going to try and do my best SalukiWorld impersonation here. I'm not quite as dedicated, and there's not quite the information base on women's ball as there is men's. So, here goes.
Game vs UNI at McCleod 2pm Saturday ESPN3
Panthers are 9-5 and 2-1 coming off of snapping Missouri State's 21 game conference win streak on Thursday 74-65. We're 8-5 and 3-0 coming off of a big win of our own by 11 over Drake in Des Moines. Our first win over Drake since 2016.
UNI is currently 48th in the NET rankings, a four position bump up after their MOSt win. We got a six spot bump up from 100 to 94 after our win at Drake
Against the Panthers:
Series dates back to 1984 with the Panthers leading 45-35. Panthers have won the last 8 meetings.
UNI is 3rd in the conference in scoring at 73.1/game and 4th in defense at 61.6/ game. We're just ahead of them at 3rd in defense, but 7th in scoring. Panthers are 2nd in 3pt shooting and we are 3rd in 3pt defense. Panthers are 1st in assist to turnover ratio and we are 2nd. We are the better rebounding team at +4.5 to thier +2.0.
The Panthers are led by SR Karli Rucker who is 9th in scoring in The Valley at 13.5/gm. Thier next leading scorer is SR Kam Finley 14th in the league at 12/gm. They have no other double figure scorers or scorers in the top 20. They have no rebounders in the top 15 in the Valley.
Panthers only have two common opponents thus far. A loss by two at Valpo (we beat them by 10.) And a four point win at Loyola (we beat LU by 13.) Panthers lost to then #9 Iowa by 21 and lost to then #15 Iowa State by 1. The Cyclones are now #9 and Iowa has fallen out of the top 25, but are receiving votes
Makenzie Silvey had 20 points at Drake, and is now in second on the all-time scoring list with 1733 points just 46 behind Cartesha Macklin. With an average scoring game tomorrow (She scores at a 16.2 point per game clip) its possible she might break the record next Saturday at home against Bradley.
Abby Brockmeyer is only 11 points away from 1300 in her career. Gabby Walker is just 53 points away from 1300 in her career between SIU and Lindenwood College.
The Iowa swing has been brutal for both the men and the women in recent years, but after our performance at Drake, a 12 day layoff and getting ourselves back to full strength. This is a winnable game. We win this move to 4-0 in Valley play - We're definitely in the discussion as a contender.
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
Ugly start. UNI smoking it. 11-14 from the field. After 1....
SIU 11
Panthers 30
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
Okay...nice comeback. Defense finally showed up. UNI cooled off. Only had 8 in the 2nd quarter. They were up 20 at one point.
Southern 30
UNI 38
Freshman Brown with good minutes and 4 points. No live stats on ESPN, must be frozen.
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
We cut the lead to two. But a late run by UNI has it...
After 3
SIU 47
UNI 54
Trimmed one off the lead. Considering we were down 19 after the 1st could be worse. Need a big defensive quarter.
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
Stats back up.
Outside of our Big 3 we don't have much in scoring. UNI very balanced 27 bench points.
Abby with another double double so far. 14 and 11. Walker with 17. Mak with 15.
Under 5 TO
60- 52 panthers
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
19 point 1st quarter deficit too much to overcome. Game effort though to try and comeback.
SIU 57
UNI 66
We drop to 3 - 1 in The Valley. But get a split on the Iowa swing.
Up next at home vs the central Illinois'ers. ISU RED Thursday. Bradley on Saturday.
Led by Walker's 20 and 7. Abby with another double double 16 & 11. Mak with 15. She's now down to 31 to the all-time scoring mark.
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
Oh yeah...almost forgot.
Congrats to Abby Brockmeyer! With her 16 points today she crosses 1300 points for her career; gets to 1305.
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
SIU vs Illinois State 6pm, Thursday 1/20 at Banterra (Magic 95.1 & ESPN+)
Series History:
This will be the 117th meeting; with the Redbirds owning a 66-50 series advantage. Last time we met - we snapped a 7 game ISU winning streak 43-41 in the second game win in the weird 2021 COVID season at Banterra. Coach Stien has a 9-10 record against ISU. ISU is coached by Kristen Gillespie who has seen moderate improvement in each of her five seasons at the helm including a trip to the WNIT last season.
Overview Of The Redbirds:
After starting the season 4-7 in non-conference play, ISU has won its first five conference games beating Bradley, Evansville, ISU Blue, Valpo and Loyola. Their next four are us, MoSt, Drake and UNI.
Current Valley Standings/NET rankings:
1) Illinois State 5-0 / 158 NET
T2) SIU 3-1 / 92 NET
Missouri State 3-1 / 27 NET
UNI 3-1 / 48 NET
Indiana State 3-1 / 193 NET
6) Valpo 3-3 / 239 NET
7) Loyola 2-4 / 117 NET
8) Evansville 1-3 / 269 NET
9) Drake 1-5 / 90 NET
10) Bradley 0-5 / 260 NET
Kind of perplexing they are 158th in the NET, but 1st in The Valley at 5-0. Their non-conference schedule along with their losses isn't exactly inspiring. The only upper division team they’ve played is a surprising ISU Blue team that they beat by eight in Terre Haute.
ISU is 4th in scoring at 68.1 ppg and 5th in points allowed 63.7ppg. 1st in FG % .464 (Tenth in the nation), 1st in 3pt % .365 (Twenty-first in the nation). They are 6th defensively at 41.7% allowed and last in 3point shooting % defense – 36.2%. 9th in rebounding at 32 a game,and have a rebounding margin of +1.2/gm (6th).
They are 5th in turnovers, 9th in steals and 9th in assists.
Meet the Lady Redbirds:
ISU is lead by 6’2” Junior forward Deanna Wilson scoring 14.8ppg good for 4th in The Valley. She’s 4th in rebounding and 3rd in FG%. Next is 5’8” graduate senior guard Juliunn Redmond who’s 7th in scoring at 13.7ppg and 9th in FG%. Mary Crompton (5’8” Junior guard) rounds out their double digit scorers at 10.5ppg, 5th in 3pt% at .408 and second in makes per game at 2.6 made threes.
Common Non-Conference Opponent:
UT-Martin - ISU lost to the Skyhawks in Martin by two 52-54. We beat the Skyhawks 69-54 in Martin.
Where ISU Can Hurt Us:
They have a more balanced attack as the Redbirds have five other players averaging over 4ppg. We only have TWO. Last game their other post starter - 6'2" Bullman - had a 13 & 10 double-double. That ugly head reared itself during the UNI game as UNI’s roll/bench players torched us 31 - 5.
They shoot they three well, but not a lot. We haven’t shot the 3 very well as of late as we are only 13-48 in our last five games.
Our biggest advantage is our defense. Which can be smothering at times and is one of the best perimeter D’s in the league. And our other advantage – Queen Ghidorah - Our three headed monster of Makenzie Silvey, Abby Brockmeyer and Gabby Walker. They are 2nd, 3rd and 9th – respectively in the conference in scoring. Brockmeyer leads the conference in rebounding at 10.5 rpg, and is a double-double machine as she’s done in half our games. Walker has been big in our last several games. On the dreaded Iowa swing she scored 17 at Drake (a win) and 20 at UNI. If she stays out of foul trouble, which for the most part she has this year, she is a major force in the post. She’s only six foot tall, but she’s got some crafty moves when she has the ball, plays bruising defense and loves to take a charge.
We’ve played a much tougher schedule (as evident by the NET ranking 92 to 158) against two Top 10 teams and a blowout win over the Illini at Banterra.
This could be a special weekend as Silvey is only 32 points from being the all-time leading women’s scorer. She averages 16.2ppg. For those who can, I highly encourage you to come out to Banterra for this game and our Saturday tilt against Bradley at 2pm.
This is an entertaining and underrated team. If we can control the tempo, which generally we do as we frequently hold teams under their scoring average, we could hand the Redbirds their first Valley loss and have a nice bounce back after the UNI game.
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
After 1 quarter at Banterra
SIU 10
ISU Red 10
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
Cold inside as it is outside.
Halftime....
SIU 25
Redbirds 16
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
Salukis looking good - playing tough D.
After 3 quarters of play...
Salukis 45
Redbirds 31.
Brockmeyer hits a shot at the buzzer. She has 19. Mak with 11. Gabby has ben mostly quiet with 6pts and 3 fouls.
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
God I love Valley refs. Walker was so wide open going to the hole that the refs thought she had to foul a Redbird...five feet away.
She fouls out with just under 5 to play, we're up 11. 50-39.
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
FINAL...
SIU 56
Ilinois State 47
We knock ISU out of the unbeaten spot. Nice win.
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
Agree about the refs - made some awful ticky tacky foul calls against us late in the game.
Salukis looked really good, even though Gabby Walker only played 16 minutes due to foul trouble. Excellent D. Brockmeyer had 21 pts, 9rbs, 2 blocks, 2 steals. Wow! Silvey added 15. Quierra Love played tough D - they had to work hard just to get the ball up the floor against her.
Always good to beat the Redturds.
