Jesus. Got outrebounded 62-34. They had more defensive rebounds (38) than we had total rebounds. They had three in double figure rebounds - almost four.
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
SIU 6-8 (3-2) at UIC 10-6 (2-3)
Saturday Jan 14th 2pm Credit Union 1 Arena
Streaming Video ESPN3
Audio Streaming Saluki Sports Network/95.1 STEVE FM
WarrenNolan.com Prediction: UIC -1
Series History, The Flames And Thier Head Coach:
According to the SIU media guide** this will be the 17th meeting between us and the Flames. We lead the series 12-4. We last played UIC in 2000 at the old SIU Arena in Carbondale winning 57-40.
UIC is helmed by Ashleen Bracey who is in her first year as a head coach after being an assistant at Mizzou. I missed that she is the fourth Power 5 assistant to be taking over a Valley school this year. She played her college ball at Illinois State.
UIC currently sits at 197 NET 183 RPI and 295 SOS.
Common opponents: Chicago St (W) Northwestern (L) IUPUI (W)
Last time out they won on a last second three over 2&11 Valpo 51-50. This is their first 10 win season since 2015-16 when they finished 12-18.
Tale Of The Tape:
UIC SIU
PPG 53.0 73.1
Pts Allowed 57.6 74.6
FG% .361 .414
FG% OPP .429 .421
3pt% .259 .337
3pt % OPP .327 .375
FT% .650 .688
Rebounds 28.9 37.8
Reb OPP 39.6 40.0
Assists 9.8 16.6
Turnovers 17.8 16
T/O Forced 17.8 19
Steals 8.6 11.0
Blocks 2.9 4.4
Offensive Rtg 170 132
90.5 93.8
Defensive Rtg 143 257
89.2 95.5
Pace of Play 357 14
63.8 77.9
Valley rankings: 11th in scoring. 1st in defensive points allowed which is T-48th in the nation. 11th in rebounding. Last in FG % & 3FG%. 10th in opponent FG% and last in 3FG% allowed.
UIC Flames Dramatis Personae –
The Flames are led in scoring by Josie Filer a 6-1 Graduate Student – Forward who averages 13 PPG and 7 rebounds.
Next for the Flames is Jaida McCloud a 6-3 Junior Forward who’s averaging 10.4 PPG and 7 rebounds.
Ky Dempsey-Toney is a 6-2 Senior Forward averaging 9.6 PPG 4.8 rebounds and leads the team in blocks with 22.
Kristian Young is their top distributor who drop 4.3 dimes per game. Good for fourth in The Valley and also has 1.6 steals per game coming in at 6th in Valley ranks. She is a 5-5 Junior guard who also averages 6.2 PPG.
Sara Zebrecky (5-9 Junior Guard) looks to be their only other consistent contributing scorer at 6 PPG.
Defense is definitely this teams M.O. Their offense looks challenged. Being at the bottom nationally in pace of play – 357th, they want to keep things slow and probably low scoring. After starting 0-3 in conference, they have won two straight by a combined 5 points. Their double-digit win total is a bit misleading as their non-conference slate only had 3 of the 11 teams they played barely at .500 and better. Their two conference wins are over Evansville and the aforementioned Valpo. They’ve lost to ISU-B and the other Valley newbies Belmont and Murray.
How About Us?
I’m not going there about what happened at Missouri State. Although our overall defense was looking pretty good until yet another high-speed come apart of a third quarter. Our offense is a starting to become a head-scratcher. We have scorers, but they just aren’t scoring. Williams and Jones are both tough kids that can score in traffic and contact. I’m not worried about them being shut down by defensive assignments. They’ll go to the hole with no fear. But the rest of us, I dunno; total head-scratcher.
This needs to be a win, of any kind, if even just for the sake of boosting confidence.
GO DAWGS!!!
**Please note: I get my information on series records and results from the SIU Media Guide which has records of every game and team Southern has played. On the SIU Athletics website game preview and notes - they say this is only the third meeting between the schools. I counted 16. In our own Media Guide! UIC says the series goes back 15 games. Yet another head-scratcher.
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
Well - nice to see other schools have technical issues. Lol! Video no audio.
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
Whoop-whoop! Audio back!
End of one.
SIU 17
UIC Candle Lights 12
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
Halftime
SIU 32
UIC 24
Decent D from us. Lead could be bigger. We were up 14 at one point. Better job rebounding. I guess any rebounding effort would be better than the shellacking MoSt gave us Wednesday.
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
Please have a decent 3rd quarter, ladies. Please. 🙏
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
And yet another shitty third quarter. Unbelievable! Outscored 18 - 10.
SIU 42
UIC 42
Jones finally hits a shot to end the third. Her and Williams are a combined 5-20.
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
Final
SALUKIS 62
FLAMES 65
We needed this and didn't get it. Should not have lost to them.
Jones came alive in the 4th. Finished with 19. Nard with 11. We blow another halftime lead. Outscored 41-30 in the 2nd half. Major disparity in foul calls. 27-11. A lot of head scratching calls. I think we complain too much about fouls and it's hurting us by the way refs are calling us.
Three straight losses. And a looming trip to Murray and Belmont next weekend. We need to get our shit together. Offense is a mess. Defense is good at times. At least turnovers are down. Rebounding is rough at best.
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
Oh. My. God.
Valpo, who came into today's game 2-11, beats Missouri State by nine.
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
Final
SALUKIS 62
FLAMES 65
We needed this and didn't get it. Should not have lost to them.
Jones came alive in the 4th. Finished with 19. Nard with 11. We blow another halftime lead. Outscored 41-30 in the 2nd half. Major disparity in foul calls. 27-11. A lot of head scratching calls. I think we complain too much about fouls and it's hurting us by the way refs are calling us.
Three straight losses. And a looming trip to Murray and Belmont next weekend. We need to get our shit together. Offense is a mess. Defense is good at times. At least turnovers are down. Rebounding is rough at best.
Watched the 2nd half. Ref made a really bad flagrant foul call in the last minute that ensured UIC got the win. Even the ESPN announcer didn't think it was a flagrant. They made 2 FTs and got the ball back.
We couldn't stop their Josie Filer - she just killed us. 10 - 13 FTs and 22 pts. Good player. And the refs stopped Laniah Randle - fouled her out in 16 minutes.
I don't want to come off as MCP, but the two women refs were terrible - especially that flagrant call --- and the man ref wasn't much better but probably more experienced. We had 27 fouls to their 11 - nuts!
Final
SALUKIS 62
FLAMES 65
We needed this and didn't get it. Should not have lost to them.
Jones came alive in the 4th. Finished with 19. Nard with 11. We blow another halftime lead. Outscored 41-30 in the 2nd half. Major disparity in foul calls. 27-11. A lot of head scratching calls. I think we complain too much about fouls and it's hurting us by the way refs are calling us.
Three straight losses. And a looming trip to Murray and Belmont next weekend. We need to get our shit together. Offense is a mess. Defense is good at times. At least turnovers are down. Rebounding is rough at best.
Watched the 2nd half. Ref made a really bad flagrant foul call in the last minute that ensured UIC got the win. Even the ESPN announcer didn't think it was a flagrant. They made 2 FTs and got the ball back.
We couldn't stop their Josie Filer - she just killed us. 10 - 13 FTs and 22 pts. Good player. And the refs stopped Laniah Randle - fouled her out in 16 minutes.
I don't want to come off as MCP, but the two women refs were terrible - especially that flagrant call --- and the man ref wasn't much better but probably more experienced. We had 27 fouls to their 11 - nuts!
I'm trying hard not to criticize referees this year. But they make it difficult not too. Lol! The foul disparity on display has been noticeable. That first weekend of Valley play there were four or five games that had more than forty total fouls called.
That flagrant foul call was a bit much. I can't really throw the whole game on that call because of how we played in the 3rd quarter -again. But it did alter things at that junction. I do have a beef with the charge calls on us when it was clear that UIC flopped a couple times.
I learned while watching the ISU-Red/Belmont game that there is no warning or technical for flopping in the women's game. Just the men's. The announcers, one being our former guy Conner Onion, talked about that at length a couple of times.
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
SIU 6-9 (3-3) at Murray State 11-4 (4-2)
Friday Jan 20th 6pm CFSB Center
Video ESPN3
Audio Streaming Saluki Sports Network/95.1 Steve FM
WarrenNolan.com Prediction: Murray State -15
Series History, Murray’s Head Coach & Racers Overview:
This will be the 45th meeting between us and the Racers and, obviously, the first in Valley play. We own a commanding 40-5 record in the series. Our last win was in 2019 in Carbondale and last loss was in Murray in 2012.
The Racers are coached by Rechelle Turner in her sixth season after coaching for 21 years at Murray H.S. Interestingly enough, two of her assistants also came with her from Murray H.S. and are in some way Murray State grads and ex-players.
We have no common opponents, but Murray has a nice feather in their cap beating Kentucky at UK 51-44. Murray is coming off a 22-10 season and a first round loss to Vanderbilt in the WNIT.
They currently sit at 92 NET 102 RPI 218 SOS.
Tale Of The Tape:
MSU SIU
PPG 67.8 72.3
Pts Allowed 58.6 73.9
FG% .441 .412
FG% OPP .389 .419
3pt% .362 .333
3pt % OPP .290 .362
FT% .794 .682
Rebounds 38.5 37.8
Reb OPP 39.6 40.0
Assists 16.1 14.9
Turnovers 14.7 15.8
T/O Forced 12.9 18.7
Steals 6.0 10.7
Blocks 1.5 4.4
Offensive Rtg 79 144
98.7 93.2
Defensive Rtg 104 252
87.3 95.0
Pace of Play 331 15
66.6 77.6
The Racers rank high in nearly every category in The Valley. They are first in FT% and offensive rebounds allowed. They rank second in PPG allowede, FG%, FG% defense, 3 point FG% and assists. The only things they underperform in are; turnovers forced (12th) blocks per game (11th) steals (11th) and offensive rebounds (7th).
Racers Dramatis Personae –
The Racers are led by reigning Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year, Katelyn Young. Young is a 6-1 Jr forward who leads The Valley in scoring at 21 PPG and also averages 7.6 rebounds and shoots at a .560 clip. Her 43 points against Drake is the second highest scoring game in Division 1 this season behind Iowa’s scoring machine Caitlin Clark. Taylor ranks 13th in the nation in PPG.
Next for MSU is Macy Turley a 5-6 redshirt senior guard who averages 10.9 PPG leads the team in assists and three point shooting percentage at 47.5%
Hannah McKay a 6 foot Junior forward is third on the team in scoring at 8.7 PPG and 6.9 rebounds per game.
Jordyn Hughes is a 5-8 senior guard transfer from the OVC and Eastern Illinois that averages 6.9 PPG.
This not the Murray State team we’ve dominated in the past. They’re pretty good and play well within their system. Interesting roster fact. Six of their players are from the general Murray area – Calloway and Ballard county and are starters or contributing players.
How About Us?
Well – we lost a game we should have won against UIC. Now we have a tall task against the other Valley newbies this weekend as we are also travelling to Nashville, Sunday against Belmont. I can’t figure out our third quarter woes. In our three game losing streak we have been outscored 60-27 in the third quarter and have had a plus 18 combined points advantage at halftime in those three games. Defense is looking better each time out. We’ve cut down on turnovers. We’re not taking many bad shots, but not many shots are going in. We’ve got a 6-5 monster in the paint. We need to feed her more because at times she makes the players around her look like middle-schoolers. It would be awesome if we can split this weekend, but I’m not holding my breath.
GO DAWGS!!!
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
Solid start.. After 1
Dawgs 20
Horses 16
Love stroking it - 2 threes in the opening frame. Lineup change. We went big with Taylor and Nard to start the game.
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
Raining threes from both teams. We're 7-10. Murray is 6-13. But Murray got loose on us quite a few times.
Halftime
SIU 34
MURRAY 40
Love and Brown each 3-3 from 3. Jones' game still looks off. No Williams in the first half.
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
