By Will Becque siusalukis.com

CHICAGO – Behind a game-high 19 points from Jessica Cerda, the Loyola Ramblers knocked off the Southern Illinois Salukis, 62-53 Sunday afternoon inside Gentile Arena.

Cerda finished 5-of-11 from the field, and 4-of-7 from three-point range. She was a major reason that the Ramblers were able to snap their four-game losing streak to the Salukis as she helped Loyola exceed it’s season average of 5.3 three-pointers per game. The Ramblers were 7-of-15 (46.7%) from the behind the arc in their wire-to-wire win.

“We were flat,” fifth-year head coach Cindy Stein said. “Whatever reason for it, we were flat today. I think Loyola played a great game and dominated the game from the tip. You have to give Loyola credit for a tough, great game plan. They made it tough for everybody to score.”

The Salukis were able to whittle the lead down to seven at the end of the third quarter on an up and under by Abby Brockmeyer and got to within four on multiple occasions in the fourth quarter, including with 27 seconds to go on a three-point play by Brittney Patrick, but were ultimately undone by costly turnovers down the stretch.

All 10 Salukis who dressed played, as Coach Stein shuffled her deck as much as she could in an attempt to give Southern’s exhausted starting five breathers throughout.

“We don’t want to use anything as an excuse,” Stein said. “If we want to have a chance at the MVC Tournament Championship, we are going to have to play three games in three days.”

Nicole Martin scored in double figures for the 11th time in her last 12 games, and 19th time overall this season, as she finished with a team-high 15 points to go along with four rebounds. Kylie Giebelhausen added nine points and four boards.

The Salukis return to action on Friday, Feb. 23 when they travel to Springfield, Mo. to take on Missouri State. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.

By Tom Weber, siusalukis.com

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Southern Illinois erased a six-point deficit in the final four minutes of regulation, then won its second-straight overtime game, dropping Indiana State, 76-72, on Saturday at the Hulman Center.

The Salukis (19-10, 11-5) have lived on the edge of a dime throughout much of this conference season, but have shown a knack for making enough big plays down the stretch to get the W. The outcome of 12 of their 16 MVC games have come down to the final minutes, and today was no different.

After leading by as many as 12 points in the first half, SIU’s lead evaporated in the second half until they found themselves trailing, 63-57, with 3:54 remaining. Southern had trouble stopping dribble penetration as center Kavion Pippen and guard Marcus Bartley both fouled out of the game in regulation.

Saluki guard Aaron Cook, who led his team with 18 points, started the comeback with a pair of free throws to make it 63-59. After Brenton Scott split a pair of charity tosses for ISU, it was Tyler Smithpeters turn to go to the line for Southern. He knocked down two more to cut the deficit to 64-61 with 1:39 to go. Smithpeters, a 24-year-old senior sixth man, was superb off the bench with 11 points, a team-high seven rebounds and six assists.

Once again, missed free throws were the Sycamores’ downfall, as Jordan Barnes split a pair, allowing Southern to come down and get a pull-up jumper by Jonathan Wiley that made the score 65-63 with 58 seconds.

The defensive play of the game came on Indiana State’s next possession, as Cook swiped the ball from walk-on guard Matt Deady, which led to a breakaway layup for Sean Lloyd, tying the score, 65-65, with 15 seconds to go. Barnes took the last shot of regulation for Indiana State but came up well short at the buzzer.

“I let ’em down at the end of regulation — I didn’t have us very well organized,” admitted ISU head coach Greg Lansing. “Couple tough possessions there where you make a shot or you get to the free throw line, you probably win the game. That’s on me. We did not look like a well-coached team offensively there at the end.”

In overtime, both teams made just two field goals, but the biggest shot was a long 3-pointer by Lloyd to give SIU some breathing room, 72-67, with 3:02 remaining. Lloyd had not made a 3-point shot for Southern since the first meeting with Indiana State on Jan. 24, but he made both of his 3-point tries today and had 13 points.

“He was in rhythm, he never hesitated, he just rose up and made it,” SIU head coach Barry Hinson said. “Players make plays.”

Indiana State misfired on several opportunities in the final minute of overtime. With his team trailing, 74-72, Barnes missed a free throw, but the Sycamores got the ball back on a 10-second violation. Barnes then missed a potential go-ahead 3-ball with 13 seconds to go. He had one more opportunity to tie the game with five seconds left, but his 3-pointer came up short.

Southern held Indiana State’s top two scorers — Barnes and Scott — to 23 points on 7-of-28 shooting. One of the league’s top 3-point shooting threats, Barnes was 2-for-11 from long range.

“Don’t let Jordan and Brenton beat you — make the other guys beat you,” Hinson said. “I thought we did a phenomenal job on Barnes and Scott, but we gave up straight-line drives to those other guys.”

The Sycamores (11-17, 6-10) lost their fourth-straight home game and their seventh game out of eight.

“I should have been doing a better job for them this year,” Lansing said. “They’re a good group that really plays hard. I’m big enough to take blame when blame is needed and a lot of these self-inflicted wounds are the head coach’s fault. I have to do better, we’ll do better, we have to stay positive.”

Meanwhile, the Salukis have won eight of nine and are still in the hunt for first place. They trail Loyola by 1.5 games pending the Ramblers’ game at Evansville on Sunday. The two teams will meet in Carbondale on Wednesday night where SIU can pick up a game in the standings if it wins.

“This is the first time in a long time we’ve had a chance to win a championship,” Hinson said. “There’s two games left and we’re two games back, but they have to come to our place. We control half of our destiny.”

Box Score

http://siusalukis.com/boxscore.aspx?id=8040&path=mbball

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Southern Illinois continues its conference season on Saturday when it travels to Indiana State for a 1 p.m. game televised live on ESPN3. The Salukis have a five-game winning streak against Indiana State, having swept the season series from the Sycamores the last two seasons. Southern is 24-18 all-time against Indiana State at the Hulman Center. Head coach Barry Hinson is 21-7 lifetime against ISU, including 7-5 while at Southern Illinois.

In the first meeting between the teams in Carbondale on Jan. 24, Aaron Cook poured in a career-high 25 points and Southern Illinois held off a late ISU rally to win, 82-77. Both teams shot better than 50 percent in the second half, but the difference in the game was at the free throw line where the Salukis were 22-of-31, compared to 10-of-13 for ISU.

Four Salukis average double figures
The Saluki have four players averaging double figures in scoring this season — Armon Fletcher, Sean Lloyd, Kavion Pippen and Aaron Cook. The last season this happened was in 2002-03, when Kent Williams, Jermain Dearman, Darren Brooks and Stetson Hairston were all double-figure scorers. Since 1950, there have been 13 Saluki teams that have had four or more double figure scorers.

Kavion Pippen second in scoring among MVC newcomers
Juco transfer C Kavion Pippen (6-10, 240, Jr.) ranks second in scoring (12.6) among MVC newcomers, trailing only Illinois State’s Milik Yarbrough (16.5). Pippen leads the team in field goal percentage (.560) and blocked shots (38), and has scored in double figures in all but six games this season.  The nephew of NBA legend Scottie Pippen is a four-time winner of the MVC Newcomer of the Week (Nov. 12, Dec. 4, Feb. 5, Feb. 12). He is 45-of-66 (.682) from the field in the last six games.

Armon Fletcher increases output after move to “hybrid forward”
Since the Salukis switched to a four-guard offense on Dec. 13, and moved G Armon Fletcher (6-5, 207, Jr.) to the “hybrid forward” position, the team is 14-6 and his stats have shot up.
Position    GP    PPG    RPG    FG%    3FG%
Guard    8    11.9    4.7    .460    .296
Hyrbrid    20    15.3    5.4    .512    .362
Fletcher had a career night at Valparaiso on Jan. 6 with 32 points and 14 rebounds. He made the game-winning basket at Missouri State with six seconds left, and the go-ahead 3-pointer versus Valparaiso with less than a minute left on Feb. 3.

Aaron Cook hits game-winning FTs
G Aaron Cook (6-2, 185, So.) made the game-winning free throws in overtime of Wednesday’s win over Missouri State. He hit both ends of a 1-and-1 with 4.1 seconds left to give SIU an 81-80 win. Cook has made significant improvement in his offensive game as a sophomore.
2016-17    2017-18
Scoring    3.0 PPG    10.0 PPG
FG Percentage    .333    .461
3FG Percentage    .185    .415

Dawg Bites
•The highest SIU has finished in the MVC standings in the last 10 years is 3rd (2008 and 2017). It last won the MVC title in 2007.
•The last time SIU won 11 games in conference play was 2016. The last time it won more than 11 was in 2007 (15).
•SIU has swept the series from two MVC foes so far (Northern Iowa and Missouri State). That’s the most sweeps since the 2016 team swept four opponents (Missouri State, Bradley, Drake, Indiana State).
•The Salukis need one more road win to match last year’s road win total of five. They had nine in 2016.
•Tyler Smithpeters is 12-for-25 (.480)from 3-point range during his career vs. Indiana State (8 games).
•The Salukis have out-scored their last six opponents in Points in the Paint by an average of 12.6 points per game.
•11 of SIU’s 15 conference games have been “one-possession games” (three points or less) during the final three minutes of regulation.
•SIU has shot better than 50 percent during the second half in nine of its last 10 games.
•F Jonathan Wiley has played the last two games after missing 11 games with a knee injury.
•The Salukis are 7-2 in games decided by five points or less this season.
•The Salukis are 14-1 when they hold an opponent under 70 points and 3-9 when an opponent scores 70 or more.
•SIU has gone 111-consecutive games with at least one 3-point field goal.
•The Salukis have two injured players who are out for the season — F Thik Bol and G Eric McGill.

By Tom Weber – Associate AD/Communications, SIUC

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Aaron Cook made two free throws with 4.1 seconds left in overtime to lift Southern Illinois to a dramatic, come-from-behind win over Missouri State, 81-80, on Wednesday night at SIU Arena.

The Salukis (18-10, 10-5) stayed a game ahead of Drake for second place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings and remained two games back of league-leading Loyola with three games left to play in the regular season.

“Our goal is to win a Missouri Valley championship — that’s number one — we’re hanging in there by a thread, but we’re still in it,” said SIU head coach Barry Hinson. “Our second goal is to go to postseason. When I say postseason, there’s only two tournaments that I’m referring to, whether it be the NCAA or the NIT.”

The game was another classic between two teams that traded big shots and big runs, just as they did two weeks ago in Springfield, where the Salukis won, 79-77. The hard-luck Bears (17-11, 7-8) led by 11 points early, trailed by two at halftime, rallied from five down in the final three minutes, were up by four with 2:26 to go in OT, but lost another heartbreaker.

“They kept the heat on us,” Hinson acknowledged. “We had to score every time down the floor. We didn’t have a chance where we could miss a bucket.”

Southern was led by junior guards Armon Fletcher and Sean Lloyd, who scored 22 and 21 points, respectively. Lloyd was a beast in the second half, when he flat-out carried his team by scoring 20 of its 35 points.

“We ran a lot of sets for him, posted him up, and boy did he deliver,” Hinson said.

Fletcher came up big in OT, scoring four points in the final minute, including a driving layup with 34 seconds left that put Southern up, 79-78.

Missouri State countered, though, with an eight-foot floater by Jarred Dixon with nine seconds left and that set up the late-game heroics for Cook, who pushed the ball the length of the floor and was fouled in the lane by freshman guard Mustafa Lawrence. He calmly made both ends of a one-and-one — redeeming himself for missing four free throws in overtime a week ago in a loss at Illinois State.

“When we got back from Illinois State, he stayed in this gym until four o’clock in the morning shooting free throws,” Hinson said. “I saw the look in his eye and never doubted him once.”

A crowd of 4,285 had to hold its breath twice as SIU dodged a pair of bullets that could have cost it the game. In regulation, the score was tied, 70-70, when MSU’s Jarrid Rhodes missed a wide-open 3-pointer at the buzzer.

“Jarrid Rhodes gets a clean look to win the game — you need those to go,” said Missouri State head coach Paul Lusk. “It’s a different narrative if the shot goes in that Rhodes takes at the end of regulation.”

Again in overtime the Bears had a chance to win it at the buzzer. After Cook’s free throws, Dixon drove the length of the floor and put up a runner that fell short. Teammate Obediah Church tipped in the miss at the buzzer, but after a review, the officials determined his shot came after the clock hit 0:00.

After starting the conference season 3-4, the Salukis have won eight of their last nine.

“If we were at a high-major, this would be a national story for what they’ve done, what they’ve accomplished,” Hinson said. “I’m just a proud peacock right now. They’re giving me every ounce of energy they’ve got.”

Box Score

http://siusalukis.com/boxscore.aspx?id=8039&path=mbball

By Tom Weber- SIU Associate AD/Sports information –

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Center Kavion Pippen had 21 points on 10-of-12 shooting, and Southern Illinois made four 3-pointers during a three-minute stretch of the second half, to blow open a close game and beat Bradley, 74-57, on Sunday at SIU Arena.

Combined with Illinois State’s loss at Valparaiso, the Salukis (17-10, 9-5) regained sole possession of second place in the Missouri Valley Conference with four games left to play. They trail first place Loyola by two games and have a one-game lead over ISU and Drake.

A burly 6-foot-10 junior college transfer, Pippen has emerged as one of the league’s most dominant big men. He has scored double figures in five-straight games, including a pair of 21-point outings.

“Kavion’s getting better,” said SIU head coach Barry Hinson. “Coach (Brad) Autry is doing a great job with Kavion and his development. He’s starting to be more comfortable. He hit that wall (earlier in the season) and we backed off him a little bit in practice.”

Pippen, who was battling a stomach bug, made 5-of-7 shots in the first half and all five of his attempts in the second. Still, the Salukis were trailing, 36-33, early in the second half before Aaron Cook got hot from three. First, he buried a trey from the left corner to tie the game. On Southern’s next possession he drained a triple from the right corner.

“Those were kerosene shots — the igniting that we needed,” Hinson said.

The hot shooting was contagious, as Armon Fletcher hit a 3-ball the next trip down the court. Cook’s final 3-pointer with 14:24 left gave SIU a 47-39 lead. Tyler Smithpeters also made two 3-pointers as SIU connected on 7-of-10 from long range in the second half after going 1-for-4 in the first.

“Give Southern Illinois credit, they made some tough threes that really opened up the game for them,” said Bradley coach Brian Wardle, whose team dropped to 1-6 on the road in MVC games.

Bradley came as close as seven, 62-55, on a Jayden Hodgson 3-pointer with 6:00 remaining, but the Braves missed 10 of their last 11 shots and SIU finished the game on a 12-2 run.

Southern shot 56 percent from the field, compared to 38 percent by Bradley.

“I did not think we could win this ballgame unless we got the percentages in the low 40s or high 30s,” Hinson said.

SIU senior forward Jonathan Wiley made his first appearance for the Salukis since Dec. 31. Hinson said he has three ligament tears in his knee and is playing in pain, but he gave the team 13 minutes off the bench and scored four points and added four rebounds.

“I can’t begin to tell you how much a plus this is going to be for us,” Hinson said.

The Salukis split the season series with Bradley, avenging a six-point loss in Peoria on Jan. 9.

“I think we’re a different team now because everybody is comfortable with their rotations, they know they’re going to play, they’re telling us when their tired now,” Hinson said.

Box Score

http://siusalukis.com/boxscore.aspx?id=8038&path=mbball

 

From Tom Weber, SIU Sports Information 

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois hosts Bradley on Sunday at 3 p.m. in a key Missouri Valley Conference matchup as the season enters its final two weeks. With five regular-season games left, seven teams are separated by two games or less in the league standings. At 8-5, the Salukis are both two games out of first place and two games out of eighth place. Meanwhile, the Braves are 7-6 and hoping to sweep the season series and move into a tie with SIU for second place.

SIU has dominated the series since 2002 by a 24-13 margin. The Salukis have won the last four meetings between the schools at SIU Arena — all by double figures and by an average of +13.5 points. Head coach Barry Hinson is 16-13 lifetime against the Braves, including 5-6 during his tenure at SIU.

Bradley won the first meeting between the schools, 68-62, on Jan. 9 in Peoria. The Salukis never led in the second half and trailed by as many as nine points, but four times they cut the deficit to one. Bradley closed the game on a 7-2 run in the final minute.

Four Salukis average double figures

The Saluki have four players averaging double figures in scoring this season — Armon Fletcher, Sean Lloyd, Kavion Pippen and Aaron Cook. The last season this happened was in 2002-03, when Kent Williams, Jermain Dearman, Darren Brooks and Stetson Hairston were all double-figure scorers. Since 1950, there have been 13 Saluki teams that have had four or more double figure scorers.

Kavion Pippen second in scoring among MVC newcomers

Juco transfer C Kavion Pippen (6-10, 240, Jr.) ranks second in scoring (12.3) among MVC newcomers, trailing only Illinois State’s Milik Yarbrough (16.4). Pippen leads the team in field goal percentage (.548) and blocked shots (33), and has scored in double figures in all but six games this season. The nephew of NBA legend Scottie Pippen is a three-time winner of the MVC Newcomer of the Week (Nov. 12, Dec. 4 and Feb. 5). He is 23-of-31 (.741) from the field in the last three games.

Armon Fletcher increases output after move to “hybrid forward”

Since the Salukis switched to a four-guard offense on Dec. 13, and moved G Armon Fletcher (6-5, 207, Jr.) to the “hybrid forward” position, the team is 12-6 and his offensive numbers have shot up.
Position GP PPG RPG FG% 3FG%
Guard 8 11.9 4.7 .460 .296
Hyrbrid 18 15.2 5.3 .516 .355
Fletcher had a career night at Valparaiso on Jan. 6 with 32 points and 14 rebounds. He made the game-winning basket at Missouri State with six seconds left, and the go-ahead 3-pointer versus Valparaiso with less than a minute left on Feb. 3.

Aaron Cook sparks win streak

During SIU’s recent five-game winning streak, G Aaron Cook (6-2, 185, So.) led the team in scoring at 15.1 points per game. Cook has made significant improvement in his offensive game as a sophomore.
2016-17 2017-18
Scoring 3.0 PPG 10.0 PPG
FG Percentage .333 .464
3FG Percentage .185 .395

Tyler Smithpeters from deep

A 24-year-old senior who took a medical redshirt last season, G Tyler Smithpeters (6-4, 203, Sr.) ranks No. 10 all-time at SIU in 3-pointers with 136. The Salukis are 26-17 when Smithpeters makes multiple 3-pointers in a game, including 9-5 this season. Averaging 7.5 points and starting only four games, he is a top candidate for the Sixth Man award.

Dawg Bites

•Ten of SIU’s 13 conference games have been “one-possession games” (three points or less) during the final three minutes of regulation.
•In MVC games, SIU has scored 897 points and allowed 895 points.
•The Salukis are 6-2 in games decided by five points or less this season.
•SIU has shot better than 50 percent during the second half in seven of its last eight games.
•Armon Fletcher has scored double figures in 12-straight games. He’s averaging 15.4 points in MVC games, compared to 8.9 a year ago.
•The Salukis are 13-1 when they hold an opponent under 70 points and 3-9 when an opponent scores 70 or more.
•SIU has gone 109-consecutive games with at least one 3-point field goal.

By Tom Weber, SIU Sports Information 

NORMAL, Ill. — Illinois State extended its winning streak to four games and moved into a tie with Southern Illinois for second place in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 76-68 overtime win over the Salukis on Thursday night.

The Redbirds (14-11, 8-5) played without injured point guard Keyshawn Evans, and then lost star forward Phil Fayne to an ankle injury late in the game, but still had enough firepower to extend their home winning streak over SIU to 11 games.

ISU’s bench out-scored SIU’s bench, 38-9, as several players deep in the rotation had career nights. Freshman Elijah Clarence had 15 points and juco transfer William Tinsley added 14.

“We wanted to shut down (Milik) Yarbrough, we wanted to shut down Fayne, and those other guys stepped up and give them credit,” said SIU head coach Barry Hinson.

The Salukis (16-10, 8-5) saw their five-game winning streak come to an end and they dropped two games behind Loyola in the league standings with five games left to play. Three players scored 14 points apiece — Sean Lloyd, Armon Fletcher and Kavion Pippen.

Southern will look back at some of the what-ifs late in regulation.

After Illinois State pushed the lead to nine, 50-41, the Salukis countered with a 7-0 run. It started with a conventional three-point play by Fletcher off a fast break. Pippen then a post-up bucket. A steal by Bartley led to a fast break in which Lloyd made the follow-up bucket off a Fletcher missed dunk.

The game was nip-and-tuck the rest of the way. Marcus Bartley’s 3-pointer for SIU cut the deficit to 55-54 with 7:30 to go. The Salukis took their first lead of the second half when Tyler Smithpeters buried a 3-ball to make it 57-56 with 5:14 left.

Meanwhile, the Redbirds were self-destructing on the offensive end of the floor. They committed five turnovers down the stretch, and Yarbrough finished the game with nine turnovers and was pulled for the final three minutes of regulation.

“He was (SIU’s) best player for a stretch there,” deadpanned ISU head coach Dan Muller. “I had to get him out. He was just a turnover machine.”

A layup by Pippen put Southern ahead, 64-61, with 1:26 to go. After Matt Hein turned it over for ISU, the Salukis had a golden opportunity to ice the win, but Armon Fletcher missed a three from the corner with 47 seconds.

Freshman forward Taylor Bruninga converted a conventional three-point play for Illinois State to tie it, 64-64, with 34 seconds left.

On Southern’s next possession, Smithpeters missed everything on a 3-point try, leaving ISU with 4.8 seconds to try to win it in regulation. Clarance dribbled into the front court, had it stripped by Aaron Cook, whose heave at the buzzer nearly went in.

Illinois State scored the first four points of overtime on a N’Diaye free throw and a 3-pointer by Matt Hein. They stretched the lead to six when Hein was fouled on a 3-pointer with 51.9 seconds left and made all three to give ISU a 72-66 lead. The Salukis never came any closer.

“We put ourself in a position to win on the road and they made a big basket,” Hinson said.

“We’re still in second place. Now we need a little help from someone to beat Loyola.”

Box Score

http://siusalukis.com/boxscore.aspx?id=8037&path=mbball

 

NORMAL, Ill. — Southern Illinois plays at Illinois State on Thursday night in a pivotal Missouri Valley Conference matchup between two teams near the top of the league standings. The Salukis have won five in a row and are currently in second place, one game ahead of the Redbirds, who have won three straight.

In the first meeting on Jan. 13, SIU trailed by as many as 14 points before rallying to beat Illinois State, 74-70. It was the biggest comeback since rallying from 18 points down to beat Sam Houston State on Nov. 21, 2015. In the recent series between the schools, SIU has lost its last 10 games at Redbird Arena. The last victory in Normal came during the 2006-07 Sweet 16 season.

Southern Illinois is aiming for its first six-game winning streak since the 2015-16 season. The last time SIU won six-straight conference games was when it won 10 in a row during the 2006-07 Sweet 16 season. During the current winning streak, SIU is shooting .529 from the field and .415 from 3-point, while averaging 73.6 points per game.

Head coach Barry Hinson met with the media after Wednesday’s practice.

Madison Williams didn’t play the last time you faced Illinois State — what does he bring to the table?
He’s extremely athletic, he’s a threat on offense by the way he penetrates and he’s a threat on defense on the way he gets steals. I would suspect he’ll be really up for this game. I think they’ll all be up for this game. The thing that we tried to express to our team today, if (Illinois State) wins this game, they’re in second place and trying to win a conference championship. Our focus is literally one game at a time. We don’t talk about where we are or what we’re doing, we just want to beat Illinois State. We’ve watched an enormous amount of film on Williams because we didn’t see him last time, to try to get our guys ready for him.

Phil Fayne was 11-of-12 from the field last time. Is Armon Fletcher‘s size enough to defend him or does he need help?
Armon can’t guard Fayne and that’s no disrespect to Armon, you have to have a bigger, stronger guy. This is going to be a huge game for Kavion (Pippen). We have to do a good job on (Fayne). Our leading offensive rebounder has 21 rebounds, Fayne has 41. This guy’s a man. He certainly gave us problems when he was here and he’s giving everybody problems in the league. He certainly has our attention.

Is the five-game winning streak a huge advantage going into Illinois State?
No. I think it helps us confidence-wise, but I don’t think there’s been anything that’s given us any advantage going into Illinois State — we’ve proven that the last 10 years. Our whole deal is we understand the streak, we understand what’s happened up there in the past, but our focus is far past that. We want to focus on what we do defending, what we do rebounding-wise and execution on offense. We didn’t play really well against Valpo, and give them a lot of credit for the way they played us, but we have to get back to playing much like we did at Drake and like we did at Missouri State.

Illinois State will be without Keyshawn Evans. How does that affect the gameplan?
It bothers me. I don’t mind telling you, I don’t like playing against any team when there’s an injury and you’re the first team they play. I don’t like it, never have. Whenever we lose somebody, next game, everybody steps up. We’ve always played well the next game directly after a loss, so I don’t like it at all. There’s a sense of urgency, there’s an alarm that goes off that everybody has to step up their game. If you catch that team on the second or third game it’s a little bit different, but not the third game. I don’t think it’s an advantage, I think it’s a disadvantage.

Comment on Illinois State’s three-headed monster being down to two (Fayne and Yarbrough).
We understand what we have to do against Fayne. We know that (Milik) Yarbrough can easily go for 30 at any time. He didn’t have one of his best games here, so we know we’re going to get his best shot tomorrow night.

Why is your team playing better? 
I think there’s several variables. Because of our limited rotation, guys know they’re going to play. Guys have confidence. We get along. I think we have as high-character a group as we’ve had in quite some time. I think they’re buying in to what we’re doing. If you notice how we come out of timeouts, whether it be offensively or defensively, these guys are focused and are executing to a T. I give the credit to the players. They really like each other. They challenge each other. I don’t think you can have a good season or a good team unless your veterans are playing like veterans.

Is it possible we’ll see Jonathan Wiley at the MVC Tournament?
Yes. I hope earlier. He is rehabbing on land right now, on a hard-court surface. This has the story to be almost shy of a miracle. He is not healthy, he won’t be healthy, but he wants to play, there is no quality of life issue. We don’t think he can do anymore damage because he’s torn it pretty much up. It will be limited to how much pain he can play with, but he wants to play, and who am I or who is anyone to deny him this opportunity? My biggest question is quality of life, and there is no quality of life issue at this point, so we hope to put him in a uniform as soon as possible.

ST, LOUIS, Mo. — For the third time this season, Southern Illinois junior center Kavion Pippen    as earned Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week award, the league announced on Monday.

A 6-foot-10, 240-pound junior college transfer, Pippen led the Salukis to wins at Drake and versus Valparaiso last week. In the two games, he averaged 17.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.0 steals, converting 15-of-19 (.789) shots from the field and 5-of-7 (.714) from the free throw line. Pippen had 21 points in the win over Valpo, including a critical three-point play with 2:07 to go that tied the game, 59-59, and started a 9-0 Saluki run to finish the game. He was 9-of-11 from the field against the Crusaders.

Earlier this season, Pippenwon Newcomer of the Week after the Salukis beat SIUE and San Jose State, plus the opening-weekend victory at Winthrop. The nephew of NBA legend Scottie Pippen is second on the team in scoring (12.2), and first in field goal attempts (249), field goal percentage (.550) and blocked shots (133). He has scored in double figures in all six games.