The first public points of the season for Southern Illinois University's men's basketball team were telling Monday night.
Guard Anthony Beane, the only fourth-year player in the program, drove the left side of the lane before kicking out to an open Sean O'Brien in the right corner. O'Brien, one of eight juniors on this year's team, canned the 3-pointer for a 3-0 lead on Maryville (Missouri), a Division II team that made only 27 baskets in a 106-73 loss.
Gone are the days of SIU finishing last in the Missouri Valley Conference in assists, SIU coach Barry Hinson said, evidenced by 23 Saluki assists against 17 turnovers against the Saints. Two returning juniors, O'Brien and guard Tyler Smithpeters, had nearly half of SIU's assists Monday night. O'Brien had four, and Smithpeters delivered a game-high six to go with his 12 points and three steals.
The Salukis are banking on three other juniors -- junior college transfers Mike Rodriguez, Leo Vincent and Jeremy Postell -- to play like veterans and help them make a run at their first winning record since 2008.
"We got a lot of new pieces that came in and can help us a lot, like Mike and Leo, and (freshman forward) Rudy (Stradnieks), they change the game a lot because now we can come in, now we got point guards that can get their own shots," Beane said. "They can get us into the offense, and we got big guys that can stretch the floor for us, and that'll open up the paint for us guards, so, it'll open up a lot for us."
SIU coach Barry Hinson signed Rodriguez and Vincent to fulfill his top-two recruiting priorities: ballhandling and experience. One of the youngest teams in the country last season with two true freshmen in his starting lineup most of the season (forward Jordan Caroline and guard Deion Lavender), the Salukis won consecutive games only four times all year during a 12-21 campaign.
Their 274 assists were the fewest since 1982, and SIU finished eighth in the league in scoring (59.6 points per game).
SIU returns three starters - Beane, O'Brien and Smithpeters - and forward Bola Olaniyan. Olaniyan, a 6-7, 220-pound junior, was the Salukis' second-leading rebounder behind Caroline at 4.5 per game. He grabbed 63 offensive rebounds and 75 defensive boards in 31 games, 12 of which he started. Senior centers Ibby Djimde (2.4 points, 1.1 rebounds per game) and Deng Leek (eight blocks in 11 games) also return.
"We're older. We have a good core of veterans now, with Anthony, Deng, Ibby, me, Tyler and Bola," O'Brien said. "We're the veterans and we need to take the younger guys under our wings and let them know when things aren't going as planned, we just need to come together instead of all going off into different areas."
Redshirt freshman forward Austin Weiher and Stradnieks, a member of the U20 Latvian National Team this summer, are expected to help the Salukis stretch the floor. Hinson is also high on redshirt freshman guard Armon Fletcher out of Edwardsville, who had 10 points, three steals, four rebounds and five free throws in Monday's exhibition win.
In Beane's last season - he is the Valley's second-leading active scorer with 1,300 career points - SIU hopes to, realistically, make a push toward a winning record. The Salukis were picked ninth in the MVC preseason poll, where they finished last season.
"I think the next step is for us to get out of the bottom half of the league," Hinson said. "I think that's a step that we have to take. This program is too tradition-rich and too storied to be in the bottom half of the conference. I know that, we all know that, and certainly that's a big challenge for us right now, but that is, definitely, without question, the direction that we want to head, and that's the target for us."
Guard Anthony Beane, the only fourth-year player in the program, drove the left side of the lane before kicking out to an open Sean O'Brien in the right corner. O'Brien, one of eight juniors on this year's team, canned the 3-pointer for a 3-0 lead on Maryville (Missouri), a Division II team that made only 27 baskets in a 106-73 loss.
Gone are the days of SIU finishing last in the Missouri Valley Conference in assists, SIU coach Barry Hinson said, evidenced by 23 Saluki assists against 17 turnovers against the Saints. Two returning juniors, O'Brien and guard Tyler Smithpeters, had nearly half of SIU's assists Monday night. O'Brien had four, and Smithpeters delivered a game-high six to go with his 12 points and three steals.
The Salukis are banking on three other juniors -- junior college transfers Mike Rodriguez, Leo Vincent and Jeremy Postell -- to play like veterans and help them make a run at their first winning record since 2008.
"We got a lot of new pieces that came in and can help us a lot, like Mike and Leo, and (freshman forward) Rudy (Stradnieks), they change the game a lot because now we can come in, now we got point guards that can get their own shots," Beane said. "They can get us into the offense, and we got big guys that can stretch the floor for us, and that'll open up the paint for us guards, so, it'll open up a lot for us."
SIU coach Barry Hinson signed Rodriguez and Vincent to fulfill his top-two recruiting priorities: ballhandling and experience. One of the youngest teams in the country last season with two true freshmen in his starting lineup most of the season (forward Jordan Caroline and guard Deion Lavender), the Salukis won consecutive games only four times all year during a 12-21 campaign.
Their 274 assists were the fewest since 1982, and SIU finished eighth in the league in scoring (59.6 points per game).
SIU returns three starters - Beane, O'Brien and Smithpeters - and forward Bola Olaniyan. Olaniyan, a 6-7, 220-pound junior, was the Salukis' second-leading rebounder behind Caroline at 4.5 per game. He grabbed 63 offensive rebounds and 75 defensive boards in 31 games, 12 of which he started. Senior centers Ibby Djimde (2.4 points, 1.1 rebounds per game) and Deng Leek (eight blocks in 11 games) also return.
"We're older. We have a good core of veterans now, with Anthony, Deng, Ibby, me, Tyler and Bola," O'Brien said. "We're the veterans and we need to take the younger guys under our wings and let them know when things aren't going as planned, we just need to come together instead of all going off into different areas."
Redshirt freshman forward Austin Weiher and Stradnieks, a member of the U20 Latvian National Team this summer, are expected to help the Salukis stretch the floor. Hinson is also high on redshirt freshman guard Armon Fletcher out of Edwardsville, who had 10 points, three steals, four rebounds and five free throws in Monday's exhibition win.
In Beane's last season - he is the Valley's second-leading active scorer with 1,300 career points - SIU hopes to, realistically, make a push toward a winning record. The Salukis were picked ninth in the MVC preseason poll, where they finished last season.
"I think the next step is for us to get out of the bottom half of the league," Hinson said. "I think that's a step that we have to take. This program is too tradition-rich and too storied to be in the bottom half of the conference. I know that, we all know that, and certainly that's a big challenge for us right now, but that is, definitely, without question, the direction that we want to head, and that's the target for us."
