SIU men's basketball coach Barry Hinson pulled his team back to the arena for an early Sunday morning practice after its effort against Evansville the day before.
With more than 5,000 fans at SIU Arena, including nine members of the 1967 NIT championship squad, the Salukis trailed 20-8 to start and fell 75-70 to a Purple Aces squad that had three league wins all season. SIU (14-13, 7-7 Missouri Valley Conference) never led, lost a chance to earn the first regular-season sweep of Evansville in seven years, and moved dangerously close to potentially playing in the MVC tournament play-in games.
"I just think when you don't give great effort, when you don't execute, you don't listen, I think it's time to catch their attention," Hinson said. "It's a hard time of the year to do it, but I chose to do it."
The Salukis haven't played on opening night of the Valley tournament since 2015, but, co-league leader Wichita State (23-4, 13-1) kicks off a tough four-game stretch to end the regular season Wednesday night at 6. The Shockers have won eight straight games, including an 87-45 demolition of SIU at Koch Arena on Jan. 24.
The Salukis played without guards Leo Vincent and Sean Lloyd, who were held out as the university investigated their academic eligibility, and lost by the third-biggest margin in school history (42 points). Vincent and Lloyd were both cleared of any wrongdoing.
Vincent, a senior shooting guard who has struggled to match last season's numbers, comes off his best two-game stretch of the year. The 6-foot-1 right-hander hit 5 of 9 from the 3-point line in Saturday's loss to Evansville and was SIU's top scorer the last two games.
After Lloyd went scoreless in 20 minutes, and had five points in 29 minutes in the road loss at Northern Iowa, Hinson thought about switching the two as part of potential lineup changes. At a press conference Tuesday, Hinson said he will likely stick with the same five starters if they can all go.
Forward Thik Bol, SIU's top shot-blocker, second-leading rebounder and fourth-leading scorer, has been hobbled by a tailbone injury from a hard fall against Evansville. Hinson said Tuesday he expected Bol and Sean O'Brien, who is battling flu-like symptoms, to play, and that backup guard Aaron Cook could be limited in Wednesday's game. Hinson said all three missed Sunday and Monday's workouts.
Only two games out of seventh place, Hinson expects his club to battle for a full 40 minutes Wednesday night.
"I told our guys I want you to play your tails off, play unselfish, and I want you to try to execute and be smart in how we play the game, and those are the three things that we've really emphasized with our guys over the last three days," Hinson said.
With more than 5,000 fans at SIU Arena, including nine members of the 1967 NIT championship squad, the Salukis trailed 20-8 to start and fell 75-70 to a Purple Aces squad that had three league wins all season. SIU (14-13, 7-7 Missouri Valley Conference) never led, lost a chance to earn the first regular-season sweep of Evansville in seven years, and moved dangerously close to potentially playing in the MVC tournament play-in games.
"I just think when you don't give great effort, when you don't execute, you don't listen, I think it's time to catch their attention," Hinson said. "It's a hard time of the year to do it, but I chose to do it."
The Salukis haven't played on opening night of the Valley tournament since 2015, but, co-league leader Wichita State (23-4, 13-1) kicks off a tough four-game stretch to end the regular season Wednesday night at 6. The Shockers have won eight straight games, including an 87-45 demolition of SIU at Koch Arena on Jan. 24.
The Salukis played without guards Leo Vincent and Sean Lloyd, who were held out as the university investigated their academic eligibility, and lost by the third-biggest margin in school history (42 points). Vincent and Lloyd were both cleared of any wrongdoing.
Vincent, a senior shooting guard who has struggled to match last season's numbers, comes off his best two-game stretch of the year. The 6-foot-1 right-hander hit 5 of 9 from the 3-point line in Saturday's loss to Evansville and was SIU's top scorer the last two games.
After Lloyd went scoreless in 20 minutes, and had five points in 29 minutes in the road loss at Northern Iowa, Hinson thought about switching the two as part of potential lineup changes. At a press conference Tuesday, Hinson said he will likely stick with the same five starters if they can all go.
Forward Thik Bol, SIU's top shot-blocker, second-leading rebounder and fourth-leading scorer, has been hobbled by a tailbone injury from a hard fall against Evansville. Hinson said Tuesday he expected Bol and Sean O'Brien, who is battling flu-like symptoms, to play, and that backup guard Aaron Cook could be limited in Wednesday's game. Hinson said all three missed Sunday and Monday's workouts.
Only two games out of seventh place, Hinson expects his club to battle for a full 40 minutes Wednesday night.
"I told our guys I want you to play your tails off, play unselfish, and I want you to try to execute and be smart in how we play the game, and those are the three things that we've really emphasized with our guys over the last three days," Hinson said.
