Sycamores, Salukis have mastered art of close-but-no-cigar

Jan. 18—Two teams that have mastered the art of close-but-no-cigar bump heads tomorrow in a contest to see who can find a way to win.

Both Indiana State and Southern Illinois' men's basketball teams have been competitive in Missouri Valley Conference play, but don't always get the wins to show for it. One of either the Sycamores or Salukis will change that for an 8 p.m. Wednesday tipoff at SIU's Banterra Arena.

The Sycamores (8-8, 1-3) have led by double digits in each of their last two games — but lost both. ISU heroically forced Northern Iowa to overtime with just seven players in an 80-74 overtime road loss. ISU led by 15 against Loyola on Saturday before the defending MVC champions roared back and won 64-56.

"There's been frustration. We've had opportunities in both games. The margins against teams in this league are thin. We did some really good things against Northern Iowa and Loyola, but we had 34 turnovers combined in both games. We had some breakdowns," ISU coach Josh Schertz said.

Unfortunately, the dissipating leads have been more than just a trend for the Sycamores. ISU let leads slip away in losses at Loyola and at North Dakota State and also saw leads dissipate in games they survived for wins over Miami of Ohio and Oakland City.

While there were insinuating circumstances in some of those games — either Sycamores missing in action or the quality of opponent — ISU coach Josh Schertz reiterated on Tuesday that the Sycamores have to do what they do when they're at their best — keep everyone involved offensively.

"We have to stay with what we do well. We have to play collective. We're not a good one-on-one or isolation team. We're much better when we're working collective to get great shots. We have to stick with that in every single possession in every game to give ourselves a chance," Schertz said.

Meanwhile, Southern Illinois (9-8, 2-3) has been the picture of frustration in its last three games. The Salukis lost by five points or less at Missouri State and at home to Northern Iowa and Drake.

All are quality opponents, of course, but SIU was oh so close to being 5-0 in the MVC. The Salukis were within three of the Bears with 28 seconds left in an 81-76 defeat last Wednesday. On Saturday at home, SIU led UNI in the second half, but the Salukis' offense dried up in the final moments and the Panthers won 69-68.

On Monday, in a make-up date against Drake for a game postponed by COVID-19, SIU had a shot at the buzzer released late by Lance Jones after Drake effectively double-teamed SIU standout Marcus Domask. Jones' shot didn't fall anyway and Drake earned a 60-59 victory.

That thin margin from potential 5-0 in the MVC to actual 2-3 shouldn't make ISU fans sleep any easier — SIU has plenty of weapons.

Forward Domask is back to health and the form he displayed during his promising 2019-20 season. In MVC games, Domask is averaging 20.6 points, fourth-best in the conference.

Guard Jones, who starred in Domask's absence in 2021, is averaging 13.7 points and has made 63.3% of his 2-point attempts. Ben Coupet is a Little Rock transfer who has given SIU a shooting option with his 36.6% accuracy from long range.

Then there's a cast of role players who can be effective on their day — Steven Verplancken, Kyler Filewich, Dalton Banks, Anthony D'Avanzo and J.D. Mulia all contribute when the core of Domask, Jones and Coupet don't.

It's a lot of players to contend with, though ISU has played decent defense of late.

"I thought our defense in both games was pretty good [against UNI and Loyola]," Schertz said. "Domask is a difficult matchup because of his versatility. He can take you inside, he's a tremendous post player, and he can shoot the 3-pointer. They do a good job of putting him in position to be successful. Jones gets downhill and he can shoot it. Verplancken is shooting 47% from three-point range and makes two a game."

SIU, befitting coach Bryan Mullins' heritage coming from former Loyola coach Porter Moser's staff, hunt for high-quality shots as they're second in the MVC with a 48.3% field goal percentage.

SIU struggles in other areas, though. The Salukis are last in the MVC in rebounding and steals and second-last in assists.

The Salukis will also be playing on short rest after its game against Drake on Monday.

ISU continues its return to normalcy after its COVID-19 outbreak of early January. Schertz didn't appear to hold anyone back, minutes-wise, in the game against Loyola on Saturday.

"We're working back in. The guys that came out [of quarantine] Friday, you're a little concerned about, but we practiced Monday and Tuesday in Carbondale. Hopefully, guys will get their legs under them. We're in better shape physically than we were going into Saturday. I don't see any minutes restrictions for Wednesday," Schertz said.