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Wednesday, March 14, 2007
S. Illinois has numbers off the bench
Part two of our scouting report on Southern Illinois looks at the Saluki's bench and a little on the style SIU likes to play.

Southern Illinois definitely has an edge in numbers off the bench. The Salukis go 10 deep, with five guys making contributions from the pine.

How much an advantage that is Friday night remains to be seen. If Holy Cross stays out of foul trouble, it should not be too big a factor in round one. Should HC advance and have to play again Sunday, their short, seven (and a half) man rotation could result in some weary legs late in the game. In round one, coming off a week's rest, that should not be too much of a factor.

Keep in mind, it is not like Keith Simmons and Torey Thomas are not used to playing a lot of minutes by now.

SIU does not get a lot of scoring from its bench, but the way it plays defense, it does not need extra scoring. The three guards and two big men who see time off the bench give Salukis coach Chris Lowery the flexibility to give the five starters a blow here and there to keep them fresh.

The first guard off the bench is 6-3 redshirt sophomore Wesley Clemmons. Clemmons plays 16.2 minutes per game, averaging 3.1 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. He is capable of scoring more, as evidenced by the 12 point night he had against Western Kentucky and the 11 he scored against Saint Mary's, a game in which he was 3 for 4 from the arc.

Clemmons is not afraid to shoot the three, though he connected on only 28.9 percent of his shots outside the arc.

“He’s a fighter, and he’ll get down there and mix it up with those guys. He’s not afraid to get his nose knocked off,” Lowery

Tony Boyl;e, a 6-8, 235-pound redshirt sophomore if the first big man off the bench. Boyle is known as a tough defender.

"He is one of our tough guys that gets the rebounds, the fouls and all the dirty work," Clemmons said.

Boyle plays 11.4 minutes per game, averaging 2.4 points and 1.5 rebounds per game.

He is also prone to foul trouble. Boye played in every game this season, picking up 71 personals in 375 minutes of action. That is better then 5 per 40 minutes.

Jamaal Foster is a 6-10 redshirt junior who is the other big man off the bench. Foster is not much of a scoring threat. In 161 minutes, he has taken only 12 shots (making 6).

Foster played AAU ball with starters Jamaal Tatum and Randal Falkeron the Saint Luis Eagles team that won the July 2002 Nike Supershowcase in Orlando

Tyrone Green and Joshua Bone are two other backcourt types who see regular playing time.

Green is a left-handed 6-3 junior juco transfer who can play the point When Tatum had to sit out the first regular season game as part of his punishment for a DUI arrest, Green got the start. Best known as a defensive specialist, Green averages 1.3 points and 1.3 rebounds in 11.8 minutes per game.

Bone is a highly touted freshman who sat out nine games this season after breaking a bone in his right foot. Since coming back, he has had one turnover through 177 minutes. Bone was nearly redshirted after the injury, but started to come on in practice in December. Although he has not been a big scorer, Bone is not afraid to shoot the three, as evidenced by his 8 for 29 showing at the arc, which accounts for more than half his 15 made shots and more than 50 percent of Bone's 45 attempts.

How they play: Here is a quick scouting report on the Salukis' style, excerpted from a Kieran Darcy, ESPN story reprinted in the Saluki's game notes:
"“Disrupt” is the perfect word to describe what Southern Illinois does to teams defensively. The Salukis don’t apply a full-court team press, but Lowery has his point guard, Bryan Mullins, pick up the opposing team’s point guard and defend him the full length of the floor. That can really wear a point guard down and make it difficult for a team to get into its offense. And once a team manages to get into its half-court offense against SIU, it’s under constant pressure. Each Salukis defender gets right up in his man’s grill when he has the ball. Virtually every pass is contested, let alone every shot. It’s rare to see a team get a clean, uncontested shot against Southern Illinois.

And on the offensive end, Lowery’s Salukis are extremely disciplined as well. You’ll rarely see them take a quick or forced shot. They’ll pass the ball around the perimeter looking for an open jumper or for their big men inside, using the majority of the 35-second shot clock in the process. That wears teams down too, having to play defense for that long."
Leftovers: Tatum got his hair cut and dreadlocks done with roommate Falker in April, 2004. Neither have cut it since . . . only three opposing players have scored 20 or more points against the Salukis this season . . . Southern Illinois shoots 69.3 percent from the free throw line for the season, but the Salukis are better during crunch time, making 71.4 percent in the last two minutes of regulation . . . the Salukis are 4-9 all-time in NCAA Tournament games . . . SIU has now strung together six straight 20-win seasons . . . All five starters and the top eight in Lowery's rotation are the same guys who filled those roles on last year's SIU team, which lost in the first round.

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Published at 8:27 AM by Hoop Time.
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