Missouri Valley Conference Basketball

Northern Iowa vs Southern Illinois Basketball Recap

Northern Iowa 55, Southern Illinois 52

Entering Saturday afternoon's nationally-televised tilt, the Southern Illinois men's basketball team had lost five games by a grand total of 12 points. After an ESPN2 audience watched the Salukis slowly lose traction against the leader of the Missouri Valley Conference, that eye-popping statistic lost its shock value.

It's been a tough and trying season in Carbondale, Ill., as coach Chris Lowery has been able to keep SIU competitive in a deep and balanced Valley, where every team other than Northern Iowa and cellar-dwelling Evansville is very evenly matched. The sad subtext for the Salukis is that if they had been able to win four of their five especially close losses, they'd be sitting in second place at 9-4 in the league. That's right: With four wins in the many nail-biters that have turned in the wrong direction, Southern Illinois would have occupied the position currently inhabited by Wichita State. Yes, the same Wichita State team that beat SIU, 55-54, a few weeks ago.

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But of course, in basketball, it's useless to complain about narrow defeats, because this sport invites them over the course of 30-35 regular season contests. Tournament teams will prevail on most nights, and turn white-knucklers into wins. Southern Illinois hasn't been able to manage that feat in 2010, and this game showed why that's the case.

Winning close games demands an ability to thrive at the foul line while protecting the ball against defensive pressure. SIU batted 0 for 2, then, at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Leading 44-39 in a defensive grinder with only 5:29 remaining in regulation, the Salukis were shortening the proceedings and applying exponentially increased pressure on Northern Iowa's offense. The Panthers, under head coach Ben Jacobson, love to play physical defense-first games, but that style of play only works when a lead can be carried into the latter stages of play. A five-point deficit represented cause for alarm in the UNI camp as the clock wound down.

But that's when Southern Illinois watched this game slip away.

In the final 5:29 of this game, SIU officially made just 2 of 6 foul shots, but when one realizes that two of those misses came on front ends of one-and-ones, the actual stat should read "2 of 8" from the stripe. The Salukis gift-wrapped a bunch of points at the line, and UNI gleefully scooped up the loot. Panther forward Adam Koch scored 11 points in the final three and a half minutes to lift UNI to victory. As an added dig at the free throw-challenged Salukis, Koch scored six of those 11 points at the line to give the home team a 53-49 lead with 24 seconds to go. SIU couldn't muster a credible response in the final few seconds, and that "five losses by 12 points" stat became "six losses by 15."

That's how a promising season turns into something much less enjoyable. That's how a hard-working and competitive club walks off the court tasting only the bitter brew of defeat. That's how Southern Illinois's basketball journey has unfolded in 2010.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Staff Writer