Junior forward Carlton Fay walks off the court March 4 after the SalukisÕ 63-61 loss in the first round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in St. Louis. Fay will be one of five seniors returning to the team next season. Edyta Blaszczyk ~ Daily Egyptian
For the second consecutive year, the SIU men’s basketball team’s season ended without a bid to a postseason tournament.
Southern’s 63-61 loss to Drake March 4 gave the team its first Thursday loss in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament since 1997.
The Salukis, who began the season 9-2, lost 13 of their last 19 games to finish the season 15-15 and 6-12 in the MVC, marking the second consecutive year SIU finished without a winning record.
Junior forward Carlton Fay said the Salukis, who finished the season 3-9 in conference games decided by five points or less, would need to learn how to win close games in order to have a successful season next year.
“Looking forward to next year, we know that it’s going to come down to finishing off games for us to be successful,” Fay said.
Southern is losing only Tony Freeman to graduation and could return as many as four starters and four key reserves to the team.
But Freeman will not be an easy player to replace. The University of Iowa transfer averaged 11.8 points and shot 41 percent from 3-point range.
Junior forward John Freeman, who could be one of five seniors on the team next year, said he expects every member of the team to come back next year ready to play.
“We have a lot of players coming back next year and I think everyone’s going to be hungry,” John Freeman said. “We don’t want the same thing to happen again next year.”
The two straight seasons without a postseason appearance reverses a trend that included six straight NCAA Tournament appearances for SIU from 2002-2007 and a berth in the NIT in 2008.
Head coach Chris Lowery said he fully expects the team he has returning next season to help bring the program back to postseason play.
“The guys are committed to winning and they’re committed to doing things right,” Lowery said. “We just gotta make sure, the staff, we push them in the right direction.
“That’s kind of part of why we’ve been good. We’ve been able to coach kids above their level. We couldn’t get these guys above their level. That’s why we’re 15-15. It’s a challenge for me and it’s a challenge for our staff to get these guys above their level and to get these guys to play harder than they did this year.”
Stile T. Smith can be reached at ssmith@dailyegyptian.com or 536-3311 ext. 256.
Related posts:
