SIU steals game with defense

By Gus Bode

If at first you don’t succeed, keep forcing turnovers.

Defensive pressure was the key for SIU as they forced 24 Northern Iowa turnovers last night, on the way to a hard fought 56-54 win over the Panthers to move in to first place in the Missouri Valley Conference.

“We needed to get after people,” SIU head coach Chris Lowery said. “We’ve been sound defensively but we haven’t been attacking like we needed to be. We really got after these guys (UNI) defensively.”

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The Salukis had already forced 13 Panther turnovers in the first half, helping them get through a cold 33 percent shooting performance.

Open shots were not falling for SIU.

At one point in the first half, the Salukis were shooting 3-of-19. At halftime they were 2-of-13 from 3-point range.

But, the Saluki defense just forced more turnovers, and played hard-nosed defense

Even when SIU’s defense playing hard inside, the Panthers managed to keep the game close, shooting a hot 73 percent on 11-of-15 shooting from behind the arc.

“Anytime you turn the ball over you’ve got to make up for it in other ways,” Northern Iowa guard Travis Brown said. “We did that tonight, and somehow stayed close at their place.”

The defensive pressure frustrated the Panthers to a point that even Northern Iowa’s senior point-guard Brooks McKowen, coming into the game averaging 6.3 assists per game, managed only three for the night. Saluki guard Bryan Mullins, the primary defender of McKowen, helped force 5 turnovers from the Panther guard.

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“When we play with Northern Iowa it is always going to be like this,” Lowery said. “All three games last year were low scoring.

“We’re just mirror-images of toughness. We’re gonna play hard and fight you and get it inside. I just thought our kids really wanted this game a little bit more”

The Saluki defense also held Panther center Eric Coleman to 6 points, half below his season average on the night. The Salukis boxing out on rebounds also held Coleman to three rebounds fewer than his season average of 8.9.

Still, the Panthers had a chance to tie the game on a put back with time expiring. Referee’s ruled the the shot was no good, and that time had already expired.

“We were fortunate that they missed shots,” Northern Iowa head coach Ben S. Jacobsen said when commenting on his teams turnovers. “At halftime we knew that we were going to have to take care of the basketball better. That was our only chance to get a lead and keep it.”

The Salukis forced 11 more Panther turnovers after halftime – just enough to overshadow their 35 percent shooting on the night.

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