Saluki men’s basketball notebook: Scouting the Wright State Raiders

SIU+coach+Barry+Hinson+reacts+to+a+play+during+the+Salukis+72-67+exhibition+win+against+UMSL+on+Thursday%2C+Nov.+3%2C+2016%2C+at+SIU+Arena.+%28Jacob+Wiegand+%7C+%40jawiegandphoto%29

Jacob Wiegand

SIU coach Barry Hinson reacts to a play during the Salukis’ 72-67 exhibition win against UMSL on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016, at SIU Arena. (Jacob Wiegand | @jawiegandphoto)

By Sean Carley

SIU men’s basketball begins its season Friday with a team its only played three times before.

Here’s a preview of how the Salukis matchup with the Wright State Raiders.

Southern Illinois will be the first game of the Scott Nagy era at Wright State. Nagy was named the Raiders’ coach in April after 21 years at South Dakota State, where he led the Jackrabbits to three NCAA tournaments despite being Division I for just 12 seasons.

Advertisement

SIU is 3-0 against the Raiders, most recently playing in 2010.

The Raiders lost three of its top four scorers, returning only leading scorer junior guard Mark Alstork, who averaged 12.4 points per game.

SIU meanwhile only lost one of its top-four scorers in Anthony Beane.

Wright State’s roster boasts just two players 6-foot-9 or taller: freshman forward Loudon Love and sophomore forward Parker Ernsthausen, who averaged nine minutes per game last season.

There are not many ways where SIU and Wright State are similar.

SIU was a more high-scoring team last season, averaging 73.8 points per game to Wright State’s 68.5.

However, Wright State was a more diligent defensive team, allowing 65.8 points per game to SIU’s 69.7.

Advertisement*

Both teams, however, were strong at defending the deep ball. SIU and Wright State both led their respective conferences in 3-point field goal defense with SIU holding a slight edge (31.8 percent to 32.9).

Wright State was a much better team as far as moving the ball is concerned. They earned more than 100 more assists last season than SIU (478-369).

SIU was actually a better rebounding team than Wright State last season, but the loss of Bola Olaniyan will likely level out these two teams in that aspect.

SIU center Bola Olaniyan looks to make a basket during SIU’s 71-59 victory against Bradley on Feb. 17 at SIU Arena. (DailyEgyptian.com file photo)
SIU center Bola Olaniyan looks to make a basket during SIU’s 71-59 victory against Bradley on Feb. 17 at SIU Arena. (DailyEgyptian.com file photo)

Both teams also have a knack for creating turnovers. SIU forced 14.97 turnovers per game last year to Wright State’s 13.97, both of which were top-100 in Division I.

It’s hard to predict a winner with no games to base assumptions on, but the numbers from last year show these two teams are fairly equal.

Kenpom.com, a leading college basketball analytics website, gives SIU a 75 percent chance to beat the Raiders and start off the season on the right foot.

But, Friday can only tell what is in store for the Salukis’ season opener.

Sports editor Sean Carley can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @SCarleyDE.

To stay up to date with all your SIU basketball news, follow the Daily Egyptian on Facebook and Twitter.

Advertisement