Make Shots, Win Games: A Simple Formula For SIU

The only place Chris Lowery is headed to is Omaha, Neb., to take on the hated Creighton Bluejays.

Come on, someone had to stop the madness.  Right?  Might as well be the hack that got the ball rolling.

In the following blog, you will not read a peep about any coaching rumors.  Basketball analysis stays on the court.  And that's the way we like it.


Southern Illinois is 9-5 overall and 2-3 in conference play, but had you slept through the first 14 games (and I don't blame you if you slept through the last two-and-a-half contests) you might have thought my alma mater was winless with a group of guys who had never picked up a basketball before in their lives being led by the collegiate equivalent of Vinny Del Negro.

(Yeah. Gotta get that shot in while I can.)

Anyway, what I am trying to say that this season is far from over.  Sure, SIU is coming off a loss to Drake, a unit that good teams beat.  And really, that is where the Salukis' problems lie.  They are not playing as a team.

Offensively, guys are not valuing the basketball and are taking bad shots.  Players seem lost on offense and are not playing within themselves.

Tony Freeman is chucking shots, which is difficult for me to even type because if there is anyone I want on my team taking big shots it's Freeman.  Maybe it looks as if he is chucking shots because the mask is bothering him.  Even if it was, Free doesn't make excuses for his play.  He just goes out there and plays a hard 40 minutes.

Kevin Dillard is doing a great job with assists, and would probably be doing a better job if the Salukis weren't going through a shooting slump.  Bryan Mullins had this problem last year and had no one but Tony Boyle to blame.  B-Mull would have seen a spike in his dimes had TB knocked down his bunnies.

If there is a concern with Dillard, it is the dip in his 3-point percentage.  As a freshman, KD connected on 45.2 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc and spent most of the season shooting better than 50 percent. One year later, Dillard has seen his success rate from 3-point land drop 12.4 points to 32.8 percent.

The first thing I have noticed is that teams are defending him better and part of the reason behind that is teams are sending their best defenders at No. 1 in maroon & white.  Defenders are also jumping out on him quicker, forcing him to put the ball on the floor.  This is where his teammates should put themselves in better positions to score the basketball.

Think high percentage shots.

Nick Evans should not be taking fadeaway jumpers, no matter how successful he is at making them during practice.  He's 6-foot-11 and should stay in the painted area unless he becomes Dirk Nowitzki overnight.  Anthony Booker is 6-foot-8, and while he can shoot 18-foot jump shots, someone needs to tell him he shouldn't because his shooting percentage dips the further he is away from the basket.

The lower your shooting percentage is, the fewer points you will score.  Unless, of course, your Allen Iverson.  And that means your getting to the free-throw line 20 times per game.  And A.I. isn't walking down Lingle Hall anytime soon.

If you are an opposing defense, you're licking your chops and hoping Southern Illinois is on your schedule this coming week.

Then again, the same thing can be said about SIU's upcoming opponent: Creighton.

The Bluejays have had a rough go of it with their 7-9 overall record and 2-3 mark in Missouri Valley Conference play.  This Saluki fan/alum/former beat writer would love to see nothing more than watch his alma mater knock the once mighty Bluejays off their perch in their own house.

The funny thing is that beating Creighton on the road is not an impossible feat.  Southern almost did it last year.

This is how I remember it:

• Kevin Dillard was called for a foul (not to be confused with actually fouling) Cavel Witter on a 3-point attempt in the games waning moments. Witter hit three freebies and we went to OT.
• Witter was called for a charge with less than a minute to go in OT as Southern held on to a four point lead. SIU inbounded the ball but Dillard was stripped on the ensuing possession and CU turned it into a P'Allen Stinnett 3-ball.
• The now dearly departed Ryan Hare was called for a charge (his fifth foul) with 33 seconds left in the game.
• Booker Woodfox hit a three, Bryan Mullins missed one on the other end. Game over.
  

Talking to Lowery after the season, he said something like that would never happen to the Salukis again.  The first step toward making that statement becoming a true one is to go out and play like the team that started 9-2 and 2-0 in the conference.

SIU is only two-and-a-half games removed from looking like a Valley contender.  It will have been nine days since Southern took the court at Redbird Arena with a 29-24 lead.

It feels like a life time ago.

I have a saying.  In fact, it's quite simple.

You can't win if you don't score.

To break that down further, you cannot score if you are not taking shots.  That means quit turning the ball over.  Furthermore, you cannot score (at a high percentage) if you take bad shots.  In essence, that means no more ill-advised shots.

Take good shots.  Make good shots.  And beat the hell out of Creighton.

That's all I ask.