Friday, March 3
St. Louis, Mo.
2:30 PM
Southern Illinois University
vs
Loyola
Men's Basketball preps for MVC Tournament showdown with Loyola
02/28/2017 | 4:26:00 | Men's Basketball
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois returned to the practice floor on Tuesday in preparation for Friday's first-round MVC Tournament game versus Loyola at Scottrade Center in St. Louis at 2:30 p.m.
How to watch:
FOX Sports Midwest --Â Live at 2:30 p.m. Central.
FOX Sports Indiana --Â Live at 2:30 p.m. Central.
FOX Sports Kansas City --Â Live at 2:30 p.m. Central.
Comcast SportsNet Chicago --Â Live at 2:30 p.m. Central.
FOX Sports GO – Live at 2:30 p.m. Central within the FOX Sports Midwest footprint in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.
ESPN3 – Live at 2:30 p.m. Central outside the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.
DirecTV --Â Live at 2:30 p.m. Central on channels 665 (Comcast SportsNet Chicago) and 671 (FOX Sports Midwest).
Dish Network --Â Live at 2:30 p.m. Central on channels 418 (FOX Sports Midwest) and 429 (Comcast SportsNet Chicago).
AT&T U-Verse -- Live at 2:30 p.m. Central on channels 740 and 1740 (Comcast SportsNet Chicago) and 748 and 1748 (FOX Sports Midwest).
Head coach Barry Hinson met with the media prior to today's practice.
How effectively is Thik Bol playing right now and do you use him differently or more?
I don't think we can use him any more, we're about to wear him out. You've noticed what's happened in the last few games, we've not subbed a lot coming off the bench. When you play in a three-game tournament — and that's how I prepare, I prepare for three games — you know that people are going to have to come off the bench. With that being said, our objective is to sub however to win the ballgame. If that means we only play a limited number of guys, we gotta do whatever we have to do to win the game. But it's a common-known fact, in order to transition themselves into a tournament, you have to really play a lot of players, specifically guards and specifically your big men. We can't expect Thik to play 40 minutes three times in a row, but I think you've see we have used him a lot more. His shots attempted have gone up. We're really comfortable with him shooting the ball facing the basket, and we've done some different things with him offensively, and we will in this game probably as well for a few setups.
Sean O'Brien has been good in the short corner — what challenges does that present if they play a 2-3 zone?
I think when Sean plays against a zone he shreds it. I'm so comfortable right now with Sean O'Brien, whether it's man or zone, it doesn't matter to me. We just want the ball in his hands because we know he's going to make the right decision. I'm extremely disappointed he didn't make First-Team. I'm crushed. I took that one hard. I took it hard because I wanted it so bad for him. I visited with Sean today one-on-one, and I think I was more upset than Sean was, because to him it didn't really matter.Â
What's the week like preparation-wise that you've already faced twice?
I think you're playing a team, period. It was hard enough to beat them the first time, it was hard enough to beat them the second time, it's going to be hard enough to beat them a third time. I don't put numbers on it. This game's going to go down to the wire. It will be close. It could come down literally to a last shot like this last one did. I expect nothing but.Â
Being able to win in that situation, how does that give your guys confidence?
I think every time you win it gives you a little bit of extra enthusiasm and energy. Hopefully, our practices will be that way. We're really going to go after these guys hard today. We actually asked Davies (Gym) to turn the heat up. The heats going to be anywhere from 85 to 90. We're trying to put them in an environment that they understand is going to be the toughest environment they've been in in a long time.
Has the foot injury bothered Armon Fletcher?
I think you'd have to ask him that question. It's never come up. I don't think so. I think Armon's game has been a mental game. Certainly, when you first come back it takes you a while to get back in the groove, but I don't think that's been an issue. The last two games (before Loyola) he had 15 rebounds and then the way he shot the basketball 3-for-4 from the three against Loyola — I think that's huge for us.Â
Postseason-wise, the NCAA Tournament is your only chance? You're not going to pay for the CBI or the CIT, considering the school's finances?
I won't make that statement. We budgeted a long time ago. We budgeted a year ago, we played that into that (decision not to play). My philosophy right now is it's all or nothing. We have not talked with this basketball team about CBI, CIT. We've not done any of that, we've not done one conversation about that. I visited with our Athletic Director, and I just said we will not do anything until we're through the (MVC) Tournament. I think our focus has to be go to the NCAA Tournament. That's it. I'll meet with the team after this tournament, I'll meet with our athletic administration and we'll make a decision at that time.
The exempt tournament next year, do you want a really tough one, or considering the group you have coming back?
We're in the process of getting into an MTE. I don't know if you want to call it tough or not. I'll leave it up to you guys. It's a mid-major tournament. I will tell you this, we applied, asked to play in several elite events and were denied. They said they didn't want us. It wasn't because we didn't ask. We got the Valley involved. We asked to specifically be involved in two tournaments. I will not tell you what tournaments those were, but they were major tournaments. We were denied both of those, so we at least made an effort to do that.
Is this the time of year you have to decide if you want to challenge them early?
We're talking about next year and two years out, and we were denied both of them. So now we are searching for options. We think we're pretty sold in on next year. Then we're still working on 2018.
Do you get the sense that playing at Louisville, Minnesota, Wichita will prepare your guys for the MVC Tournament?
I would hope to think so. That's why we did it. I think there's a lot of advantages to it. I think there's much more disadvantages to it this year than there were advantages. I don't mind telling you this right now, I think I beat this team up early. It wasn't the right choice. I think there's a fine line, but I do think that if it's going to pay dividends, then it pays dividends right now. I think I'll be able to answer that question a week to two weeks after the season's over. My initial thinking is I beat these kids up way too early. With seven new players who hadn't played a ton of Division I basketball, I think it was far cry. Part of it wasn't our fault, when the MTE got dumped, we were stuck. That's the part that bothers me and I didn't really have a choice with that.Â
How to watch:
FOX Sports Midwest --Â Live at 2:30 p.m. Central.
FOX Sports Indiana --Â Live at 2:30 p.m. Central.
FOX Sports Kansas City --Â Live at 2:30 p.m. Central.
Comcast SportsNet Chicago --Â Live at 2:30 p.m. Central.
FOX Sports GO – Live at 2:30 p.m. Central within the FOX Sports Midwest footprint in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.
ESPN3 – Live at 2:30 p.m. Central outside the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.
DirecTV --Â Live at 2:30 p.m. Central on channels 665 (Comcast SportsNet Chicago) and 671 (FOX Sports Midwest).
Dish Network --Â Live at 2:30 p.m. Central on channels 418 (FOX Sports Midwest) and 429 (Comcast SportsNet Chicago).
AT&T U-Verse -- Live at 2:30 p.m. Central on channels 740 and 1740 (Comcast SportsNet Chicago) and 748 and 1748 (FOX Sports Midwest).
Head coach Barry Hinson met with the media prior to today's practice.
How effectively is Thik Bol playing right now and do you use him differently or more?
I don't think we can use him any more, we're about to wear him out. You've noticed what's happened in the last few games, we've not subbed a lot coming off the bench. When you play in a three-game tournament — and that's how I prepare, I prepare for three games — you know that people are going to have to come off the bench. With that being said, our objective is to sub however to win the ballgame. If that means we only play a limited number of guys, we gotta do whatever we have to do to win the game. But it's a common-known fact, in order to transition themselves into a tournament, you have to really play a lot of players, specifically guards and specifically your big men. We can't expect Thik to play 40 minutes three times in a row, but I think you've see we have used him a lot more. His shots attempted have gone up. We're really comfortable with him shooting the ball facing the basket, and we've done some different things with him offensively, and we will in this game probably as well for a few setups.
Sean O'Brien has been good in the short corner — what challenges does that present if they play a 2-3 zone?
I think when Sean plays against a zone he shreds it. I'm so comfortable right now with Sean O'Brien, whether it's man or zone, it doesn't matter to me. We just want the ball in his hands because we know he's going to make the right decision. I'm extremely disappointed he didn't make First-Team. I'm crushed. I took that one hard. I took it hard because I wanted it so bad for him. I visited with Sean today one-on-one, and I think I was more upset than Sean was, because to him it didn't really matter.Â
What's the week like preparation-wise that you've already faced twice?
I think you're playing a team, period. It was hard enough to beat them the first time, it was hard enough to beat them the second time, it's going to be hard enough to beat them a third time. I don't put numbers on it. This game's going to go down to the wire. It will be close. It could come down literally to a last shot like this last one did. I expect nothing but.Â
Being able to win in that situation, how does that give your guys confidence?
I think every time you win it gives you a little bit of extra enthusiasm and energy. Hopefully, our practices will be that way. We're really going to go after these guys hard today. We actually asked Davies (Gym) to turn the heat up. The heats going to be anywhere from 85 to 90. We're trying to put them in an environment that they understand is going to be the toughest environment they've been in in a long time.
Has the foot injury bothered Armon Fletcher?
I think you'd have to ask him that question. It's never come up. I don't think so. I think Armon's game has been a mental game. Certainly, when you first come back it takes you a while to get back in the groove, but I don't think that's been an issue. The last two games (before Loyola) he had 15 rebounds and then the way he shot the basketball 3-for-4 from the three against Loyola — I think that's huge for us.Â
Postseason-wise, the NCAA Tournament is your only chance? You're not going to pay for the CBI or the CIT, considering the school's finances?
I won't make that statement. We budgeted a long time ago. We budgeted a year ago, we played that into that (decision not to play). My philosophy right now is it's all or nothing. We have not talked with this basketball team about CBI, CIT. We've not done any of that, we've not done one conversation about that. I visited with our Athletic Director, and I just said we will not do anything until we're through the (MVC) Tournament. I think our focus has to be go to the NCAA Tournament. That's it. I'll meet with the team after this tournament, I'll meet with our athletic administration and we'll make a decision at that time.
The exempt tournament next year, do you want a really tough one, or considering the group you have coming back?
We're in the process of getting into an MTE. I don't know if you want to call it tough or not. I'll leave it up to you guys. It's a mid-major tournament. I will tell you this, we applied, asked to play in several elite events and were denied. They said they didn't want us. It wasn't because we didn't ask. We got the Valley involved. We asked to specifically be involved in two tournaments. I will not tell you what tournaments those were, but they were major tournaments. We were denied both of those, so we at least made an effort to do that.
Is this the time of year you have to decide if you want to challenge them early?
We're talking about next year and two years out, and we were denied both of them. So now we are searching for options. We think we're pretty sold in on next year. Then we're still working on 2018.
Do you get the sense that playing at Louisville, Minnesota, Wichita will prepare your guys for the MVC Tournament?
I would hope to think so. That's why we did it. I think there's a lot of advantages to it. I think there's much more disadvantages to it this year than there were advantages. I don't mind telling you this right now, I think I beat this team up early. It wasn't the right choice. I think there's a fine line, but I do think that if it's going to pay dividends, then it pays dividends right now. I think I'll be able to answer that question a week to two weeks after the season's over. My initial thinking is I beat these kids up way too early. With seven new players who hadn't played a ton of Division I basketball, I think it was far cry. Part of it wasn't our fault, when the MTE got dumped, we were stuck. That's the part that bothers me and I didn't really have a choice with that.Â
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