Chicago State lost to SIU 63-52 last season, in their only meeting since 2014. SIU has a 21 game non con winning streak.

SIU comes in 2-0 after a win over D2 Kentucky State and new D1 Queens U, who SIU beat by 20+. Hopefully Chicagos 4 games have them a little more game ready and tested.

Here’s a preview from the Saluki side.

https://siusalukis.com/news/2023/11/15/m...rra-center

These 3’s the from 7 minutes to go to 3-4 minutes left have killed Chicago State. It’s been a weird half, but Chicagos defense has kept them in it.

Offensively Chicago needs to keep pounding it inside and drawing fouls because they have several SIU players with multiple fouls already.

Offense just has to get more efficient and effective.

Wow, that jam was one of the best I’ve seen. Just wow.

Great end to the first half by Chicago State!

We didn't give up and cut it back to single digits. SIU is a solid program. Within this generation they were a Sweet 16 team. Jernigan is the only one in foul trouble and he hasn't done anything except turn the ball over. They hit five 3s and we hit none. We got killed on the boards.

SIU's Jovan Stulic used to be at Little Rock. He was a good one.

Not a single assist in the first half.

(11-16-2023 09:06 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  Not a single assist in the first half.

CSU has looked lost on offense most of the time. I think they need to run more because that’s when they look their best. But they’ll just wear themselves out trying to run too much with a short roster.

It’s just under 10 minutes left and the deficit went from 6 up to 16 in a hurry. The turnovers have been bad lately.

SIU production quality isn’t very good at all. But at least they stopped covering up the game action with giant graphics.

Despite some poor play, lack of coherent offense, fouls, periods of turnovers, some boneheaded plays by bench players, it was still nice to see where Chicago State stands versus a solid program. And I’m actually pleased in a way.

SIU went up big and early on their first 2 opponents. This was a 6 point game well into the second half. That’s a big deal, at least to me. SIU didn’t just blow by the Cougars. Chicago disrupted a lot of SIU wanted to do. Chicago fought hard and didn’t go away either.

The defense they played on Cardet was outstanding. And I’m so glad to see him adjust in the second half and score some points. Ideally, it wont take a halftime break in future games. Corbet also had a solid night and is always such a steady presence.

Jean-Charles is a frustrating player. He makes a lot of boneheaded mistakes. Too many. He has probably had more turnovers than points in most games. He’s got to clean that up. Like going out and fouling on Hail Mary 3 point shot with the shot clock running out. Just dumb. But he can defend decently at times I suppose, but his shooting percent can be abysmal. And getting t’d up by running his mouth while at the scorers table was beyond stupid. The tv announcers said it was on the coach I believe, but the stats have it on Jean-Charles.

I think Noble Crawford is working himself into more minutes, but he too soft on defense at times. But some of that is the instinct to take it straight to the gou who just came into the game. He just needs more court time and he’ll fix some of that. He had 7 points.

Then we’ve got the guy who fouled out in only 6 minutes of play—that makes him almost completely useless on such a short bench and helped give SIU even more cracks at the line. And another guy who got in late fouled on a three pointer for no good reason. This team is just a player or two short of being so much better. As it is, they can’t afford to sub for a few minutes because whoever goes in ends up making immature types of mistakes.

The major ongoing problem is Chicago States poor shooting, and I don’t see a quick remedy. Getting to the rim more and getting fouled will help, but you still have to hit shots. SIU didn’t actually shoot much better than Chicago, but at least hit enough 3’s to pull away.

Major props to both Cardet and Corbet. Game after game they almost never leave the court. Their breaks are very short. 36-38 minutes are their norm. And in this game, they each only had one foul. That is just amazing, because they both defend well and are in there making plays and not shying away from the action. It’s so easy for lazy defenders and immature players to foul all of the time and these two avoid that issue game after game. These two are real studs. Kudos to them.