CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Southern Illinois men’s basketball team overcame a 21-point deficit with a huge second half to beat Northern Iowa 70-62 on Wednesday night at SIU Arena. The comeback tied for the fifth-biggest comeback in Missouri Valley Conference history.
“I can easily say this, it’s one of the grittiest defensive comebacks I’ve ever seen a team make, and just refuse to quit,” SIU head coach Barry Hinson said. “Everybody in tonight’s ballgame contributed. Our bench was absolutely outstanding. They would just not let us get beat.”
SIU (10-10, 3-4 MVC) trailed by as many as 21 points in the first half and went into the halftime trailing by 16. The Salukis held Northern Iowa (8-12, 3-4 MVC) scoreless for the first eight minutes of the second half and ignited an incredible, improbable rally that saw the Salukis outscore the Panthers 51-27 in the second half alone.
“The first 10 possessions of the second half were the game,” UNI head coach Ben Jacobson said. “We needed to handle those 10 possessions, and we did not, obviously. We turned it over far too many times–five of the first six (possessions), and that didn’t hurt us, in terms of giving up points, but the turnovers that came after that led right to layups. Our defense was so good in the first half. Obviously, when you turn it over and they go lay it in, your defense isn’t a factor anymore.”
Southern had lost four games in a row and appeared headed for a fifth-straight defeat, but Aaron Cook, Eric McGill, Sean Lloyd Jr. and Darius Beane sparked a masterful defensive second half that forced UNI into 13 second-half turnovers. UNI was held to six points in the first 13 minutes of the second half, and at that point, Southern had turned a 21-point deficit into an eight-point lead.
SIU’s offense struggled in the first half and trailed 35-14 with just 90 seconds to play in the first frame, but the Salukis ended the half with a 5-0 run to get within striking distance. Southern came out in the second half with an aggressive, smothering defense that the crowd of 4,419 immediately recognized and responded to. Even though SIU initially struggled to score to start the second half, scoring just four points before the first media timeout, the crowd seemed to sense that the tide had turned, and SIU’s offense exploded into a 20-0 run that overlapped the halftime.
The defense was particularly impressive against UNI point guard AJ Green, arguably the top freshman in the MVC. The Salukis picked his pocket four times at the top of the key in the second half, including two of the first three possessions, leading to a 14-to-2 advantage in fast break points and 19-to-2 points-off-turnovers advantage in the second half.
“The first four minutes are what mattered,” Cook said. “Coach Beane told me, ‘I don’t want to put anyone else on (Green). I believe in you, and I want you to stop him.’ I took that personally, and that’s what I tried to do. It definitely got the arena going.”
“When AC got those steals, the whole arena went crazy. We just fed off that energy,” Lloyd added.
A five-guard lineup helped spark the rally. Centers Kavion Pippen and Thik Bol played a combined 10 minutes in the second half, while McGill, Cook, Beane, Lloyd and Armon Fletcher all played at least 16 minutes after halftime. The quartet of Beane, Cook, McGill and Lloyd were dominant, scoring a combined 49 points on 19-for-25 shooting (76 percent).
“We just felt like we needed to turn up the heat, defensively,” Hinson said of the five-guard lineup.
Cook led SIU with 17 points, while Lloyd and Beane each added 16. McGill had 13 points, 5 assists, 0 turnovers, 3 rebounds and 2 steals. For UNI, Green had a game-high 22 points and shot 6-for-7 from the 3-point line. Isaiah Brown had 10 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals for the Panthers. The Salukis swept the season series from UNI for a second-straight year, marking Southern’s first four-game winning streak in the series since 2000-02.
SIU travels to Chicago to face league-leading Loyola on Sunday afternoon. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. in a game that will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU.
“I’m going to do tonight what I told you even after the losses: I’m not going to get too high, and I’m not going to get too low,” Hinson said. “And, quite frankly, I’m a man of faith, and I’ve prayed over and over for a symbolic win that can help turn our season around. It’s an answered prayer for me tonight.”
