https://www.rlc.edu/athletics/athletics-news/13388-2017-bball-preview

INA, IL –  Click on the link above for the full preview, schedule, and roster from Reece Rutland, Sports Information Director of Rend Lake College.  The text part of the preview is below.

In his first season since transiting from Rend Lake College assistant coach to head coach, Tommy Holder is anticipating the Warriors will be highly competitive in a very strong Great Rivers Athletic Conference and an even stronger NJCAA Region XXIV.

Holder has brought in a wide-array of fresh faces to give the team a new look and address some of the issues he observed with last year’s team.

“The first thing we addressed this year was something I felt like we lacked last year. I really wanted to see us elevate our point guard play. We have a few guys that can handle the ball for us this year; Trevyon Williams (Springfield), Jason Towers (Maywood) and Juwan Moore (Morrilton, Ark.). Then, we have one of our returning players, Kenny Berry (Granite City) that can handle the ball as well,” said Holder.

“I feel like they are all going to bring different things to the table, but they are all very capable ball handlers that will be able to adequately get us in our offense.”

In addition to new point guards, Holder has also brought in a recruitment class full of shooters to help spread the floor on the offensive side of the ball.

 

“Austin Swalls (Carterville), David Hunt (Chicago) and Jordan Doss (Chicago) are all pretty good shooters with size. This team has got a lot of length. We’ve got quite a few on the roster this year in that 6’6 to 6’8 range. There’s just a lot of versatility we have. I’m pretty excited about the group.”

Holder went on to say that he sees more spirit in this group. He described last year’s team as more reserved, and said he is looking for this team to have a stronger competitive fire on the court and at practice.

While the new head coach sees several improvements to the offense, the team is still built on a bedrock of defensive focus. He anticipates the team picking up opposing ball handlers further up the court than they did last year.

“The defense is going to feed our offense. But, we should be a lot of fun to watch. There are some really athletic players on the team this year. I know the fans like to see the dunks and things. There will probably be plenty of that. I just want to see productivity, and I anticipate getting that from this group,” he said.

In addition to taking over as head coach, Holder also serves as the academic adviser for all the RLC student athletes, and the position has afforded him the opportunity to be more active in visiting local high schools to see and support in-district programs at that level.

With community building in mind, Holder anticipates new initiatives to foster a stronger partnership between his roundball Warriors and the district.

“We want to actively get the community involved in what we do. I want each of our high schools to know that we would love to see them come watch a game at Waugh Gym. We invited many of the high school teams to come to campus over the summer and work out with us,” Holder said.

“We’d love to have people come out and support these young men. RLC is a great place to watch a game, and I think we are going to have a team people can be proud of this season.”

 

In addition to being Holder’s first season as head coach, he has also brought in a crop of new and talented assistant coaches to help maintain the team.

De’Marius Dabney was a coach who Holder had worked with in the past when they spent time coaching a summer club.
“What stands out to me about De’Marius is that he is mature beyond his age. He’s just got such a wealth of knowledge. He’s also very good with strength and conditioning, so that will help a lot going forward.”

Sam Ficker comes into the Warrior program with coaching experience at the college level. Ficker is bringing in a couple years of experience when he served for two years as a grad assistant at Lincoln University. Holder also said that he brought Ficker on because of his poise, something the often-fiery new head coach knows will help balance him out.

“There’s a lot of responsibility molding these young men. We want to be focused doing our best job of helping facilitate them both athletically and academically. When you have the ability to divvy things out to assistant coaches you trust, it becomes less strenuous and everyone gets the attention they and support that they need,” Holder explained.

The Warriors kick off their season with a home opener against Danville Area community College at 3 p.m. on Nov. 4.

 

 

by John Lock, siusalukis.com

BROOKINGS, S.D. – Ninth-ranked South Dakota State scored on all five first-half possessions en route to a 49-14 win over Southern Illinois on Saturday night.

SDSU was coming off a 19-7 loss to Youngstown State last week and exploded offensively in the first half. The score was 14-0 before the Salukis gained a first down. At halftime, the Jacks had five touchdowns and only three third downs; they were averaging more than eight yards per play. Conversely, SIU’s only extended drive ended in an interception.

“We didn’t stop them, but we didn’t do anything on offense to get the momentum back or make it a shootout,” SIU head coach Nick Hill said. “We’ve been down 14 and came back. You don’t like to do that, but we talk about it all the time. You never know how the game is going to go. We have to adapt and adjust to any circumstance. But we just couldn’t get anything going tonight.”

Defensively, the Salukis rebounded in the second half. SIU forced three turnovers and had a pair of sacks. Cody Crider forced a fumble in the third quarter that set up a Sam Straub touchdown run five plays later. The Salukis second touchdown was a highlight leaping grab from Raphael Leonard early in the fourth quarter. But the Jackrabbits also scored two second-half touchdowns to hand SIU its most lopsided loss since 2003.

“At halftime, we talked about fighting back,” Hill said. “We came out and fought hard. You saw that. We competed. I’m proud of that. We just talked about stacking good plays together. That’s how you get good drives and stops. But obviously, this game was won in the first half.”

For SIU (2-3, 0-2 MVFC), Darrell James caught six passes for 78 yards. Daquan Isom averaged five yards per rush on nine carries. SDSU improved to 4-1, 1-1 MVFC. Brady Mengarelli rushed for 220 yards and two scores. QB Taryn Christion, last year’s MVFC Offensive Player of the Year, threw for 216 yards and four touchdowns against no interceptions.

“They won the line of scrimmage on both sides,” Hill said. “You can tell they were frustrated with the way their game went last week. A lot of that wasn’t because they weren’t good on offense; they just never had the ball against Youngstown. But we weren’t able to do anything to keep their explosive players off the field. There is no excuse for giving up that many rushing yards. We knew that their explosive players would make explosive plays in this game; they have their entire career. But when you make it easy on them–when they’re rushing the ball and picking up every third down, and we’re not picking up third downs–it’s a recipe for a long, long night.”

Southern Illinois returns home for a matchup with nationally ranked Illinois State on Saturday for the annual Homecoming football game. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. in Saluki Stadium.

Box Score

http://siusalukis.com/boxscore.aspx?path=football&id=7834

LINK TO THIS WEEK IN MVC FOOTBALL

http://valley-football.org/news/2017/10/2/valley-football-weekly-notebook-oct-2.aspx

QUICK HITS

• Southern Illinois faces No. 9 South Dakota State on Saturday night in Brookings.
• SIU and SDSU are 1-2 in the MVFC in fewest sacks allowed. The Salukis lead the nation in fewest sacks allowed.
• The Salukis have beaten at least one ranked opponent in 15 consecutive seasons. In four meetings while SDSU has been ranked, SIU is 2-2, with wins at No. 9 South Dakota State in 2009 and at No. 7 SDSU in 2013.
• SIU wide receivers Darrell James and Connor Iwema each eclipsed 1,000 career receiving yards last week.
• SIU and SDSU were 1-2 in the league in scoring and total offense last year. SDSU topped the league in scoring offense, while SIU led the league in total offense. The Jacks and Salukis played a 45-39 game in Carbondale that featured 1,092 yards of total offense (888 yards of passing).

SALUKIS AT SDSU

• SIU travel to Brookings, S.D., to a matchup with the ninth-ranked Jackrabbits of South Dakota State.
• SIU and SDSU did not play in 2014 or 2015, and the teams played in Carbondale last season. The last time SIU played in Brookings was a 27-24 win over No. 7 South Dakota State in 2013. No players on the 2017 Salukis played in that game.
• South Dakota State is ranked No. 9 in the FCS Coaches Poll and No. 8 in the STATS Media Poll.
o The Salukis are 17-35 all-time against top-10 ranked teams.
o Southern’s last win against a top-10 team was 24-17 at No. 4 Northern Iowa in 2013. SIU beat No. 7 South Dakota State the week prior to that win over Northern Iowa.
o The Salukis have beaten a ranked opponent in 15 consecutive seasons. Five of the remaining seven teams on the schedule are ranked in the top-25.
o The Salukis are 2-0 against ranked SDSU teams in Brookings. SIU won over No. 9 SDSU in 2009 and over No. 7 SDSU in 2013.
• SIU and SDSU were 1-2 in the league in scoring and total offense last year.
o SDSU topped the league in scoring offense, while SIU led the league in total offense.
o The Jacks and Salukis played a 45-39 game in Carbondale that featured 1,092 yards of total offense (888 yards of passing).
o The Salukis had the ball twice in the fourth quarter of that game with a chance to take the lead, but sacks ended both drives.
o Connor Iwema had six catches for 107 yards and a touchdown in that game, one of four career 100-yard games for Iwema.
• Over the last three seasons, SIU is 12-7 at home (.632) and 3-16 on the road (.158).

SALUKI DEFENSE SHOWING MARKED IMPROVEMENT

Saluki Defense 2016 2017
OPP Points Per Game 30.7 22.0
OPP Rush YPG 165.9 99.8
OPP Pass YPG 267.2 260.5
OPP Total YPG 433.1 360.2
Turnovers Forced PG 1.3 2.0
Tackles for Loss PG 6.2 8.0
Sacks Per Game 1.8 3.0
OPP Yards Per Play 5.8 4.8
• SIU limited Mississippi Valley State to negative-eight yards rushing in the season opener.
• Southern’s defense has already forced eight turnovers–more than halfway to its season totals from 2015 and 2016 (14 in each season).
• In the season opener against Mississippi Valley State, Southern Illinois piled up 16 tackles for loss and six sacks.
• SIU’s 16 TFLs during the season opener are tied for the most in FCS this season.
• The 16 TFLs are also the most for the program since at least 2006.
• The Salukis recorded 20 sacks all of last season, and they already have 12 this year.

 

O-LINE SURGE

Offensive Line First 7G of 2016 Since (8 Games)
Rush Yards 948 1,212
Rush YPG 135.4 151.5
Yards Per Rush 3.58 3.94
Sacks Allowed 24 (3.4 spg) 6 (0.75 spg)
Team Record 2-5
4-4
• Southern Illinois has gone 4-3 in its last seven games, dating back to last season. That has coincided with a surge in offensive line play.
• Starting quarterback Sam Straub has not been sacked this season. He has thrown 146 passes.
• The only sack Southern has given up was in the second half of a 55-3 blowout win over Mississippi Valley State.
• Austin Olsen was named MVFC Offensive Lineman of the Week after SIU put up 393 yards, 31 points and allowed no sacks at Memphis.

SIU NOTES PROVIDED BY John Lock of siusalukis.com