Southern Illinois Postmortem

Final Score: Southern Illinois 59, Creighton 58

Box Score

Recaps: CU | SIU
Media: OWH | Southern Illinoisan
Photo Gallery: OWH

Over the past several years, Creighton and Southern Illinois have had little competition as the top two programs in the Valley. It has been the consistency and success that the Jays and Salukis have had that sparked the rebirth of Valley basketball. The league would be nowhere near where it is today if the other 8 schools had not been challenged to raise their level of play and commitment to men's basketball by what was going on in Omaha and Carbondale. However, ever since that faithful night in St. Louis in 2003, this rivalry has been nothing but even.

It's hard to express how frustrating it is that the Salukis have had our number over the past four years. It's not like the Jays have been in a slump overall during that period. We've been in the postseason every one of those years and since the move to the Qwest Center, there have only been six losses to teams not named SIU. Also, it's not like these games have been blowouts. We've played the Salukis close, both at home and even at the SIU Arena, where the Salukis have one of the most dominant home court records in all of Division I during that period. All four games at the Qwest against the Ugly Dawgs have been tight affairs, with two going down to the very last possession and the final buzzer.

Initially it didn't look like this game would be all that close. SIU, not know as an offensive juggernaut to say the least, came out on fire and started the game making 6-7 three point attempts. Conversely, we opened the game with just 6 points over the first 13 or so minutes of the contest, with the lead swelling up to 21-9 with about six minutes in the half.

However, for as poorly as the Jays started and as close as the Ugly Dawgs came to running away and hiding early, they never quite landed the knockout punch and Creighton just keep chipping away. The Jays started to hit some of their free throws, which we hadn't been in the first period, and kept SIU within striking distance. Although it was one of the worst halves of basketball the Jays played all year, we were only down 28-23 at the break.

After halftime, the Jays immediately started to cut into the deficit with a three by Dane Watts and Nate Funk drawing contact and making his shots. This brought the lead for SIU to two and it would vacillate around that point for the next several minutes.

Just under 8 minutes to play however, Funk capped off an 8-0 run with a driving shot in the lane to give the Jays the first lead of the game at 41-40. This would eventually swell to 50-43 with just under 5 minutes to play and it looked like the Jays were just about to really get control of the contest.

Two things happened next, however. First, with the seven point lead, it did seem like the Jays lost a bit of that tenacity and aggressiveness. It seemed like the team was trying to just hold on, work clock and just weather the storm. Also, it was at this point the foul situation really started to damn the short handed Jays.

Whenever we play the Salukis, invariably the issue of officiating receives a lot of press. Like it or not, the Salukis have found a system that works. Over the past few years, they have perfected a system that is based on the concept that the referees cannot call a foul on ever single play, no matter how much contact you commit consistently. That way, they constantly keep both the opposing team as well as the officials on their back heels and keep the game played on their terms.

Personally, I don't like it at all and I feel it's an offense to the way in which the game of basketball was meant to be played. However, you can't fault them for doing what works. Like it or not, SIU has been able to execute that game plan and have rode that to this stretch of both league championships as well as NCAA tournaments. At some point, you just have to man up and stop them.

The fouls that ended up disqualifying both Watts and Anthony Tolliver have received a lot of press and I don't have much to add to that. All I have to say is that in the case of Tolliver, for that relatively small amount of contact (especially considering the amount of contact that occurred on every single possession of the game), to foul out the last forward available for a team is inexcusable. Creighton had their opportunities and could have overcome that mistake by the officials, but it does everyone a disservice to ignore the mistake. Basketball referees are not infallible and, by their actions, most definitely have not deserved to be held up as unquestionable.

Regardless, however, what fundamentally killed the Jays was that the team seemed to retreat into a shell once they built up a decent sized league. They seemed to expect to be worn down by the physicality that the Salukis bring for 40 minutes, as has been the case in many of the previous contests with this team. However, that only plays into their hands. When you try to play that tight against this team, they use that psychological edge to get you to make mistakes, try to play outside yourself and become vulnerable.

It's not an issue of talent. Even with the depth issues this CU team now has, I think the Jays are the better team and the team that is better built for success down the stretch. However, that's been the case the last few years and, quite frankly, that's not enough. This team needs to match the toughness and confidence that the Salukis bring to the table. Until it does that, it's not going to get over on this team.

There's still a lot of basketball left and no one has taken control of this championship race. However, this team just handed one back. As much as the team stole one by closing the deal with a solid win at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, by dropping this home game, we're back to even. A good opportunity to resolve that is tomorrow in Springfield. Missouri State will come in losers of two straight and licking their chops for revenge after the way the game in Omaha ended. This would be a great opportunity to emulate some of that toughness and swagger that SIU uses so well to their advantage.