@ Southern Illinois (7-6) - Saturday 2/10/2024 - 6 pm - ESPN+

[CaliRdBrd]

Poindexter playing well these last two games. What’s up with Walker though?

 

[SlackBooDom]

Sox - that 3 spot has been an open wound all season. Give those minutes to Mal and let him shoot as he’s got the confidence.

My gosh whoever Luke guards seems to score at will.

-17 in 18 minutes tonight.

 

[Bdub777]

Pregame they called him a stat stuffer.

Yeah, I am glad I wasn’t drinking something when I heard that!

 

[Redbirdfan06]

Well, except we had no point guard last year, …..

Do we this year? If it’s not Johnny, then we don’t.

 

[Bdub777]

Do we this year? If it’s not Johnny, then we don’t.

Not a superstar but I think that’s a little much. I get the frustration…..

 

[Brick]

Ya know I was really bummed after the last game. But this game actually gives me some hope. Poindexter played his rear off on both ends. JK looking for his shot was encouraging. Yea I know some are gonna hammer me cause it was another loss. But sometimes you can learn from a loss. We were definitely a better team tonight. We played really hard but came up short. Finally the refs didn’t do us any favors. Lots of elbows and push off but never called.

 

[Redbird82]

Poindexter playing well these last two games. What’s up with Walker though?

2 of the last 3 unfortunately was bad against UIC when we could have used him

 

[WoodlandWarrior]

So depressing to look at the MVC standings and see us 10th. We need an infusion of everything.

 

[CaliRdBrd]

Ya know I was really bummed after the last game. But this game actually gives me some hope. Poindexter played his rear off on both ends. JK looking for his shot was encouraging. Yea I know some are gonna hammer me cause it was another loss. But sometimes you can learn from a loss. We were definitely a better team tonight. We played really hard but came up short. Finally the refs didn’t do us any favors. Lots of elbows and push off but never called.

If you can truly learn from a loss, then we should be at an Einstein level of knowledge.

 

[Redbird82]

Unfortunately can’t really build momentum off this at least not right away because we aren’t winning in Terra Haute

 

[cubird]

Hopefully, Mal can put back to back games together at ISU Blue. Should get a lot of minutes with Burford out. Davis injury is?

 

[BirdGrad2011]

My comments are not so much about this game, but the state of the program. Being in 10th and mentioned with UIC, Valpo is flat out embarrassing. Evansville is trending up yet we aren’t even close.

 

[Dmills]

Lewis is finally starting to step up the last 2 games. Average of 14 and 8 on 78.5% shooting. Even the last 4 games he has been decent, statistically - the 5 games before that he was MIA. Don't know what it matters though at this point in the season for a 5th year senior on a team that is in 10th place.

 

[Dmills]

A positive - it looks like Foster has given up on the 3 point shot! He hasn't taken one since the Evansville game, and they were leaving him wide open tonight.

 

[Birdfriend72]

Do we this year? If it’s not Johnny, then we don’t.

I like Johnny. He must weigh 160 pounds. He needs to get some meat to play effectively at this level.

 

[Aggie]

I like Johnny. He must weigh 160 pounds. He needs to get some meat to play effectively at this level.

I think he has lots of heart, lots of talent, but he is what his size allows him to be. With that said, coaches need to design both defensive and offensive schemes that play to his size. ISU is not Ohio State. ISU can get talent but the guards will have something the big boys didn’t like, such as they are 5’10”. So take that talent and put it into a system that can help manage the size differential. DO NOT have a defense that relies on him switching to guard a guy 6’11”. A 6’8” wing guard can do that but not a guy 5’10”. We are what we are and management needs to manage around that. I could list multiple other examples.

 

[Brick]

For all you guys that don’t like Banks. He had a pretty good game. 3/5 for 7 points, 6 boards and four assists. Yes he dribbles too much but gotta give him credit when he does good. Another thing pointed out on the UIC posts. We did a LOT better job of fighting thru screens esp in the second half. Didn’t often get the big guy/little guy situations near as often. Made it a lot tougher for SIU to score in second half.

 

[Reggie Redbird]

We are missing that go-to person who is a true “stat sheet stuffer” the commentators talked about. It is not someone who could score 15-20 points (taking 15+ shots to get there). It’s someone we can consistently count on each game to anchor this team with good play.

If coming back in this game gives us something helpful going forward, that’s good. Lose by 3, lose by 30, it’s still a loss in the standings.

Talking to others before, I mentioned the “ISU thing to do” would be to get down by 15 but then hit enough shots to come close but ultimately fail.

I’m not sure what it is about this team’s ability to start, but I am always unsure if we’ll have more than 10 points in the first 10 minutes.

Players should be given an honest assessment of where they fit in next year, if their current play is indicative of their future play. Besides our freshman and maybe Foster, I can’t see anyone else poised to break in a significantly positive direction. I would love to be surprised. I would love to be wrong. But I can’t pretend it’s likely.

 

[RedbirdSoxFan]

I like Johnny. He must weigh 160 pounds. He needs to get some meat to play effectively at this level.

Duke Deen 5’8” 170 lbs
Isaiah Swope 5-10” 170 lbs
Johnny Kinziger 5’11 165 lbs

Those two have a couple years on Johnny. He will be fine.

 

[RedbirdSoxFan]

We are missing that go-to person who is a true “stat sheet stuffer” the commentators talked about. It is not someone who could score 15-20 points (taking 15+ shots to get there). It’s someone we can consistently count on each game to anchor this team with good play.

If coming back in this game gives us something helpful going forward, that’s good. Lose by 3, lose by 30, it’s still a loss in the standings.

Talking to others before, I mentioned the “ISU thing to do” would be to get down by 15 but then hit enough shots to come close but ultimately fail.

I’m not sure what it is about this team’s ability to start, but I am always unsure if we’ll have more than 10 points in the first 10 minutes.

Players should be given an honest assessment of where they fit in next year, if their current play is indicative of their future play. Besides our freshman and maybe Foster, I can’t see anyone else poised to break in a significantly positive direction. I would love to be surprised. I would love to be wrong. But I can’t pretend it’s likely.

I would guess that Burford, Banks, Davis, Foster, Kinziger, Walker, Pence will be back. Poindexter, Lieb, and Kasubke maybe.