SIU is picked 5th in the MoValley. That puts them in the top half a conference that everyone would agree is stronger than the Sun Belt. A win would really increase my optimism about this season. A competitive loss would not be too deflating, but then we have 2 straight games (Championship Christian and Arkansas Baptist) which will tell us absolutely nothing. Don't have a clue what type of team we will have but, at this point, I am hopeful that the "experts" that place us near the bottom are wrong.

I'll be there tonight...COUNT ON THAT!!!!

Odds Shark has us as a 7 point dog.

(11-09-2021 11:48 AM)ez272 Wrote:  Odds Shark has us as a 7 point dog.

That's a pretty big spread at home.

I will be pleasantly surprised with a win and terribly disappointed if we lose by double figures at home. I will be there as well tonight to begin my 36th year going to Trojan games.

Very nice win against a quality program. The obvious problem that sticks out is rebounding, but with our lack of size that is probably going to be status quo. However, winning the turnover margin 10 to 23 made up for it. Evans has really come on since last year. Stulic will get lots of PT if he is the only one who can hit three-pointers.

Only ten turnovers. That is the key number from the game.

I felt that D.J. Smith, the new freshman PG, was the X factor. When he was on the court, we were getting steals and scoring. No offense to Andric, but when he was out there, we looked pretty flat. I do think he should get PT but in the first half so that Smith doesn't get into foul trouble in the 2nd half.

(11-09-2021 08:07 PM)TrojanTeen2 Wrote:  I felt that D.J. Smith, the new freshman PG, was the X factor. When he was on the court, we were getting steals and scoring. No offense to Andric, but when he was out there, we looked pretty flat. I do think he should get PT but in the first half so that Smith doesn't get into foul trouble in the 2nd half.

I really like Andric, but have to admit SIU got back in the game when Smith was out of the game. Like you say, DJ may be the guy but I would like to Andric get quality minutes as well.