First, apologies for the day-lateness. Thanks to an overeager waitress at Duffy’s in Chicago on Saturday night, I never wanted for a fresh Fat Tire, which, as you can imagine, is not the best way to avoid drunkenness if you’re trying to sit and watch the IU game. Many beers and a pretty tremendous hangover later, and here I am. Monday morning. Ouch.

Anyway, The Morning After is made a little bit more fun today, simply because we don’t have to gripe and whine for 1,000 words. No, Saturday’s win over Southern Illinois was about as impressive as possible, a sign that our high expectations for this team are warranted. Onward:

– 2-3 zone. Oh, the 2-3 zone! First, let’s give credit where credit is due: Southern Illinois had a bad shooting night. Whether they’re just a bad shooting team, or IU caught them on a bad time … well, that doesn’t really matter, because the Hoosiers leveraged Southern’s poor shooting with a 2-3 zone that solved multiple problems. First, it forced Southern to keep shooting from outside, thereby stopping a slew of early Saluki layups. (My table of amateur statisticians counted seven of the first eight shots as layups.) Second, it served as a way to rest an IU team that, thanks to Southern’s insatiable ball pressure, had to earn every single step forward in the half court offense. Add that to the fact that most players would rather play a million zones than one possession of half court man-to-man, and you had an IU team that looked better on defense than it has at any point in time early in the season. I still have hope that Sampson can develop this team, but it also seems equally as likely that they’re just not a very good group of ball defenders. If zone is what it takes – 2-3 against poor shooting teams’ 3-2 against good ones – then so be it. Zone it is.

– IU’s turnovers per field goal made weren’t stellar, but they were better than Tuesday’s abysmal effort against Georgia Tech. Perhaps Southern Illinois’ defense forced IU to congeal offensively, since ball pressure was heightened and trips into the lane were limited. Whatever the cause, IU looked more in sync on offense, looked more willing to make an extra swing pass, and so on. It’s good to see DJ get lots of touches in the post, for example, and be able to work into a rhythm on that little dribble fade he loves so much. It’s also lovely to see the Hoosiers work a little bit of perimeter team play into their usual diet of penetration.

(more…)

Eric Gordon scored 22 points and D.J. White added 10 points and 12 rebounds as No. 15 Indiana beat No. 22 Southern Illinois 64-51 Saturday night at SIU Arena in Carbondale, Illinois.

The win snapped the Salukis’ 15-game home court winning streak.

Gordon overcame a slow start and hit 7 of 14 from the field, including 4 of 7 from three-point range, in 40 minutes.

“We made him take tough shots. As a coach you can live with guys making tough shots,” Southern Illinois coach Chris Lowery said. “We made him work. He’s a good player.”

Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson thought Gordon did an excellent job of letting the game come to him in a hostile environment.

“Eric was a lot more composed. He didn’t play like a freshman that’s trying to score,” Sampson said. “He played like a basketball player that had some experience.”

The Hoosiers (6-1) looked to be in for a battle early on as the Salukis attacked the offensive glass and jumped out to an 8-4 lead.

Southern Illinois held a 8-3 rebounding lead in the opening minutes, but the Hoosiers recovered and won the battle on the glass, 38-29.

“We just decided to start going to the boards and rebounding. Coach got on us about that,” White said.

Indiana led 34-28 at halftime and opened a 12-point lead at 46-34 with 9:18 remaining on back to back three-pointers by Gordon and Armon Bassett.

The Salukis (3-2) never got closer than nine the rest of the way.

Bassett finished with 12 points and four assists. Jamarcus Ellis added 11 points and 10 rebounds.

“It was a great win, but it’s early in the season and we’ll try to learn from this win and keep improving. That’s the key,” Sampson said.

Randal Falker paced Southern Illinois with 12 points.

Related:

• Box score
• IU’s defense too much for Salukis
• SIU basketball takes one on the chin
• Salukis look sluggish at home vs. Hoosiers

(Those of you looking for The Morning After will find it first thing tomorrow morning. In the meantime: big win. Big win.)

Opponent: No. 22 Southern Illinois

Date: Saturday, December 1, 2007 | 9:30 EST

Arena: SIU Arena (9,386) – Carbondale, Illinois

Line: Southern Illinois by 3

TV: ESPNU (Jim Barbar, Mike Kelley)

Radio: IU Radio Network (Don Fischer, Todd Leary and Joe Smith)

Probable Starters:

• Indiana (5-1): Armon Bassett, Eric Gordon, Jamarcus Ellis, Lance Stemler, D.J. White
• Southern Illinois (3-1): Tyrone Green, Bryan Mullins, Tony Boyle, Matt Shaw, Randal Falker

Game Notes (Adobe Reader required to view):

• Indiana
• Southern Illinois

As always, your predictions and comments are welcome in the game thread.

The Hoosiers are back in action tonight with their toughest non-conference road game of the season in Carbondale, Illinois.

Southern Illinois, one of the premier mid-major programs in the country, is 3-1 and No. 22 in the latest USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll.

The Salukis have won 15 straight at SIU Arena and are 80-3 at home since the 2001-2002 season.

Indiana leads the all-time series 4-1 and won 57-47 a season ago in Assembly Hall. SIU’s lone win in the series came back in 2001 in Carbondale.

Southern Illinois is led by head coach Chris Lowery who was named the Missouri Valley Conference coach of the year two of the past three seasons.

The 35-year old Lowery signed a seven-year contract extension after leading SIU to last season’s Sweet 16. Lowery attended Evansville Harrison high school and was a teammate of former IU star Calbert Cheaney.

The anchor of the Saluki attack is senior forward Randal Falker. Falker is on the Wooden Award preseason watch list and was the MVC defensive player of the year last season. Falker enters the game with averages of 17.0 ppg and 6.8 rpg. He’s hitting 81.3 percent of his free throws this season, up from 53.6 percent a year ago.

Senior forward Matt Shaw is the second leading scorer for Lowery’s club. Shaw is averaging 10.5 ppg. In the past two seasons, SIU is 10-0 when Shaw scores at least 15 points and 15-0 when Shaw grabs at least six rebounds.

Junior guard Bryan Mullins is the primary ball handler for SIU. Mullins is averaging 9.3 ppg and 6.2 assists. His assist to turnover ratio is 2.5 to 1.

One thing to keep an eye on is how the Salukis defend Eric Gordon. Last season, only two players scored 20+ points on SIU and they haven’t allowed an opposing player to score more than 20 in their past 10 games. Will Gordon bring that streak to an end?

To learn more about the Southern Illinois program, click here.

Related:

• Salukis get another test in No. 15 Indiana
• Inhospitable Salukis host the Hoosiers

Kelvin Sampson addressed the media Thursday afternoon and here are a few highlights of what he had to say, courtesy of IU Media Relations:

On Eric Gordon’s play in comparison to other freshmen he has coached:
“I’ve never had a freshman as good as Eric. I’m not sure if I’ve ever had a senior as good as he is either. He is just a prolific scorer. Eric has got to get a lot better in a lot of other areas. His scoring right now is what he is known for, but transition defense, help defense, being more vocal, communicating more. There is not one area of the game defensively that he can’t get better in. Those are the areas we’re going to continually develop and push our team in along with Eric. I want him to communicate in transition. Like the other night in transition defense, if two guys are guarding one in transition it is usually a communication problem, and those things can be corrected.”

On Lance Stemler’s performance against Georgia Tech:
“I loved his body language, his confidence. Nobody has worked harder at shooting than Lance. There was a time last year when his shot wasn’t falling, and I thought it affected his play. Now, when his shot is not falling, I don’t think it affects his play. I think he plays hard-nosed and tough and scrappy, and that is good to see. The other night he played like a senior. I’m proud of D.J. (White) and Lance. You could tell that with Mike (White) the other night. Freshmen can’t sit out like he did and come in and play like that. That is where we’ve been behind the 8-ball a little bit with our experience. Mike played the other night like a senior. I thought Lance and D.J. did as well. They played like veterans.”

On what they are going to work on in practice:
“We’ve got to get ready for Southern Illinois. We broke down the Georgia Tech tape yesterday, made our notes and we’ll go over our film. I thought offensively against Georgia Tech we were really good. We did what we try to do. A big part of our team’s success is our ability to get to the rim with the dribble. That is what this team does well. We try to get to the free-throw line 25 times. If a team packs in a zone, I doubt we will. We’ll just shoot more threes. We are not shooting as many threes because we are driving it. We had 38 free throws the other night. Two free throws is the same as an assist. If EJ (Gordon) is driving the ball and they’re not helping off of Armon (Bassett) and everyone is staying at home, I don’t want him to pass. I want him to get to the rim and get fouled. The same with Jamarcus (Ellis). I thought Jamarcus the other night really attacked the rim aggressively. If somebody runs at them and takes away their penetration, they’ll pass it, and if that guy makes the shot, that will be an assist. A lot of people because of the way Armon has been shooting, they’re not helping off of him. They are staying at home on Armon. When Jamarcus drives it they are staying at home on Armon and they’re staying at home on EJ, so when he drives it he has to go in strong. He can’t drive to pass he has to drive to score. Our ability to get to free-throw line the other night was important. That was the way I felt we could beat Georgia Tech. I didn’t feel like they’d guard us as well off the dribble as they guarded screens.”

On Southern Illinois’ offensive game:
“They’re bigger this year. Last year they played the three guards and they played the (Matt) Shaw kid, who I love. I just love that kids toughness and mentality. They’re playing him more at the three. They’re bigger. Their most valuable player without a doubt is (Bryan) Mullins. You look at their team. Mullins is a three-year starter. Falker is a veteran starter. (Tony) Boyle played a lot last year. You know they are all juniors and seniors. They’ve got some freshmen that come off of the bench. Boyle is a junior, Shaw is a senior, Falker is a senior, Mullins is a junior. They’ve got a great system. You watch their game against Mississippi State, they just wore them down with their toughness. The game against Southern Cal was their third game in three days. I wouldn’t worry about that score too much. I doubt they are. That is just a November game. Those things happen in November.”

You can read a complete transcript of the press conference here.

The first college hoops poll of the season was released today and IU is represented as a top 10 preseason selection by the coaches. The Hoosiers are slotted at No. 9, just behind Michigan State.

When was the last time IU was ranked this high going into the season? (To be perfectly honest, I can’t remember. Bonus points to anyone who knows.)

Two of IU’s non-conference opponents, Kentucky and Southern Illinois, also made the cut. The Wildcats, who visit Assembly Hall on December 8, are No. 22 and the Salukis, who will host the Hoosiers on December 1, are No. 23.

Besides IU and Michigan State, the only other Big Ten teams mentioned were Ohio State, Wisconsin and Illinois who were among the “others receiving votes.”

I’m inclined to say the coaches got it right this time as I can make a case for each team ranked ahead of us for the time being. Duke is, as usual, overrated at No. 11. And two-time defending national champion, Florida, seems a bit underrated. They did, after all, sign one of the top recruiting classes in the country.

So, what are your thoughts on IU’s preseason ranking? Too high? Too low? Just right? I’m interested in hearing your take.