SIU stuns Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse
The SIU men's basketball team improved to 6-0 and snapped the nation's longest non-conference home court winning streak on Monday night at Hinklie Fieldhouse. The Salukis closed the first half on a 26-5 run and held off a late Butler surge to win, 76-73, and give SIU its best start to a season since 2003-04.
"I told them after the game how proud of them I was for the last five months, dealing with COVID and not knowing when the season will begin," SIU head coach Bryan Mullins said. "To go through this entire non-conference and to finish it up here at Butler with fans in the building, and to play the way they did, that speaks a lot to the character of the group. This group keeps finding ways to win, and they really believe in each other, and I think that's special."
Butler (1-3) jumped out to a 19-11 lead at the 13:30 mark in the first half. From there, SIU (6-0) dominated the rest of the half. The Salukis held the Bulldogs scoreless for nearly eight minutes and went on an extended 26-2 run to grab control of the game. SIU led 37-24 at halftime and stretched that lead out to 18 points early in the second half. How?
"Stops. Our defense," Mullins said. "When we're able to rebound and finish possessions, our guys are playing with good pace in transition. We have guys who can run the floor. We have unselfish guys who will give it up. We're able to attack, but it comes from our defense."
Marcus Domask and Trent Brown led the way. Domask, the reigning MVC Newcomer of the Year and MVC Freshman of the Year, was special, scoring a game-high 26 points. Brown had a career day, nailing 5-of-6 from the 3-point line and finishing with a career high 21.
"It helps when you have teammates like Marcus (Domask) and Lance (Jones) and Dalton (Banks) and Ben (Harvey) and Anthony (D'Avanzo) who can throw that one-more pass," Brown said. "I owe everything to them."
The win was an upset in the college basketball world. KenPom gave SIU a 16% chance to win, and the Salukis were 9-point underdogs. But SIU thoroughly outplayed the Big East team in Butler to earn the Missouri Valley Conference's best win of the non-conference season.
"We recruit kids with chips on their shoulders," Mullins said. "Everyone in this locker room is a winner. Everyone in our program was picking us to win. The guys believed it, and they believed in each other. I'm glad for the program and glad for SIU."
After trailing by 18 in the second half, Butler made a furious rally to nearly force overtime. The Bulldogs got the game to single-digits by the 6:30 mark of the second half, but SIU kept just enough distance to have a chance to earn the win at the free throw line. Brown hit the biggest shot of the game -- a 4-point play to give SIU an 8-point lead -- at the 2:40 mark, and Domask followed that up with a bucket to give SIU a 10-point lead with 90 seconds to go.
But Butler kept chipping away, and SIU missed a pair of free throws to give them life. Ben Harvey, who had an otherwise rough night with just 4 points on 1-of-5 shooting, hit two clutch free throws with 15 seconds left to push SIU's lead back to five. An SIU turnover with four seconds left gave Butler a chance to hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime, but the Salukis got the defensive stop to earn the win.
"We know, in the long scheme of things, the biggest part of the season is coming up for us," Mullins said. "But this was a great experience and a great memory for the guys. It shows the guys that if we do things well, we can play with anyone."
SIU improved to 6-0, the program's best start since Matt Painter guided the Salukis to an MVC title in 2003-04. The Salukis haven't been 7-0 since the 1940s, and they will have a chance to earn that when MVC play begins with a back-to-back against Evansville at Banterra Center on December 27-28.