SIU Men's Basketball | Johnson's 38 not enough in Salukis' loss to James Madison
Grading the Salukis
Grading the Salukis
Offense: B
Xavier Johnson just about carried the team to victory with a career-high 38 points on 20 shot attempts, going 12 of 12 at the line to stretch his streak of free throws without a miss to 33. SIU also got good work from Troy D’Amico and Jovan Stulic, who attacked the basket consistently and reached double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively. The 8-15 assist-turnover ratio and foul-plagued nights for Clarence Rupert and Scottie Ebube hurt.
Defense: D
Too much fouling and not enough stopping colored the team’s performance on this end. The Salukis were whistled for 25 fouls and permitting James Madison to hit nearly 53 % from the field. While some of those were tough shots over good defense, too many of them were clean looks, especially early in the game. And SIU didn’t rebound the ball as well as it needed to, losing the glass 34-28 and permitting 15 points off 12 offensive boards.
Overall: B
A bad start plus severe foul trouble inside could have meant a 20-point loss but the Salukis instead had a real chance to beat a Top 25 team. But James Madison did what old teams do – find a way down the last five minute – and denied SIU a signature win. However, if the Salukis play a majority of the season’s remainder as they did in this one, they’ll win more than their share of games. You don’t get medals for trying but SIU didn’t shame itself, either.
