Relentless Green Bay hands SIUE its fifth straight loss

University of Wisconsin-Green Bay first-year head coach Linc Darner takes a lot of pride in his so-called “RP-40 style” that has forced six previous opponents into turning over the ball an average of 18.3 times per game.

But Relentless Pressure for 40 minutes doesn’t apply to defense alone. In lieu of takeaways — Green Bay forced only 11 against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville on Monday — the Phoenix can just as easily score with relentless efficiency

Green Bay (4-3) shot 53 percent from the field — including 9-of-17 from 3-point range — to hand SIUE its fifth straight loss, 87-69 at Vadalabene Center.

Five players reached double figures for Green Bay.

“They do a great job dictating tempo,” said Jon Harris, SIUE’s first-year head coach. “They make teams play at their pace, which is a wild frenetic pace. They fly up and down the court and they press the entire game. We fell victim to that.”

Jordan Fouse, a preseason pick for first-team All-Horizon League, scored a game-high 22 points. He had 16 by halftime. Carrington Love, Green Bay’s top scorer at 19.3 points per game, finished with 17.

Key Moments

The Cougars didn’t get their first field goal until nearly five minutes into the game. By that time, they had spotted Green Bay a 16-1 lead.

Against the Phoenix, who have averaged 80.7 points per game during their four-game winning streak, it was already too much to overcome.

Green Bay then closed the first half with a 17-2 run to open the lead to 55-28 heading into the locker room. The Phoenix shot 61.8 percent to the Cougars’ 27.8.

“They are great shooters,” said SIUE freshman guard Carlos Anderson. “All we can do is contest and hope they miss. They fell in and they shot a high percentage. I applaud them for that, but we have to do better on defense.”

The Cougars didn’t roll over in the second half, however.

Burak Eslik scored seven points in a 9-0 SIUE run. Carlos Anderson, the true freshman from Alton, punctuated a 14-5 run with a slam dunk to close a forbidding halftime lead to just 13 points with eight minutes left in the game.

It was as close as the Cougars would get.

“We won the second half by eight because we managed to play our own game,” Harris said. “Things we talked about heading into the game, we managed to do a little bit better in the second half, but it was too late. When you spot a good program that amount of points, it’s tough to catch up.”

Key Performances

Grant Fiorentinos led SIUE with a career-high 18 points to go with seven rebounds.

Anderson finished with 14 by shooting 5-of-9 from the field and 2-of-3 from 3-point range. Eslik also had 11.

Also reaching double figures for Green Bay were Charles Cooper, who had 15, and Kenneth Lowe and Turner Botz, who had 10 each.

What’s Next

The Cougars begin a three-game road trip Thursday at Milwaukee. They’ll be at Northwestern on Saturday and in Carbondale Dec. 9 to take on the Salukis. SIUE isn’t back home until 4 p.m. on Dec. 12 when it plays Portland.

Green Bay has three straight home dates against Toledo, Pacific and UW-Superior.

This story was originally published November 30, 2015 at 10:07 PM with the headline "Relentless Green Bay hands SIUE its fifth straight loss."