SIUE Soars Past William Woods, 84-29

The 29 points allowed is tied for the fewest allowed by SIUE in school history and the 55-point win differential is the largest since SIUE moved to the Division I level.

The Cougars improved to 6-6 overall and 4-0 at home with the win. The six wins are the most nonconference wins for SIUE since they began playing an Ohio Valley Conference schedule in 2011-12.

What finished as a blowout, didn't start that way. The teams traded baskets for the first 10 minutes and William Woods had a 15-13 lead after a Jacob Randall jumper with 10:33 to play in the first half. SIUE seized control at that point, scoring the next 11 points. William Woods didn't score another field goal before halftime and the Cougars finished the first half on a 30-1 run to lead 43-16 at the break.

"We approached the game the right way, coming off of finals and not playing for a week," SIUE Head Coach Brian Barone said. "We were expecting them to come out and fight. Our guys didn't have it going right away. We responded the right way. We pulled together as a team and we took off."

After allowing 16 points at half, SIUE gave up just 13 points in the second half. SIUE shot 52 percent from the field in the first half and 47 percent (34-72) for the game, marking the seventh time this season the team has connected on at least 45 percent of its shots from the field. The 34 field goals made were the most in a game this season. The 73 attempts were the most in a game since January 2019 at Tennessee Tech.

The Cougars limited William Woods to just 20 percent from the field. The Owls were 12-20 for the game and just 5-29 in the second half.

"Our defensive effort led to us being able to get up and down a little bit after we were a little stagnant early in the game," Barone added.

The Cougars outrebounded the Owls 55-33, securing their most rebounds this season. SIUE collected 23 assists, the second-highest total of the season, and grabbed 12 steals, its most this year.

Ray'Sean Taylor led three SIUE players in double figures with a game-high 21 points. It is the fifth 20-point game of his career. He has scored in double figures in all 12 games he has played for SIUE. He was 8-13 shooting and 5-7 from three-point range.

Courtney Carter scored a season-high 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his second double-double in the last three games. Carter added four assists and three steals.

"He's an assist guy, he's a rebound guy, he's a points guy," Barone said of Carter. "He's accepted being that spark (off the bench) a few minutes into the game. Part of that is hustle points and hustle rebounds. He wanted to go get a double-double because it was going to help the team."

"We just tried to get stops," Taylor said. "At the start of the game we weren't doing that. He (Carter) came in the game and changed the game defensively."

 DeeJuan Pruitt finished a rebound shy of his second consecutive double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds. Shaun Doss, Jr. scored nine points and is now just 14 points shy of 1,000 for his career.

Including Carter's 15 points, SIUE got 36 points from the bench. Elochukwu Eze tied his career high six points while adding a rebound, a block and a steal.

Freshman Jonathan Kurtas scored a career-high six points and tied his career high with five rebounds.

"Our success of late has been a lot because of our bench, and not just in the game," Barone said. "Everybody brings it every day in practice. Our depth isn't just seen on game day."

The Cougars scored 30 fast-break points and added 46 points in the paint.

"We emphasized getting inside, especially trying to get it to our bigs, because we knew we had the size over them," Carter said. "We just wanted to get to the cup."

Makenzie Fessler scored 14 points to lead William Woods. He was the only player in double figures for the Owls.

SIUE has just one nonconference game remaining before opening OVC play. The Cougars will travel to Mobile, Alabama for a Tuesday night contest at South Alabama.

"We're focused on South Alabama," Barone said. "They are a really good team. It's going to be a great challenge. It will be one more thing to prepare us for what lies ahead in the OVC."