Southeast finding it difficult to stop all the leaks

It's probably fitting for the struggles Southeast Missouri State University is having this season that the Indians have shored up one of their problem areas but continue to spring leaks in some others.

For much of the year, the trifecta of poor shooting, shaky rebounding and too many turnovers were dooming the Indians.

In their last two games, the Indians shot a season-high 51 percent from the field against St. Louis and followed that up with a solid 47-percent performance against Mississippi Valley State -- yet still lost by 26 and 12 points, respectively.

That's because rebounding and turnovers continue to hamper the Indians. They had 24 turnovers against St. Louis and 18 more turnovers along with being outrebounded by 10 against Mississippi Valley State.

"We're not rebounding and we're turning the ball over too much. Those are really hurting us," said Southeast coach Gary Garner. "We've been shooting pretty well the last few games, well enough to win if the other things were OK."

For the season, the 1-7 Indians have gotten their field-goal percentage up to 44 percent, which is decent considering how bad it was for a while. But they have 137 turnovers -- 17 more than the opposition -- and are being outrebounded by an average of nearly seven per game, which is a considerable differential.

While the Indians have obviously not had the overall talent of most of their opponents so far -- a trend that is likely to continue throughout the season -- Garner said improvement in some of their current weak areas will give them at least a fighting chance to win games.

"We have to become a better defensive team, a better rebounding team, and we have to work on not turning the ball over," Garner said. "It's been inconsistency. Some games it's different things."

Defensively, Southeast has traditionally been extremely strong under Garner, leading the Ohio Valley Conference in most key defensive categories several times. But the Indians are toward the bottom of the OVC in defense so far this year as they are allowing 75.4 points per game and the opposition is shooting nearly 47 percent, including 43 percent from 3-point range.

"Defense has been our strength," said Garner. "I don't think we've ever been lower than the middle of the pack until now."

Winans leading way

Redshirt freshman guard Derek Winans, who scored a game-high 21 points in Monday's 82-70 home loss to Mississippi Valley State, continues to shine for the Indians.

Winans is Southeast's leading scorer at 16.4 points per game and he is also tops in assists with 21 to go along with only 13 turnovers. In addition, Winans is the Indians' third-leading rebounder with four per game.

Winans, a former Shawnee (Ill.) High School standout, ranks seventh in the OVC in scoring and third in assist to turnover ratio.

Southeast's only other double-figure scorer on the season is junior forward Tim Scheer (12.9 ppg), who is shooting a team-best 42 percent from 3-point range on 13 of 31.

Scheer and junior forward Drew DeMond are tied for the team lead in rebounding with six per contest.

Sophomore forward Damarcus Hence, after a slow start, has come on offensively with 25 points in his last two games, including a career-high 15 against Mississippi Valley State.

SIU loses bigThe Indians' next opponent, highly-regarded Southern Illinois, came back down to earth a bit Tuesday night as the Salukis were routed 80-62 at Colorado State.

But SIU has still been opening plenty of eyes this season with an 8-2 record as the Salukis have beaten the likes of Indiana, Iowa State and St. Louis while losing by just three points to Illinois.

"They'll be the best team we play," said Garner. "I think they're a top 20 team."

Southeast and SIU will square off at 3:05 p.m. Saturday in Carbondale, Ill.