It was a happy return to SIU for a familiar face.
Former SIU assistant coach Rodney Watson, who has been with the Salukis for 21 years, returned to Carbondale on Saturday as head coach of NCAA Division II Southern Indiana. SIU defeated Southern Indiana 71-69.
Watson said he was grateful to SIU head coach Chris Lowery for the chance to play against the Salukis.
“I thanked him for the game. It’s hard to get D-I games in this situation,” Watson said. “I was so grateful he would play us; he didn’t have to play us. I said we are both going to have good teams.”
Watson said teams were afraid of risking a loss to the powerhouse Division II program, and he was happy Lowery would take the risk.
The Eagles almost did steal a victory from the Salukis. Southern Indiana held a two-point lead with 1:14 left in the game. Junior guard John Freeman tied the game with two free throws with 53 seconds left to give him a team-high 14 points.
The game was looking to go into overtime when senior guard Kevin Dillard missed a shot with 4 seconds left, but sophomore center Nick Evans tipped in the missed basket for the go ahead points and the win.
Evans was a player Watson recruited to join SIU.
“It was awful,” Watson said of the tip-in basket while laughing. “I’m really proud of him. Nick and I have a really long relationship, and it’s great to see Nick just really getting better and being a major factor on this team.”
Evans, who led both teams with eight rebounds and scored eight points, said he was happy to play against his former assistant coach.
“He means a lot to me, 10 times more outside basketball, just as a person,” Evans said. “He’s been with me through a lot of personal things. I said, ‘I know you can coach, I know you know what you’re doing. Let’s go out and make each of us proud.’”
Evans said he did not think about how he was playing his old coach.
“We knew this game was coming for six months, and I was kind of scared about where my mentality would be,” Evans said. “I try not to think about it on the court.”
Evans said as soon as the game ended he gave his former assistant coach a hug and told him he loved him.
Lowery said Watson has done a good job in his short time as coach at Southern Indiana.
“Coach Watson has done a tremendous job over there; they are a tough and hard-nosed team right now,” Lowery said. “They’ve got good athletes, and they share the ball.”
Lowery was just as grateful for the opportunity to play against Watson.
“I wanted to play a high-end team to see if we could guard well,” Lowery said.
Watson said he would have liked to get a win from the Salukis in his return visit.
“I thought we could get them into overtime and maybe steal one out of here,” Watson said. “It was a great college game. It was what we both needed for a practice game. It is exactly how the game needed to go.”
