SIU faces the Redbirds for the 2nd time in a span of about 2 weeks. Since that game on January 14th, Illinois State has gone 0-3 including hard fought losses at Northern Iowa and Bradley and a bad loss at home against Valparaiso.
Redbird Leaders:
6'0 Junior Darius Burford: 11.4 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.0 SPG
6'7 Senior Seneca Knight: 11.0 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 1.4 APG
6'8 Senior Kendall Lewis: 10.0 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 1.4 APG, 1.5 SPG, 0.8 BPG
Last Meeting:
On January 14th at the Banterra Center, SIU beat Illinois State 69-57 among 5,523 in attendance. Lance Jones led all scorers with 21 points on 7-18 shooting. Liam McChesney led Illinois State scorers with 13 points on 5-7 shooting and added 5 rebounds. 6'2 Senior Colton Sandage did not play in the game for Illinois State. The Redbirds led 22-15 with 9:02 left in the 1st half and took a 35-32 lead into the half but SIU won the 2nd half 37-22 including a 17-3 run and a 12-2 run.
Links:
SIU Game Notes
Illinois State Game Notes
The way we play games in the 60s, every match-up will be a grind. I do not sell these guys short. Being a road game will make it a tougher match than the first where we won by 12. Love to see X and Newton continue to solidify our starting five. Hope JD can not have a pass fly through his hands this game and hopefully Marcus can stop the TOs (he leads the MVC with over 3 per game)
i expect the next 2 road games to be tough but i think the Dawgs are up the to the task. Let's hope we come home with 2 wins in the bag. The rest of the top half of MVC standings have tough matchups coming up soon too. I'm not worried about Belmont staying near the top, but it would be nice to see us put some distance between 2nd and 3rd/4th.
I plan on making the two hour trip for the first time to Redbird arena this Sunday with the family. Looks like upper bowl seats for four are the only thing available. Are they expecting a large crowd? Guessing season ticket holders have scooped up most of the lower sections. Anyone else making the game?
Redbirds aren’t very good, but feel like this could be a trap game. Better be ready to play.
Supporter of the Fab 4: Scottie Ebube, Foster Wonders, AJ Ferguson & Cade Hornecker.
They’re the ones that can get us where we haven’t been in 15 years.
the saluki flag has been firmly planted in normal. the bobber ain't putting up with any crap from anybody.
Their message board is moaning about their lack of depth, playing basically 6 players. We will have had one more day of rest and they had an overtime game last night against Bradley so...
Id disagree about Belmont. That is the team that worries me, much more than anyone else does. They look good, can drain threes left and right and put up points in a hurry. I think they are the team to beat right now.i expect the next 2 road games to be tough but i think the Dawgs are up the to the task. Let's hope we come home with 2 wins in the bag. The rest of the top half of MVC standings have tough matchups coming up soon too. I'm not worried about Belmont staying near the top, but it would be nice to see us put some distance between 2nd and 3rd/4th.
Their message board is moaning about their lack of depth, playing basically 6 players. We will have had one more day of rest and they had an overtime game last night against Bradley so...
They had players cramping last night. 4 guys played 37 minutes or more. Wish this game was on Saturday though.
Pedon will be preaching revenge. Anything to get that program a much-needed win.
I agree that this will be a fight. A win would be huge for our championship hopes.
I agree. I think it is Belmont or SIU that will be dancing in the NCAA.Id disagree about Belmont. That is the team that worries me, much more than anyone else does. They look good, can drain threes left and right and put up points in a hurry. I think they are the team to beat right now.i expect the next 2 road games to be tough but i think the Dawgs are up the to the task. Let's hope we come home with 2 wins in the bag. The rest of the top half of MVC standings have tough matchups coming up soon too. I'm not worried about Belmont staying near the top, but it would be nice to see us put some distance between 2nd and 3rd/4th.
We beat Belmont by 18 points; I agree they are good and will contend for the top, but they should be more worried about how they'll solve SIU's defense.
I don't believe heading to STL with a team that has to make lots of 3's to win is a recipe for winning 3 in 3 days or 4 in 4... I will take my chances with teams like Bradley and SIU who rely on defense but have the firepower to score points if needed.We beat Belmont by 18 points; I agree they are good and will contend for the top, but they should be more worried about how they'll solve SIU's defense.
@class-of-69 & @quatroschallengesaluki
Didn't mean i wasn't worried about facing Belmont again, but i think we beat them (in a much closer game) if we play again in St. Louis. I just meant in terms of standings over the next month. We're almost a lock to avoid Thursday - doesn't take much to get that done now. It would be great to win the regular season conference and if we end up tied with Belmont somehow we win the tie-breaker. Arch Madness is always hard no matter if you avoid Thursday or night - but i like our chances this year more than the past many years. Would love to see SIU return to March Madness and stay for years to come.
Whatever happens, Go DAWGS!
For that matter, it would be great to see us as the 1 seed and Belmont as the 2 and then play them in the championship game for the tournament win and autobid to NCAA. I don't think we get 2 teams in under any circumstances.
