The men’s basketball team comes into Saturdays game vs Illinois State on a roll. Big time wins against Creighton and Northern Iowa have the Salukis looking like prize fighters in the MVC. One thing SIU has yet to prove is the ability to deliver an early knockout to a lesser opponent. The Redbirds will come into SIU Arena looking play the role of Buster Douglas after already putting UNI and Wichita State on the canvas this season.
Illinois State (11-10, 3-7) could pretty much lock down a NIT bid if they win at the Arena and stay above .500. They feature Greg Dilligard, a 6-8 Senior making his 100th career start for ISU and he comes in shooting 63.9% from the floor. Boo Richardson (his real name is Keith) leads the balanced ISU attack with 10 points and 5 assists per game. Brian Mullins shut him down in the first meeting of these two teams, and will look to do the same on Saturday.
Look for ISU to go eight or nine deep and try to put lots of pressure on Southern. Hopefully SIU can get a little bit more out of their bench in this game after the starters were again forced to carry the load in the win over UNI. A home game against a lesser opponent is a perfect chance for Wesley Clemmons to snap out of his shooting slump. Tony Boyle needs to step up as well, because Matt Shaw can’t continue to play 39 minutes every night. It seems like just a few weeks ago these were the only bench players we could trust. This says two things- 1) the other bench players smell opportunity and have stepped up. 2) Clemmons and Boyle have already shown they can contribute and should be able to reemerge as key players.
SIU (as always) is a favorite at home, but ISU has a punchers chance. Official Salukihoops prediction- SIU over ISU, 65-54.
