Trumping Aces

The Salukis will head to Chris Lowery’s hometown of Evansville, Indiana looking for something they left behind last season… a win. Evansville ruined Lowery’s homecoming last year upsetting the young Saluki team 64-59.

This year the Purple Aces (9-9, 2-5) limp into the matchup losers of five straight games. Southern on the other hand could not be hotter and for the first time all year SIU looks like a “team”.

After sizing up this Evansville team I could only find two things they had working in their favor. 1) They have two extra days rest to prepare for SIU, not having played since Saturday. 2) They are 7-2 at home this year. Neither of these factors look to bother an SIU squad hungry for a road win.

The memory of last years loss will be plenty to motivate the players for this game. If that’s not enough to convince you there is one more motivating factor- the fight for playing time. In the last two games when Coach Lowery has seen a play not to his liking he stops, turns to his right and shouts for a replacement. Caught reaching in on defense? BUZZ. Your being handed a towel and longtime assistant coach Rodney Watson is tutoring you on your footwork.

Tony Young only played 24 minutes against Drake and he made the most of it. Young can feel the heat from Josh Bone behind him. Wesley Clemmons and Tony Boyle have been temporarily surpassed by Jamaal Foster and Tyrone Greene. You can be certain all of these players want minutes and they are on notice to perform at the highest level.

The tip is at 7:05 and the game will be televised on WSIU for those of you in the Carbondale area. For those of you out of range we will be live bloging for the game so stop by. Also, you can interact with other SIU fans anytime at www.salukitalk.com.

Check back later this week for a preview of the big game at Creighton on Saturday and check us out on the radio this Sunday! I will be on the Sunday Sports Show with Mark Bausch at 10am on WDBX 91.1. Tune in on the radio in Carbondale or on the web at http://www.wdbx.org/