Men's Basketball Preps for Murray State
12/27/2001 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 27, 2001
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Salukis (9-2) will play at Murray State (7-4) Saturday night in the final non-conference game for both schools. The 7 p.m. game will be shown locally on WPSD TV-6, the ABC affiliate in Paducah, Ky.
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Roberts Gives SIU Inside Presence: Senior center Rolan Roberts has been a key piece of the puzzle this season, giving the Salukis a dominating inside threat. He is second on the team in scoring (12.9 ppg) and rebounding (7.5 rpg), and leads the team in blocks (2.8 bpg) and steals (1.6 spg). He also shoots a team-high 58.1 percent from the field. Roberts is coming off his best game as a Saluki when he scored 28 points and grabbed 18 rebounds against SE Missouri State.
Salukis Versus the Ohio Valley Conference: After defeating SE Missouri State last Saturday, the Salukis will play another OVC school, Murray State, this Saturday. Southern Illinois has a 161-124 all-time record versus the nine current members of the Ohio Valley Conference.
The Series vs. Murray St.: Murray State holds a 12-11 advantage in the all-time series against SIU that began in 1929. The two teams have met only twice in the last 10 years, with SIU winning, 94-79, at home on Dec. 17, 2000, and MSU winning at home, 65-62, on Nov. 14, 1998.
Dawg Bites: The Salukis have shot 50 percent or better in the second half in five straight games... The Salukis' 92 points against SEMO were the most since scoring 94 last year against Murray State...Kent Williams is 12-for-37 from the field (32.4) in the last three games...Roberts has made 14 of his last 18 free throw attempts to raise his free throw percentage to 47.8.
National Rankings: The Salukis are currently 39th in the AP Poll and 37th in the Coaches Poll. The only time SIU has been ranked was during a three-week span in late Nov./early Dec. in 1976. SIU rose as high as #18.
Williams 20th in Career Scoring at SIU: Junior guard Kent Williams is the 34th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point plateau. He now ranks 20th in career scoring at SIU with 1,152 points.
