Men's Basketball Preps For Drake Game Thursday Night
01/21/2002 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 21, 2002
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois (16-3, 6-1) will play at Drake (8-9, 3-4) Thursday night as the Salukis begin a key, two-game road trip. SIU will play at Northern Iowa on Saturday.
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
SIU Off to Best Start Since 1966-67 Season The Salukis' 16-3 start is the best since the 1966-67 team went 24-2 and won the National Invitation Tournament.
League-Leading Dawgs In addition to being in first place in the MVC standings, SIU leads the league in several statistical categories... Scoring Margin +9.2 FG % Defense 39.7 Rebound Margin +5.2 Blocked Shots 4.9
The Series vs. Drake Southern Illinois holds a 36-19 advantage in the all-time series with Drake. The Salukis have won nine of the last 10 meetings and 20 of the last 24. SIU head coach Bruce Weber is 5-1 in his career against the Bulldogs.
Spreading the Wealth Five different Salukis have led the team in scoring in a game this season, Kent Williams, Rolan Roberts, Jermaine Dearman, Darren Brooks and Marcus Belcher.
Williams 16th in Career Scoring at SIU Junior guard Kent Williams is the 34th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point plateau. The team's leading scorer now ranks 16th in career scoring at SIU with 1,288 points.
Dawg Bites Brad Korn scored a career-high 12 points against ISU Saturday... Williams has tied Belcher for the team lead in assists (56)...The Salukis have held every opponent except Colorado State below 45 percent shooting.
Roberts Climbs Blocks Chart Rolan Roberts is climbing the school's single-season blocks record. After 19 games, he has 50 blocks and needs 40 more to tie Joe C. Meriweather's record set in 1973-74.
Worth Knowing SIU is 8-0 at home, it's best home record since the 1991-92 team posted a perfect 12-0 mark at home... Opponents are shooting 39.7 percent against SIU this season. The last Saluki team to hold opponents below 40 percent on the season was the 1967-68 club.
National Rankings The Salukis received 15 votes in this week's Coaches Poll with and one vote in the AP 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.
Mid-Major Top 25 Thirty Division I coaches vote in the mid-major poll, which is compiled by Collegeinsider.com # Team (Poll as of Jan. 20) 1. Gonzaga (16-3) 2. Western Kentucky (16-3) 3. Bowling Green (14-2) 4. Southern Illinois (16-3) 5. Butler (16-3) 6. Ball State (12-5) 7. UC-Irvine (13-5) 8. Valparaiso (14-6) 9. Arkansas-Little Rock (14-4) 10. Pepperdine (11-6) 11. Utah State (13-4) 12. Creighton (11-5) 13. Pennsylvania (11-4) 14. Manhattan (13-3) 15. Texas-Pan American (17-4) 16. Coll. of Charleston (14-3) 17. Kent State (12-5) 18. Brown (12-4) 19. UNC-Wilmington (11-6) 20. Montana State (12-6) 21. Loyola-Chicago (11-5) 22. Jacksonville (14-5) 23. The Citadel (13-4) 24. Vermont (14-4) 25. UC-Santa Barbara (11-5)
Defense Much Improved Southern Illinois' defense has improved dramatically since last year. 00-01 01-02 FG% 45.4 39.7 3FG% 38.9 34.1 Points 72.0 66.4 Only one team, Colorado State, has shot better than 45 percent against Southern Illinois this season. SIU has held 11 of its 19 opponents below 70 points this year. Last season, the Salukis held opponents below 70 points just 13 times in 30 games.
Freshmen Make Impact A pair of freshman guards, Darren Brooks and Stetson Hairston, have made a major impact so far this season. Brooks, a redshirt, is the team's top scorer off the bench 9.9 ppg) and fourth-leading scorer overall. He is also third in rebounds (4.2 rpg) Hairston has started every game and is fifth in scoring (7.1 ppg) and third in rebounding (4.3 rpg). He is also third in assists (43) and second on the team in steals (26).
Block Party Last year, SIU averaged 2.3 blocks per game. This season, the Salukis are averaging 4.9 blocks per contest. Rolan Roberts leads the team with 50 blocks (2.6 bpg). Jermaine Dearman adds 0.5 bpg.
Playing a Role Every player on the 15-man roster has a well-defined role to play this season. The Salukis have used only one starting lineup throughout the season, and virtually the same playing rotation in every game. Last year, Coach Weber experimented with five different variations on the starting lineup.
Redshirting Three players will likely redshirt this season. Expected to redshirt are sophomore center Josh Warren, freshman center Stefan Jabkiewicz and freshman guard Matt Miller.
