Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Men's Basketball Takes Aim at Drake
02/07/2002 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 7, 2002
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois (20-4, 10-2) will host Drake (10-12, 5-7) Saturday night as the Salukis look to extend their winning streak to four games. SIU is tied with Creighton atop the Missouri Valley Conference.
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20-Win Plateau This year's Saluki squad became the quickest to reach the 20-win plateau in school history when it beat Wichita State on Feb. 6. Presently, there are only seven teams out of 324 Division I schools that have won 20 games. Team With 20 Wins Cincinnati (21-2) Alabama (20-3) Butler (20-3) Duke (20-1) Marquette (20-3) Miami, Fla. (20-3) Southern Illinois (20-4)
The Series vs. Drake Southern Illinois holds a 36-19 advantage in the all-time series with Drake. The Salukis have won 10 of the last 11 meetings and 21 of the last 25. SIU head coach Bruce Weber is 6-1 in his career against the Bulldogs.
Turning Up the D Colorado State is the only team to shoot better than 45 percent from the field against the Salukis this season. Last year, 17 of SIU's 30 opponents shot better than 45 percent against the Dawgs.
Best Start in MVC Play At 10-2, the Salukis are off to their best start ever in the MVC since joining the conference in 1975. The best record SIU has posted in Valley play has been 14-4, in the 1991-92 and the 1993-94 seasons.
Dawg Bites SIU is well ahead of last year's attendance average (6,259 to 4,483)...Kent Williams has a 3.9 to1 assist to turnover ratio in MVC games this season.
Williams 12th 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 12th in career scoring at SIU with 1,363 points.
League-Leading Dawgs In addition to being in first place in the MVC standings, SIU leads the league in several statistical categories... Scoring Offense 76.5 Scoring Margin +10.2 FG % Defense 39.4 3FG % Defense 33.3 Blocked Shots 4.8 Off. Rebounds 13.7
