Men's Basketball Finishes Season Ranked #22 in Coaches Poll

04/02/2002 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball

April 2, 2002

CARBONDALE, Ill. - In the final week of the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, Southern Illinois climbed into the Top 25, finishing the season ranked #22.

The 2001-02 Salukis became just the second men's basketball team in school history to be ranked in one of the two major national polls.

Southern Illinois spent three weeks in the Associated Press poll in the 1976-77 season. That team was ranked 17th by AP on Nov. 30, 1976. It spent the following two weeks ranked 18th, before dropping out of the poll.

The 2001-02 team set a school record for wins, finishing with a 28-8 record that included NCAA Tournament wins over Texas Tech and #23 Georgia.