Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Men's Hoop Hosting Preseason MVC Favorite Sunday
01/09/2004 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 9, 2004
By Seth Whitehead
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE - With the spring semester just around the corner, here's a quick Missouri Valley Conference quiz to get you warmed up for class next week.
We'll start off with a gimme: Which men's basketball team has won back-to-back Missouri Valley Conference regular-season titles?
Answer: Easy one - SIU.
OK, what team hasn't won a conference title since 1983?
Answer: Wichita State.
Now things get a little tougher.
Based on the preceding information, which team do you think was picked to win the MVC this season?
SIU?
Wrong.
Creighton?
Nay.
Answer: Wichita State.
And which team would you guess was picked fifth?
Northern Iowa, maybe? Try again. Southwest Missouri State? Nuh-uh.
Answer: SIU.
Seriously?
Believe it. Somehow, someway, that's how the media saw things shaking out in the Valley this year.
And since that day, SIU has been playing with a chip on its shoulder.
"I think our guys really feel they've been slighted a little bit, because we have won our league the last two years and nobody else can say that," SIU head coach Matt Painter said.
And, thus far, the Salukis have proved the prognosticators wrong.
SIU takes a 3-0 conference record and 9-2 overall mark into Sunday's 2:05 p.m. showdown with the MVC preseason favorites at SIU Arena.
The Salukis are tied with Creighton for first place in the Valley. And with a win, the Salukis can move two games in front of the Shockers (9-4, 2-1 MVC), who stumbled badly last Saturday, losing by double-digits on their home floor to Drake.
Yes - Drake.
It was their second straight home loss, the previous one courtesy of Oral Roberts.
"Those things happen," Painter said of the Drake loss. "College basketball is funny. It sounds like Wichita had a real tough game against Oral Roberts. And Oral Roberts is a good team. It's tough when you have high expectations then you lose a game on your home floor (to a team) that a lot of people don't know. It kind of gets your guys feeling sorry for themselves a little bit. That's what (WSU) coach (Mark) Turgeon talked about. They never recovered, and Drake came in at the right time and played a very good game and took it to them. So give all the credit in the world to Drake.
The Shockers rebounded from the back-to-back home losses with an impressive win over Northern Iowa Thursday, but have obviously been feeling the pressure this season.
So, the Shockers need a road win in the worst way if they have any thoughts of living up to the preseason hype.
But they'll have to beat a team with a ton of reasons to be ready to play.
SIU recently saw its school-record 31-game home winning streak come to an end with a loss to Charlotte. But the Salukis still have a 19-game conference home winning streak to defend and are looking to win for the 10th time in their last 11 meetings with the Shockers.
The Salukis have a prime opportunity to kick a team while its down and prove their still a force to be reckoned with in the Valley.
"They keep talking about some other schools that haven't done it yet," Painter said of the Valley title contenders. "I'm glad our guys kind of have a chip on their shoulders and they feel like the Missouri Valley Championship is something we have won and now they have to take it from us. For us, to come out and defend our home court and beat Wichita would put us at 4-0 - that would be huge.
"We won our league the last two years because we ran the table at home. We realize how important this is now to play someone like a Wichita State with them already losing a home game. They have to steal one somewhere now."
Despite vastly different preseason prognostications, the Shockers and Salukis have a lot in common on the court.
WSU and SIU are No. 1 and 2 in the Valley, respectively, in field goal percentage allowed. The Shockers are holding their opponents to 38 percent shooting and are plus-4 in the rebounding category.
"They do a good job shutting down their opponents," Painter said. "They do a good job on the glass. So that's probably our main concern, keeping them off the glass, keeping them from getting easy baskets.
"On the reverse of that, that's what we want to do. We're kind of very similar teams, with a lot of good athletes who try to pressure you and get after you. But I think it will come down to who wins the rebounding war and who can execute just a little bit better on the offensive end."
SIU is allowing opponents just a 40 percent clip from the field and is almost even-up in the rebounding category. The Salukis' slight disadvantage on the board could be evened out by the Shockers struggles to take care of the basketball. They are averaging 15 turnovers a game - including 25 against Drake. SIU's opponents have coughed up the ball an average of 17 times per game, second in the MVC.
Both teams have three-guard lineups and a slew of veteran players.
The Shockers return all key contributors from last year's 18-12 team - the main reason they were picked to win the league.
They are led by 6-foot-5 power forward Jamar Howard (14.2 ppg, 5.8 rpg). He's the kind of undersized No. 4 that SIU struggled guarding last year, which helped lead to the signing of LaMar Owen.
Sophomore center Paul Miller (6-10, 9.0 ppg, 6 rpg) is developing into a solid big-man, a rarity in the Valley. Swingman Rob Kampman (6-8, 8.8 ppg) presents matchup problems with his size.
Fridge Holman (9.6 ppg, 3.1 rpg) will run the point, one game removed from exploding for 22 points against Northern Iowa after getting benched.
Randy Burns (12 ppg, 3.8 rpg) is the team's second-leading scorer, while Aaron Hogg (9.8 ppg) is once again the Shockers' top weapon off the bench.
Hogg and Holman are the only seniors among WSU's top eight players.
As much as the Shockers have struggled of late, a win at SIU would put them right back in the thick of the MVC race and tie them with SIU with a league mark of 3-1.
"Wichita State is a wounded animal right now," Painter said. "They're going to come in here hungry and fighting and we're going to have to be prepared for them."
