Men's Basketball opens Paradise Jam on Friday versus unbeaten Colorado

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois faces Colorado in the opening round of the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands on Friday at 7 p.m. CT.

The Salukis (1-1) are playing a Pac-12 opponent for the first time since their 2008 NIT appearance at Arizona State. Salukis head coach Bryan Mullins was a member of that team, which also played Pac-12 UCLA earlier that season.

The Buffaloes (3-0) have beaten Montana State, New Mexico and Maine in their first three games by an average margin of 20 points. Last year, they finished 23-9 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament round of 32.

The winner will advance to play the winner of Duquesne/Northeastern on Sunday at 7 p.m. CT. The losing teams square off on Saturday at 4:45 p.m. CT. All of the Paradise Jam tournament games will be televised on the digital platform ESPN3.

On Thursday, all of the teams participated in a catamaran water tour.

Head Coach Bryan Mullins' Press Conference – 11/16/21

Opening Statement:
"I'm very excited for this opportunity. It's obviously the type of tournament we want to be playing in: great teams, NCAA-caliber teams. And we have a great challenge ahead of us Friday night. Colorado is a great program, been successful for many, many years, NCAA-team last year, top-10 team in the net last year. Our guys are looking forward to the challenge, we have to make sure our guys are playing SIU basketball. We take care of the ball, we rebound, we play with toughness, and play with a ton of confidence come Friday night. We've had some good practices this week, we have a long travel day tomorrow [Wednesday], and we'll get ready to go Friday night."

On trip to the US Virgin Islands:
"I think as a college student and in the student-athlete experience, it allows you to go to so many places you wouldn't necessarily be able to go to. The game of basketball has brought me all over the world and I'm extremely grateful. For these guys, it's the same thing. For us, it's the opportunity to win a championship early on in the season. We didn't get to play in an MTE [multi-team event] and have the opportunity to compete for a championship last year, so I'm really excited for our guys and all our teams are NCAA-caliber teams with great coaches and great programs, so it'll be four to five days of basketball."

On defense consistency:
"They're been really competitive. We've had two really good practices, I think we're trying to clean up a couple of things: get better with our ball pressure, get better with our shell defense. On post defense, we've face two really big guys in the first two games of the season, so trying to make it work a couple of things there. Everyday, it's been the same emphasis in our program."

On Colorado attacks:
"They are a great offensive team. They're averaging 50 points in three games, they do a great job moving without the ball and they play downhill constantly. Their spacing is really good, very challenging, so they put you in a lot of closeouts, take a lot of weak-side help. So for us, we have to get back in transition, we can't be playing at a disadvantage all game and we have to be disciplined when we do guard and guard without fouling – show our hands, use our chest, jump second, don't go for the shot-fakes, low-post moves, and make them make tough 2's and tough 3's."

On junior guard Trent Brown:
"He has not been able to practice. I'm not sure when he'll be back, we have practice later today. He's been doing the treatments [on back], doing the rehab, and feeling better since even Friday's game against Austin Peay, so we'll see how it goes this afternoon. We'll take it day-by-day in terms of how he'll be doing for Friday night's game."

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