Salukis Take on Regional Rival SEMO on the Road Wednesday

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois basketball will take on rival Southeast Missouri Wednesday night on the road to close out its nonconference slate. The game is set to tip at 6:30 p.m. from the Show Me Center.

THE BROADCAST
• The game will be available nationally on ESPN Plus.
• The radio broadcast can be heard on the Saluki Radio Network with SIU Hall of Famer Mike Reis (play-by-play) and Rodney Watson (analyst) on the call.

QUICK HITS
• Marcus Domask (16.9 ppg) and Lance Jones (13.2 ppg) lead the Salukis offense.
• As a team, SIU has 182 assists in 12 games. The 15.2 assists per game rank second in the MVC. Domask leads the team with 3.4 assists per game while Jones is averaging 3.3 per game. Five Salukis have 10 or more assists.
• SIU's 61.5 points allowed per game is second in the MVC and 34th nationally.
• The Salukis are holding opponents to just 28.8 percent from behind the arc -- ranking second in the MVC and 40th nationally. Only six teams have shot over 30 percent from distance against the Salukis this season.
• SIU's 8.2 steals per game lead the MVC. Lance Jones leads the team with two steals per game and has recorded multiple steals in six of his last eight games.
• Marcus Domask moved to 17th in SIU history with 272 assists -- needing just three assists to tie Kevin Dillard. Domask is 10th in school history, averaging 3.2 assists in 85 career games. He has multiple assists in all but two games this season.
• Clarence Rupert is shooting 71.7 percent (38-53) -- the best of any Saluki with more than 10 attempts. The forward has shot 100 percent from the field in three games this season, including a pair of 6-for-6 outings.
• Xavier Johnson set a career-high in 3-pointers made at Evansville (4) before setting a new career high in his next game with six at SLU. He is leading SIU, shooting 13-of-28 (46.4) from deep on the season. Redshirt freshman Foster Wonders ranks second on the team in 3-point percentage at 42.9 percent (12-of-28) averaging 10 minutes per game.
• Southern is shooting 47.7 percent from the field which ranks second in the MVC while ranking fourth in the Valley shooting 34.1 percent from deep.
• With the win over Alcorn State, head coach Bryan Mullins picked up his 50th career win at Southern Illinois. He is the 11th coach in program history to reach 50 wins.
• The Salukis tied a program record with their 19th-straight home nonconference win against Chicago State -- a record dating back to the 2019 season. Under the direction of head coaches Bruce Weber and Matt Painter, the Salukis won 19-straight from 1999-2003.
• The Redhawks are coached by Saluki alum Brad Korn, who played on four NCAA Tournament teams during his career (2002-05) and also coached on two more (2006-07).

THE MATCHUP
• It's the 121st meeting between Southern Illinois and Southeast Missouri with SIU leading the series 73-47. The Salukis are 3-0 under head coach Bryan Mullins against the Redhawks and have won four straight against SEMO. The last loss (L, 75-69) came in the 2017-18 season at home. SIU is 26-32 all-time on the road against SEMO.

• Southeast Missouri enters the contest at 5-7 on the year and is led by Phillip Russell with 16.1 points, 4.5 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game. Israel Barnes (14.8) and Chris Harris (11.8) join Russell in double-digits for SEMO. The Redhawks average 71.3 points on the season but in their three home games, they are averaging 79.3 points.

DUO CONTINUES TO CLIMB THE CHARTS
• Both Marcus Domask and Lance Jones have entered the Top-30 in program history. Domask is 24th with 1,268 points. Jones entered the top 30 after passing Stetson Hairston, now with 1,217 points in his career. The duo is also on pace to enter the top 20 in assists in SIU history.

SALUKIS PICKED FOR ESPN BROADCAST
• Southern Illinois will ring in 2023 on national television on Jan. 1 against Belmont. The game will air on either ESPN2 or ESPNU on New Year's Day with tipoff set for 4 p.m. from Banterra Center. It marks the first national TV broadcast at home on the ESPN family of networks since the 2020-21 season when the Salukis defeated UNI 71-68 in front of an ESPN2 audience.

NEW YEAR'S DAY SALUKI BASH! – More Information HERE
• Saluki Athletics is throwing a party at the Banterra Center on New Year's Day, and everyone's invited! SIU will host the first-ever New Year's Day Saluki Bash, when its men's basketball program hosts Belmont in a nationally televised game on Jan. 1, at 4 p.m. The game will feature the largest balloon drop in Southern Illinois history during halftime, as well as festive New Year's concession items, such as champagne, sparkling wine, holiday punch, winter sangria, cranberry mimosas and mini-bundt cakes. Doors open at 3 p.m. and the first 1,000 fans to enter the Banterra Center will receive a free Grey Dawg bobblehead. Fans are encouraged to wear white, as the game is billed as SIU's annual White Out contest.

Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Salukis by following the team on Twitter at @SIU_Basketball, on Instagram at @SIU_Basketball and on Facebook at Facebook.com/SalukiAthletics. Fans can also download the "Salukis" Mobile App on the App Store or Google Play Store.

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Players Mentioned

Marcus Domask

Xavier Johnson

Lance Jones

Clarence Rupert

Foster Wonders

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