Preview | Salukis Open Arch Madness Thursday Night Against UIC

CARBONDALE, Ill. – Southern Illinois basketball travels to St. Louis for Arch Madness starting Thursday night when the Salukis face No. 11 UIC at 8:30 p.m. inside Enterprise Center.

Should the Salukis defeat UIC, Southern would take on No. 3 seed Bradley on Friday at 8:30 p.m. More details on Arch Madness can be found on the Tournament Central page.

WHERE TO WATCH AND LISTEN

The game will be available on ESPN Plus with John Rooney (play-by-play) and Rich Zvosec (analyst) calling the action.
The radio broadcast can be heard on the Saluki Radio Network, SIUSalukis.com/Listen, the Saluki Mobile App, and the Varsity Network App with Luke Martin (play-by-play) and Rodney Watson (analyst) on the call.

POSTSEASON AWARDS

All-MVC awards will be announced Wednesday night in St. Louis.
Xavier Johnson was named to the MVC Most Improved Team – earning the captain spot on the unit.
Trent Brown earned MVC Second Team Scholar-Athlete honors – the third time he has been named to the Scholar-Athlete Team in his career.

QUICK HITS

The Salukis have won 11 MVC games in back-to-back years for the first time since Bryan Mullins was a player.
SIU is holding opponents to 30.2 percent from 3-point range -- 19th-best nationally.
The Salukis rank third in the MVC in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.26.
SIU is shooting 76.5 percent from the free throw line which is second in the MVC and 30th nationally.
Out of 20 MVC games, 10 of SIU's games have been decided by six points or less.

UNDER MULLINS...

SIU has beaten a Power 6 team each of the last four seasons.
SIU is 29-2 under Bryan Mullins when scoring 75 points or more and 55-9 when scoring 70 or more.
Mullins is tied for the fourth-fastest coach in program history to reach 80 wins -- 142 games.
SIU has 10 double-digit wins this season out of the 19 overall. It ties the most 10+ point wins under Mullins and is the most since the 2019-20 season, with four of them being MVC wins.

XAVIER JOHNSON...

was named the Captain of the MVC Most Improved Team after leading the MVC with 22 points per and 6.1 assists per game after averaging just seven points and 2.7 assists last season.
joins Anthony Manuel of Bradley and Curt Smith of Drake as the only other players to lead the MVC in scoring (22.0) and assists (6.1).
was named to the USBWA Oscar Robertson Trophy and All-America Watch List.
was named to two Mid-Season Watch List: Lute Olson (National Player of the Year) & Lue Henson (Mid-Major Player of the Year).
is fourth in the nation in scoring at 22 points per game and has scored 16 or more in all 28 of 31 games.
is 18th nationally and leading the MVC with 6.1 assists per game.
is 17th nationally in minutes per game with 36:28.
is fourth nationally with 212 free throws made and eighth nationally in free throw attempts with 238.

NUMBERS WATCH

Johnson is one of five players in SIU history with six or more 30+ point games in a season. He has six of the 22 combined 30+ point games in the MVC. His 17 20+ point games are tied for the MVC lead.
Johnson has 189 assists this season to pass Bryan Mullins who held the single-season record with 154 assists during the 2007-08 season.
Johnson now owns the single-season free throws made record with 212 so far this season. He passed Freddie McSwain (182).
Johnson has scored 682 points this season, ranking fourth in SIU history. Charlie "Chico" Vaughn scored 779 in 1960 to top the list.
Brown enters play with 173 career 3-pointers -- 9th in SIU history.
Trent Brown now owns the program record for games played with 140. Tony Young (139) currently holds the record.

THE SERIES

The Salukis lead the series with UIC 10-4 all-time and have won the last six meetings.
Three of the four meetings since UIC joined the MVC have been decided by three points or less.
SIU is 6-0 at home, 3-3 on the road, and 1-1 on neutral floors against the Flames.
Thursday will be the first meeting between the two programs at Arch Madness.

THE MATCHUP

UIC comes into action at 11-20 and finished 4-16 in the MVC.
Isaiah Rivera leads the Flames with 15.2 points per game. CJ Jones (11.6) and Toby Okani (11.5) round out the 10+ point scorers.
As a team, UIC holds its opponents to 71.1 points, 42.5 percent from the field, and 30.7 percent from behind the arc.

LAST TIME OUT vs UIC

Southern Illinois erased a seven-point deficit in the final four minutes to beat UIC on the road, 74-71.
Xavier Johnson led the Salukis with 29 points and converted 18-of-20 free throws. Johnson, who drew 16 fouls in the contest, made 10-of-10 free throws during SIU's 14-4 run to close out the game.
AJ Ferguson added 16 points and 10 rebounds and scored four points during the game-winning run. It was his free throws with 21 seconds left that put SIU ahead, 72-71.

FOLLOW THE SALUKIS
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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