Preview | Salukis Welcome Belmont to Banterra Center Saturday Night

CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Southern Illinois men's basketball team will look to even the season series with Belmont on Saturday evening in an important matchup leading up to Arch Madness. Tip with the Bruins is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT from Banterra Center.

Tickets start at just $10 with no added fees this season and can be purchased at SIUSalukis.com/Tickets or by calling 877-SALUKIS.

PROMOTIONS

We're celebrating the 60th birthday of the Banterra Center. Saturday's game versus Belmont will celebrate the decades of the 1980s and '90s with special music and videos.
Special Olympics basketball teams Murray Center and SI Ohana will play a game at halftime.
- Help support Special Olympics by purchasing game tickets (Promo Code: REGIONK) or by making a donation to the annual Polar Plunge.
Scout Night -- call the ticket office at 877-SALUKIS for special pricing for your scout group.

HOW TO FOLLOW

The ESPN Plus broadcast team is made up of Larry Larson and Saluki Hall of Famer Jamaal Tatum.
The radio broadcast can be heard locally on 101.5 CIL-FM, on the Saluki Radio Network, SIUSalukis.com/Listen, the Saluki Mobile App, and the Varsity Network App with Luke Martin and Rodney Watson calling the action.
Fans can follow Live Stats at SIUSalukis.com.

ESPN+ | Radio Broadcast | Live Stats | SIU Game Notes | Live Updates on X

QUICK HITS

SIU enters Saturday's matchup with Belmont at 12-14 overall and 7-8 in Missouri Valley Conference action.
The Salukis are in a four-way tie for fifth place in the league standings with Illinois State, UIC, and Murray State with five games remaining in league play before Arch Madness.
The Salukis rank third in the MVC with 35.50 rebounds per game. SIU has done damage on the offensive glass as they rank second in the league with 10.65 offensive boards per game. Southern is outrebounding teams on the offensive glass this season 277 to 254.
SIU is averaging 10.35 fastbreak points per game which ranks third in the MVC.
Ali Dibba (16.7) and Kennard Davis Jr. (15.4) rank third and sixth in scoring in the MVC.
Dibba has scored in double-digits in all but three games this season.
Davis' streak of 14 points over the last nine games came to an end last time out at Bradley when the sophomore dropped in eight points against the Braves. Davis has 21 double-digit scoring games this year.
Dibba scored 33 on the road at Belmont before Jarrett Hensley had 30 at home against Missouri State. They became the first Saluki duo to score 30 or more in a season since 2005-06 when Jamaal Tatum (37) and Tony Young (30) did so against Eastern Washington and Bradley.
Freshman Drew Steffe scored a career-high 20 points and hit four shots from behind the arc in a home win over UIC. It marked the second-straight game that he has recorded multiple makes from behind the arc and just the sixth time the Frisco, Texas native knocked down two or more triples in a game this season.
Steffe has multiple assists in 22 of 26 games. His 3.5 assist-to-turnover (59:17) ratio leads the Salukis.
Jarrett Hensley is third on the team with 11.2 points per game. The graduate student has three double-doubles of the season.

LOOKING AT BELMONT

Belmont is 17-9 overall and 9-6 in Valley action entering Saturday.
The Bruins fell to Valpo on the road last time out, 101-86.
Belmont has four players scoring ten or more led by Jonathan Pierre with 14.3 points per game.
The Bruins lead the MVC in scoring at 81.7 points per game and rank fourth in the nation with 11.1 3-pointers made per game. Belmont shoots at a 39.3 percent clip from outside which is 11th nationally.
Belmont ranks 10th nationally in assists per game (17.8) and 18th nationally in assist/turnover ratio (1.59).
As a squad, Belmont is scoring 81.1 points per game which ranks third in the MVC.

SERIES HISTORY WITH THE BRUINS

It will be the sixth time that the two programs have met on the hardwood with SIU leading the series 3-2.
SIU is 3-0 at home against the Bruins and 0-2 on the road.

THE TURNAROUND

This year marked only the fifth time that SIU had started an MVC season 0-5 or worse. SIU has gone 7-3 in the last 10 games since that 0-5 start.
The seven wins are the most wins SIU ever had after starting 0-5 in league play.
Prior to this season, the most was five wins total in 1979-80 (5-11) and 1986-87 (5-9).

FOLLOW THE SALUKIS
Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Salukis by visiting SIUSalukis.com as well as following the team on X at @SIU_Basketball, Instagram at @SIU_Basketball, and Facebook at Facebook.com/SIUBasketball. Fans can also download the "Salukis" mobile app from the App Store or Google Play Store.

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