Preview | Salukis Host Flames in Second Meeting This Season Saturday at Banterra Center

CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Southern Illinois men's basketball team will play host to UIC on Saturday afternoon in an important matchup leading up to Arch Madness. Tip with the Flames is scheduled for 1 p.m. from Banterra Center.

Tickets start at just $6.18 with no added fees this season and can be purchased at SIUSalukis.com/Tickets or by calling 877-SALUKIS.

PROMOTIONS

We Need The 618! Tickets start at just $6.18 for the matchup by using promo code "The618" at SIUSalukis.com/Promo. There are no added fees this season!
All season long we're celebrating the 60th birthday of the Banterra Center. Saturday's game versus UIC will celebrate the decade of the 1970s with special music and videos.
Two students will have the opportunity to win free tuition with half-court shots!

HOW TO FOLLOW

The ESPN Plus broadcast team is made up of Russ Eisenstein and Adam Emmenecker.
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 Chris Carr 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

Winners of six of their last eight games, SIU holds an 11-13 overall record and 6-7 in the MVC. The Salukis are tied for seventh in the standings with Indiana State and Evansville.
SIU has now won four straight MVC road games, dating back to Missouri State on January 15th. It is the first time SIU has won three straight MVC road games since the 2015-16 season when winning at Loyola, Bradley, Missouri State, and Indiana State.
This year marked only the fifth time that SIU had started an MVC season 0-5 or worse. SIU has gone 5-2 in the last seven games since that 0-5 start. The most wins SIU ever had after starting 0-5 in league play was five wins total in 1979-80 (5-11) and 1986-87 (5-9).
SIU hit a season-high 15 3-pointers at Evansville. Southern hit 10 triples in the first half alone. Five Salukis had multiple shots fall from deep led by Jarrett Hensley with four and Kennard Davis Jr. who had three.
SIU's 15 triples at UE tied for sixth in program history for most 3-pointers in a game.
The Salukis rank fourth in the MVC with 35.46 rebounds per game. SIU has done damage on the offensive glass as they rank second in the league with 10.75 offensive boards per game. Southern is outrebounding teams on the offensive glass this season 258 to 235 in 24 games.
SIU is averaging 10.38 fastbreak points per game which ranks second in the MVC.
Ali Dibba (16.7) and Kennard Davis Jr. (15.4) rank second and fifth in scoring in the MVC.
Dibba has scored in double-digits in all but two games this season.
Davis has scored 14 or more in his last eight games. This season Davis has 20 double-digit scoring games.
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.
Dibba scored a career-high 33 at Belmont. He finished the game 13-for-23 from the field, 5-for-8 from behind the arc, and a rebound short of a double-double. His 13 made field goals also set the opponent record at the Curb Event Center.
Freshman Drew Steffe has multiple assists in 20 of 24 games this season. His 3.9 assist-to-turnover (54:14) ratio leads the Salukis.
Jorge Moreno went 5-for-5 from the field and scored a career-high 13 points in the win at Valpo. Before the outing, the big man's best scoring output this season was seven points versus Florida Tech.

LOOKING AT UIC

UIC comes into action at 14-9 overall, 7-6 in the MVC, after dropping their last three games.
Javon Jackson leads the Flames with 13.3 points per game. Ahmad Henderson II (11.9) is second on the squad in scoring to go along with 3.1 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.
As a team, UIC holds its opponents to 74.8 points, 44.7 percent from the field, and 33.7 percent from behind the arc.

SERIES HISTORY WITH THE FLAMES

The Salukis lead the series with UIC 11-5 all-time and have won seven of the last eight meetings, including a road matchup this year in Chicago. Four of the five meetings since UIC joined the MVC have been decided by three points or less. SIU is 6-0 at home, 4-3 on the road, and 1-2 on neutral floors against the Flames. Southern had won six-straight games against the Flames before losing in double overtime at Arch Madness last season.

LAST TIME OUT

The Salukis are coming off a 68-59 win on the road at Evansville. Three Salukis scored in double-digits led by the duo of Ali Dibba and Jarrett Hensley who dropped in 18 points each. SIU hit a season-high 10 first-half 3-pointers against the Aces before finishing the game with a season-high 15 makes from behind the arc. Five Salukis hit multiple 3-pointers in the win.

LAST TIME AGAINST THE FLAMES

Southern Illinois rallied late to knock off UIC, 89-85, in Chicago four games ago. Trailing UIC by five points with 5:04 left to play Southern was able to get five-straight points to tie the game over the next 1:20. Kennard Davis Jr. knocked down a step-back midrange jumper before Ali Dibba converted a basket with a foul on the next possession.
Down two with under a minute remaining to play it was Damien Mayo Jr. who made one of the biggest plays of the game saving a loose ball out of bounds and throwing it off a UIC player to keep possession with SIU. The Salukis would make that play even bigger when Davis drove the lane and finished with contact to tie the game before knocking in the go-ahead free throw to make it an 83-82 SIU lead with 39.9 left to play.
Dibba led the Salukis with 26 points to go along with four rebounds, and three assists in his return to the Windy City after completing his first season at Chicago State. Davis put in 19 points on 8-for-12 shooting. Mayo put up strong numbers with eight points, six rebounds and five assists.

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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