Preview | Salukis Head to Quarterfinals to Face No. 1 Seed Drake at Arch Madness Friday

ST. LOUIS – Southern Illinois basketball continues its postseason journey on Friday in St. Louis as the Salukis take on top-seeded Drake in the quarterfinals of Arch Madness. Tipoff is slated for 12:07 p.m. CT from Enterprise Center.

The Salukis defeated No. 9 Indiana State 86-85 Thursday afternoon at Enterprise Center behind a 30-point scoring effort from Ali Dibba.

HOW TO FOLLOW

The game will air on ESPN Plus with Scott Warmann and Kevin Lehman on the call.
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.

POSTSEASON HONORS

Kennard Davis Jr. collected two Missouri Valley Conference postseason honors after earning Second Team All-MVC as well as being named to the Most Improved Team.
Ali Dibba was named Third Team All-MVC.

QUICK HITS

Southern Illinois improved to 39-40 all-time in the MVC Tournament, while snapping a two-game Arch Madness losing streak after defeating Indiana State in the opening round.
First-year SIU head coach Scott Nagy improves to 24-11 all-time in conference tournaments: 14-5 at South Dakota State with three Summit League Tournament championships, 9-6 at Wright State with two Horizon League Tournament championships and 1-0 at Southern Illinois in his first MVC Tournament.
Ali Dibba scored 30 points in SIU's Arch Madness opener. The scoring effort was the first 30-point effort by any player in the MVC Tournament since a trio of players went for at least 30 in the UNI-Bradley quarterfinal game on March 3, 2023.
Ali Dibba (17.2) and Kennard Davis Jr. (16.5) rank second and fourth in scoring in the MVC.
Dibba has scored in double-digits in all but three games this season. The guard has scored 30 or more in two games this season (at Belmont 33, vs Indiana State 30).
Davis' 22 points against Indiana State marked the tenth 20+ point performance this season. The sophomore scored 20 or more in six of his previous 10 games.
Freshman Drew Steffe has been dominant in his last seven games, averaging 12.4 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists. Over the stretch, he has shot 52.8 percent from behind the arc, including a 5-for-5 mark against Illinois State -- tying the MVC season-high for 3-pointers made in a game.
Steffe has recorded multiple assists in 26 of 32 games. His 3.0 assist-to-turnover (73:24) ratio leads SIU.
Davion Sykes has scored 20 points in his last two games. He averaged 4.8 points in 30 games this season.
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.
The Salukis rank third in the MVC with 35.61 rebounds per game. SIU has done damage on the offensive glass as they rank third in the league with 10.29 offensive boards per game.
SIU is averaging 10.32 fastbreak points per game which ranks second in the MVC.

LOOKING AT DRAKE

The Bulldogs are under the direction of first-year head coach Ben McCollum though much of the makeup of his squad is familiar with the head man after following McCollum to Drake from his previous coaching home at Northwest Missouri State.
The Bulldogs have won four straight games and enter Friday at 27-3 overall after securing the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title with a 17-3 mark in league games.
Named the MVC Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year, Bennett Stirtz leads the Bulldogs with 18.9 points per game. He's joined by Daniel Abreu (11.0) and Mitch Mascari (10.4) who also score over 10 points per game for DU.

SERIES HISTORY WITH THE BULLDOGS

Friday's meeting with the Bulldogs will be the 107th between the two programs. Southern Illinois leads the all-time series 61-45.
Drake has won each of the last five games in the series, including the lone meeting this season.
SIU's last win over DU came in 2023 in a 53-49 victory at home.
Southern is 3-4 all-time at Arch Madness against Drake. The last time the two teams met in the postseason came in 2022 when the Bulldogs won, 65-52.

LAST TIME AGAINST THE BULLDOGS

SIU fell to Drake, 75-65, in its lone meeting with the Bulldogs this season. The Salukis led early, but turnovers proved costly, allowing Drake to take a 28-27 halftime lead. Drake dominated the second half, shooting 70 percent from the field.
Bennett Stirtz took over, scoring 21 of his game-high 30 points after halftime. Kennard Davis Jr. led SIU with 22 points, while Ali Dibba added 20. Jarrett Hensley struggled with foul trouble, playing just nine minutes. Freshman Rolyns Aligbe grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds. Banks had 21 points for Drake, with Daniel Abreu adding 12. SIU's 16 turnovers led to 20 Drake points. The Salukis shot 51 percent but struggled from deep. Drake capitalized on SIU's mistakes, hitting six threes to secure the win.

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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