SIU Salukis Invade Johnson Saturday at 1 p.m.
11/20/2015 12:26:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Southern Illinois University, a program that saw six consecutive NCAA tournament appearances from 2002 to 2007 including two Sweet 16s, comes to Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum Saturday for a 1 p.m. non-conference men's basketball team.
The SIU Salukis burst into national prominence by winning the NIT in 1967 behind future NBA stars Walt Frazier and Dick Garrett. Southern Illinois comes to Huntsville Saturday with a perfect 3-0 record.
Sam Houston stands 1-1 after a season-opening road loss to defending American Athletic Conference champion SMU last Saturday and a victory Tuesday at home over Saint Thomas.
The Salukis' wins, all coming at home in Carbondale, came over Air Force 77-75, Florida A&M 81-51 and Kent State 72-69. A win over the Bearkats would give SIU a 4-0 season start for the first time since 2004.
The Salukis and Bearkats have met just once before, with SIU winning at home on Dec. 1, 1967 — 70-54. It was the season-opening game the year after the Salukis won the NIT championship.
This year's meeting features contrasting squads. Southern Illinois brings a roster with seven juniors and three seniors. With Sam Houston's only returning starter, guard Paul Baxter, currently sidelined with a foot injury, the Kats have no seniors among the top 10 scorers. Three top reserves from last year's 26-9 squad plus five junior college transfers and a freshman will carry the fight for Sam Houston.
SIU's core returning players (guards Anthony Beane and Tyler Smithpeters,and forwards Sean O'Brien and BolaOlaniyan) have 212 games combined of starting experience.
“This is the most challenging non-conference schedule since I've been here at Sam Houston,” head coach Jason Hooten said. “SIU certainly will be a test for us.”
The Bearkats showed they can put points on the board Tuesday in their 114-92 victory over the Celts. For the first 20 minutes, however, the Kats struggled with Saint Thomas, trailing by as many as 12 points before taking a 48-46 halftime lead.
“We have to figure out how to start and finish,” Dakarai Henderson, who ked Sam Houston with 27 points Tuesday, said. “We have a lot of fighters on our team. Right now, we're more of finishers.
The Kats pulled away after intermission, out-scoring their foes 66 to 44 in the final twenty minutes. Sam Houston out-rebounded the Celts 26 to 11 in the second half for a total game advantage of 47 to 26.
“We knew before the game that we have to win the boards to be successful,” junior center Aurimas Majauskas said. “We went and grabbed them. We fought and tried to grab every rebound we could. We're not the tallest team, so we have to have heart and get all the boards we can.”
Hooten sees each non-conference game as an opportunity for his 2015-16 team to improve.
“You're looking at a team that has five new starters,” Hooten said. “You've got guys who have never played before at this level and you have guys that were backups last year. We're really trying to find chemistry right now.”
SIU brings a strong inside game into Johnson Saturday. Bola Olaniyan, a 6-7 220-pound junior center, is averaging 8.7 rebounds per game, with
50 percent of them coming on the offensive end. He ranks 16th in the nation in offensive rebounds and has reached double figures in total rebounds 10 times in his career.
The Salukis have an outside threat as well in 6-4 junior Tyler Smithpeters who leads the team in 3-point shooting having made 7-of-12 (.583).
Tickets for Saturday's 1 p.m. contest are available online at www.gobearkats.com or at the SHSU athletic ticket office located on the west side of Elliott T. Bowers Stadium. The ticket office telephone is (936) 294-1729.
