The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

Salukis begin season in mountains of Wyoming

SIU has three games during break

Amanda Whitlock ~ Daily Egyptian SIU freshman guard Jamaal Tatum pushes the ball in his team's exhibition game against Northwest Sports.

The yellow letters on the brown sign outside the visitor's locker room at Wyoming's Arena-Auditorium read "Welcome to 7,220 feet. How's your oxygen?"

That altitude makes the Cowboys' court one of the toughest in the land. Wyoming has won 77 percent of its games there since its 1982 opening.

The SIU men's basketball team will have to go up against the lack of oxygen and some of the rowdiest fans in the country when it begins its season Saturday, the first of three games during Thanksgiving break.

But SIU head coach Matt Painter isn't overly concerned with the thin air his team will inhale in the Cowboys' den.

"The one thing we haven't done is talked about it. We don't want to use it as a crutch," Painter said.

"But it does have an effect on you and so you try to watch for guys. You try to make the assistants watch particular guys who might have a problem with that, might have a problem with their stamina, their wind, and make sure that they're not out there just running in circles."

But while Painter might not be talking to his team about the high altitude, others are.

"It's gonna be difficult for me because I know I have asthma and so that might be a factor," freshman Jamaal Tatum said. "Actually my mom called me and told me to take my inhaler this week because I haven't even been in a place with high altitude like that."

With the return of junior guard Stetson Hairston in time for Saturday's game, SIU will have some extra help in overcoming these hardships. Hairston didn't play in either exhibition game, the result of an eight-game suspension. He isn't expected to start Saturday in Laramie, Wyo., as he says it wouldn't be fair to his teammates to leap back into the starting lineup at first.

As for Painter, he isn't prepared to predict how Hairston will respond in his first game back.

"He's been very mature in being a good teammate for the guys that did play, and now I think he's anxious," Painter said of Hairston. "He's a key part of our team. A lot of people have asked me to talk about it, but for me it's just speculation."

Hairston suffered ankle and elbow injuries earlier in the preseason, but he's expected to be at full strength entering the regular season.

And his health and endurance will be needed to fight off the Cowboys, who will try to force the Salukis into an up-tempo game.

The difficulty level won't be nearly as high when the Salukis return to Carbondale to face Jacksonville State Wednesday, a team that lost its nucleus from last year's 20-win season and is now in its first season in the Ohio Valley Conference. SIU has won its last four games against OVC teams.

SIU will then return to practice Thanksgiving night in preparation for a Nov. 29 game at Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a team eager to beat the Salukis after Hairston's last-second tip-in gave SIU a win in February's Bracket Buster game at the SIU Arena.

"[UWM head coach Bruce Pearl] just does an excellent job in getting his guys to play hard to really get the opponent in a frenzy, get the opponent into situations they're not used to against teams with the way they play," Painter said. "It's a different style to play against."

Regardless of the opponent or the atmosphere, Painter just wants his team to play hard. The Salukis were without Hairston in both exhibitions, and junior college transfer LaMar Owen was held out of the final exhibition game for unspecified reasons.

"I just want them to maintain their level of intensity, and I just want them to play hard for 40 minutes," Painter said. "And hopefully with a full slate of guys, add LaMar Owen back into the mix, adding Stetson Hairston back into the mix, you have two high-energy guys, two athletic guys. I think they're gonna help with that.

"They're gonna help with an extra body, guys being more fresh so hopefully we can keep that level of intensity higher throughout the game or at least in longer stretches."