Matthew McConkeyDaily Egyptian
ST. LOUIS- The SIU men's basketball team has had a wild season, one which saw an assistant coach indicted by a federal grand jury, a starter dismissed from the team, a heralded recruit lost and their play plagued by inconsistency.
The Salukis think these factors might be just what they needed to win their first Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in more than a decade.
The No. 2-seeded Salukis (19-10, 12-6) are somehow feeling pretty good. To start the conference tournament, the team will play (no. 10 seed Illinois State (9-18, 4-14) or Evansville (9-18, 5-13) today at 6:05 p.m.
"Now, I think going into the tournament, here in St. Louis, it has made all of us more hungry," junior Tony Young said. "Before we have always had that cushion where it's like, 'We won the conference, so we'll be alright, lets just go out and play hard,'"
Stakes have never been so high for this team. For the first time in five years, the Salukis are not the top seed in St. Louis, because Wichita State (23-7, 14-4) captured the high seed with its consistent play. But all week, coaches and players said they prefer the pressure of an underdog compared to that of the favorite.
With the NCAA Tournament hopes hinging on the Salukis play this weekend, head coach Chris Lowery is trying to keep the pressure of his squad. Talk of the tournament championship has been toned down, which could help the team focus.
"We can't dwell about what has happened with the program in the past because I could talk about my glory days, but it's not going to bring glory here right now," said Lowery, who won the conference tournament while he was point guard at SIU.
Some of the key players who were off for much of the conference season have been playing better as of late, namely Jamaal Tatum and Matt Shaw.
"We have plenty of players on this team that can score and are offensive threats, so I think teams need to be worried about a lot of players on our team, not just me," said Tatum, the team's leading scorer.
Now the Salukis attention is focused toward Evansville. The Purple Aces posed no challenge for the Salukis in its first game, holding them to a season-low 38 points Jan. 11 in Carbondale. But when the Salukis went to Evansville, Ind., two weeks ago, they were stunned when center Bradley Strickland and guard Kyle Anslinger lit up SIU for 45 points and took them down 64-59.
Although several players agreed it didn't matter who they played, the conference's top freshman, Bryan Mullins, said if he had a preference, it would be Evansville.
"We really want to get one back from Evansville," Mullins said.
