Southern Illinois News

Salukis Clash with Murray State in MVC Action for the First Time Thursday

Southern Illinois and Murray State will meet in a Missouri Valley Conference showdown Thursday night. It will mark the first meeting between the longtime rivals as conference foes after Murray State joined the MVC this season. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at the CFSB Center.
 
THE BROADCAST
• The game is an MVC TV production and will be available nationally on ESPN Plus with Tom Ackerman calling the action and Kevin Lehman serving as analyst.
• The radio broadcast can be heard on the Saluki Radio Network with SIU Hall of Famer Mike Reis (play-by-play) and Greg Starrick (analyst) on the call.
 
QUICK HITS
• Southern Illinois resumes Missouri Valley Conference play Thursday with a trip to longtime rival Murray State -- the first meeting between the two programs as conference foes.
• Marcus Domask put together his third 20+ point scoring effort of the season last time out against SEMO, leading the Salukis to a win with 24 points on the road.
• Marcus Domask (24th-1,292) and Lance Jones (28th-1,231) each rank in the top-30 in program history in points scored.
• As a team, SIU has 192 assists in 13 games. The 14.7 assists per game rank third in the MVC. Domask leads the team with 3.3 assists per game while Jones is averaging 3.0 per game. Six Salukis have 10 or more assists.
• SIU's 62 points allowed per game is third in the MVC and 39th nationally.
• The Salukis are holding opponents to just 30 percent from behind the arc -- ranking third in the MVC and 64th nationally.
• SIU's 8.1 steals per game is second in the MVC. Lance Jones leads the team with 1.85 steals per game and has recorded multiple steals in eight games with a career-high six coming against Evansville.
• Marcus Domask moved to 17th in SIU history with 274 assists -- needing just one assist to tie Kevin Dillard. Domask is 10th in school history, averaging 3.2 assists in 86 career games. He has multiple assists in all but two games this season.
• Clarence Rupert is shooting 70.2 percent (40-57) -- the best of any Saluki with more than 10 attempts. The forward has shot 100 percent from the field in three games this season, including a pair of 6-for-6 outings.
• Southern is shooting 46.8 percent from the field which ranks second in the MVC while ranking seventh in the Valley shooting 33.5 percent from deep.
• With the win over Alcorn State, head coach Bryan Mullins picked up his 50th career win at Southern Illinois. He is the 11th coach in program history to reach 50 wins.
• The Salukis are receiving votes in the latest CollegeInsider.com men's basketball mid-major poll.
 
THE MATCHUP
• It will be the 39th meeting between Southern Illinois and Murray State with both teams coming away with 19 wins in the series that dates to 1929. The two programs have split the previous 10 games with the last meeting coming in 2020 with SIU winning 70-66 at home. There have been three overtime games in the series, with SIU winning each game.
 
• Murray State enters play at 7-5 overall and 2-0 in the Missouri Valley Conference -- with a pair of overtime wins against Illinois State and Valparaiso. MSU averages 72 points per game while shooting 45 percent from the field and 31.3 percent from behind the arc. MSU is led by a trio of scorers in Rob Perry (15.2), Jamari Smith (13.8) and JaCobi Wood (12.4). As a team, Murray State is averaging 37.3 rebounds with six Racers pulling down three or more per game.
 
• The Racers hold a 20-game winning streak inside the CFSB Center -- the seventh-longest home-winning steak in the nation. The last win for SIU on the road at Murray State came in 2015 (88-73). Anthony Beane led the Salukis with 22 points and SIU reeled off a 31-14 run while converting nine of its final 10 shots from the field.
 
SALUKIS PICKED FOR ESPN BROADCAST
• Southern Illinois will ring in 2023 on national television on Jan. 1 against Belmont. The game will air on either ESPN2 or ESPNU on New Year's Day with tipoff set for 4 p.m. from Banterra Center. It marks the first national TV broadcast at home on the ESPN family of networks since the 2020-21 season when the Salukis defeated UNI 71-68 in front of an ESPN2 audience.
 
NEW YEAR'S DAY SALUKI BASH! – More Information HERE
• Saluki Athletics is throwing a party at the Banterra Center on New Year's Day, and everyone's invited! SIU will host the first-ever New Year's Day Saluki Bash, when its men's basketball program hosts Belmont in a nationally televised game on Jan. 1, at 4 p.m. The game will feature the largest balloon drop in Southern Illinois history during halftime, as well as festive New Year's concession items, such as champagne, sparkling wine, holiday punch, winter sangria, cranberry mimosas and mini-bundt cakes. Doors open at 3 p.m. and the first 1,000 fans to enter the Banterra Center will receive a free Grey Dawg bobblehead. Fans are encouraged to wear white, as the game is billed as SIU's annual White Out contest. 

Original source can be found here