Southern Illinois News

Salukis Host Rival Murray State Tuesday at Banterra Center

 Riding a four-game winning streak in Missouri Valley Conference action, the Southern Illinois men's basketball team will faceoff with now MVC rival Murray State Tuesday night at Banterra Center with tipoff set for 7 p.m. Tickets for the game can be purchased by clicking HERE.
 
PROMOTIONS
• The Dawg Pound will give away 150 "Dawg Pound" jersey's to students prior to the game.
• SportsVoice on Location will be LIVE on 103.5 ESPN from 5-6 p.m. Season-ticket holders with First-Mid Bank Lounge access can enjoy the program in-person and take home some Saluki swag.
• Tuesday is FFA night with a record-setting 680 students registered from 32 high schools joining the Salukis at Banterra Center.
• Halftime dance performance by Studio 84 from Murphysboro.
 
THE BROADCAST
• The game will be available nationally on ESPN Plus with Noah Reed (play-by-play) and Mike Trude (analyst) calling the action.
• The radio broadcast can be heard on the Saluki Radio Network with SIU Hall of Famer Mike Reis (play-by-play) and Rodney Watson (analyst) on the call.
 
QUICK HITS
• Southern Illinois and Murray State meet for the second time this season on Tuesday in Carbondale.
• The Salukis will be going for a season sweep of the Racers after defeating MSU 63-57 on December 29.
• Head coach Bryan Mullins is 2-1 in his coaching career against Murray State.
• SIU has won four-straight Valley contests (INS, ILS, UE, MSU) and 11 of its last 12 games.
• The Salukis sit tied with Belmont atop the MVC standings at 8-2 in League play.
• SIU is off to its best start under head coach Bryan Mullins in four seasons at 16-5 and 8-2 in MVC.
• With 16 wins at the midway point of the MVC schedule, Mullins has matched the most wins in a season after finishing 16-15 a year ago and 16-16 in his first season at the helm in 2019-20.
• SIU is 10-1 this season when leading at the half and 47-11 under Bryan Mullins.
• The Salukis are 6-1 this month -- Mullins and SIU are 16-14 overall in January over his tenure.
• SIU is 9-1 at home -- its seven-game home streak is the second longest in the MVC behind Bradley.
• Since forward Clarence Rupert entered the starting lineup, SIU is 11-1.
• SIU ranks fourth in the MVC in bench points at 20.4 per game. MSU leads with 26.6 per game.
• The Salukis check in at No. 9 in the latest CollegeInsider.com men's basketball mid-major poll, up one spot from last week.
 
DOMASK JOINS ELITE COMPANY
• With four rebounds at Missouri State, forward Marcus Domask became just the fourth player in program history to score 1,400 points, grab 500 rebounds and dish out 300 assists. The senior joined Wayne Abrams, Darren Brooks, and Marcus Timmons – all three of which are Saluki Hall of Famers.
• Domask ranks 17th in program history in scoring (1,420), 14th in assists (304), and 30th in rebounding (502).
 
A DYNAMIC DUO
• Marcus Domask (17th-1,420) and Lance Jones (21st-1,350) each rank in the top-25 in program history in points scored. The duo also ranks in the top 20 in career assists.
• Marcus Domask scored in double-digits in 19 of 21 games this season to lead SIU. He has scored 20 or more five times, 30 or more twice, and his 16.9 points per game rank sixth in the MVC.
• Marcus Domask and Lance Jones combined to score the final 20 points in a win on the road against Murray State. Against Drake, Domask scored the final 15 points of the game to defeat DU.
• Lance Jones leads the Salukis with 45 3-pointers this season and 21 in Valley play. The senior has made 180 threes over his career to rank seventh in program history.
 
IT STARTS ON DEFENSE
• SIU's 60.5 points allowed per game leads the MVC and ranks 14th nationally.
• Southern Illinois has held conference opponents to just 59.2 points per game and six of its 10 Valley foes to 57 points or fewer. The Salukis held Belmont to 45 points and preseason favorite Drake to 49 points.
• The Salukis are holding opponents to just 32.1 percent from behind the arc -- ranking fifth in the MVC.
• SIU's 7.9 steals per game lead the MVC. The duo of Lance Jones and Xavier Johnson are No. 1 and 2 in the MVC in steals with 39 and 33 respectively. Jones leads the team with 1.9 steals per game and has recorded multiple steals in 12 games this season including a career-high six coming at UE. Johnson is averaging 1.6 steals per contest and has seven steals in his last four games.
 
THE MATCHUP
• It will be the 40th meeting between Southern Illinois and Murray State with SIU leading the series 20-19. The two teams have split the last 10 meetings with SIU taking two in a row, including a 63-57 win on the road in Murray to end December -- snapping the Racer's 20-game homecourt streak which ranked seventh longest in the nation at the time.
 
• Murray State enters play at 11-9 overall and 6-4 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Since SIU and MSU last played each other, the Racers have gone 4-3 in the MVC with wins over Evansville, Bradley, UIC, and Indiana State. Murray State is 7-1 on their home court, 2-7 in true road games, and 2-1 in neutral site contests. Murray State is led by a trio of double-digit scorers in Rob Perry (15.1), Jamari Smith (12.3), and JaCobi Wood (12.0). 

Original source can be found here