Southern Illinois News

Bracket update — Salukis versus Drake on Saturday at 5 PM

Southern Illinois advanced to the semifinals of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament by beating Missouri State on Friday, 54-51. at the Enterprise Center.

The No. 3-seed Salukis (23-9) will face No. 2-seed Drake (25-7) at 5 p.m. on Saturday with the winner advancing to Sunday's championship game versus the winner of No. 1-seed Bradley versus No. 5-seed Indiana State. Both semifinal games on Saturday will be televised on CBS Sports Network. 

Saluki fans are invited to the team send off at the Lindbergh Room in The Hilton Ball Park at 3 p.m. MVC shuttle service is available from Ballpark Village to the Enterprise Center and back after the game. Saluki fans will be seated throughout the Enterprise Center, especially in Sections 104-109.

2023 STATE FARM MVC TOURNAMENT

Enterprise Center  •  St. Louis, Missouri

All MVC Tournament tickets are digital.

THURSDAY, MARCH 2

GAME 1: #8 Northern Iowa 75, #9 Illinois State 62

GAME 2: #5 Indiana State 97, #12 Evansville 58   

GAME 3: #7 Murray State 78, #10 Valparaiso 50

GAME 4: #6 Missouri State 74, #11 UIC 57

FRIDAY, MARCH 3

GAME 5: #1 Bradley 72, Northern Iowa 66

GAME 6: #5 Indiana State 94, #4 Belmont 91

GAME 7: #2 Drake 74, #7 Murray State 62

GAME 8: #3 Southern Illinois 54, Missouri State 51

SATURDAY, MARCH 4

3 pm -- Team send-off at Hilton Ballpark

SESSION 5 TICKETS

2:30 pm    GAME 9: #1 Bradley vs. # 5 Indiana State

5 pm    GAME 10: #2 Drake vs. #3 Southern Illinois

SUNDAY, MARCH 5

CHAMPIONSHIP TICKETS

1 pm    MVC Championship Game

SIU Student Tickets: SIU students may purchase $10 general admission tickets at the Enterprise Center Box Office on game day, no sooner than 90 minutes before tipoff. Students must show their University ID and are able to claim one student ticket for each day the Salukis play. Student seating is located in sections 111 and 121 at Enterprise. The first 30 students that claim tickets will be seated on the floor within a coral.

Fan Shuttle

Ballpark Village will feature a continuous fan shuttle to Enterprise Center, running Thursday through Sunday for Arch Madness. The shuttle picks up at Ballpark Village starting one hour before the start of the first game each day and will end approximately one hour after the conclusion of the final game.

Enterprise Center Bag Policy: Enterprise Center strongly encourages guests to not bring bags of any kind to the arena. All bags must be under 16" x 16". All bags entering Enterprise Center, including purses and medical/childcare bags, must go through x-ray screening. Clutches no larger than 4" x 6" x 1.5" are permitted after visual inspection and will not be subject to x-ray screening.

NCAA Success

Notably, the MVC has combined for 20 wins in the NCAA Tournament in the past nine NCAA championships and has earned multiple bids 17 times since 1994.  Since 2010, The Valley has had two Final Four appearances and 12 Sweet 16 appearances (by 7 different schools)

The Valley Runs Deep

From 2012-2019, MVC teams garnered 10-straight first-round wins in the NCAA Tournament.  Since 2012, the MVC is now 12-3 in first-round games, which includes wins in 8 of the past 10 tourneys.

Postseason Power Play

Additionally, since 1994, an MVC member has beaten the following teams from power conferences in the NCAA Tournament:  Alabama, Arizona, Cincinnati, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Illinois (twice), Indiana, Kansas (three times), K-State, Louisville, Miami (Fla.), Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Pittsburgh (twice), Seton Hall, Tennessee (four times), Texas, Texas Tech, UCLA, Virginia Tech, Vanderbilt, and Wisconsin.

Original source can be found here