Southern Illinois (11-15, 5-10) vs. Indiana St. (14-12, 9-6)
SIU Arena; Carbondale, IL
7:05 PM CST
Two teams heading in opposite directions square off tonight. While SIU was able to pull out a surprising win at Wichita St., they fell back down to Earth Sunday in Omaha. Winners of two of their last eight games, Chris Lowry has work to do. The Salukis return their three suspended players for tonight’s game and should be in instant spark.
In the middle of a tough stretch of games, the Sycamores have won their last two against Drake and Illinois. Before that, they lost five in a row. They’re still holding on to fourth place in the conference, a half game out of third. One bright spot, freshman Jake Odum won his second Newcomer of the Week award last week, an award used to residing in Omaha. He’ll need a big game due to Jake Kelly coming down with mono. Kelly is out indefinitely and the Sycamores will have to be ready to play without him. Ask UNI, playing without a key starter may take some time to get used to.