COURT SESSION: SOUTHEAST EYES TWO BIG GAMES

First of all, on behalf of our basketball team, coaches and staff, I would like to wish everyone a very happy holiday season.

This is a special time of the year for family and friends and I hope everyone enjoys the holiday.

After the Southwest Missouri game Tuesday night, we released the players so they could have a couple of days to be with family and friends. Several left with family members from Springfield while others came back to Cape Girardeau and left from there.

They will all be back for a 7 p.m. practice Christmas Day. I think it is important that our players have even the two days off to be with their family. We have to get back Christmas Day, though, because we play Southern Illinois in St. Louis on Monday.

I found out that feeding the team Christmas night can be a problem. We called nearly every restaurant in Cape Girardeau and found they were all closed Christmas Day. We finally arranged to get Kentucky Fried Chicken and all the trimmings that we will have for the team after our 7 p.m. practice. We'll have our dinner at the Show Me Center.

My family, including my wife Barbara and sons Matt and Jon, all left from Springfield to have Christmas with our families. We were with the Garner family in West Plains Wednesday and then it was on to Pilot Grove to be with Barbara's family today. We're really looking forward to our Christmas, but I know I'm going to be sneaking in a look at some tape of Southern Illinois and our game with Southwest Missouri.

We just didn't shoot the ball well enough to win at Southwest Missouri. The Bears have an excellent team that should win the Missouri Valley. We played with them, but we could just never get enough shots to fall to make a serious run in the second half.

The 12-day layoff between games probably hurt us. We weren't crisp on offense, but you have to credit a good Southwest Missouri defense for part of the problem. The Bears also hit their free throws, converting on 30 of 47 while we hit 11 of 17. The end result was the 67-56 loss.

Bud Eley had a great game. Going against Southwest's 6-11 Danny Moore, Bud had 13 points, a career-high 21 rebounds, five assists, three blocks and four steals. Those are phenomenal numbers. He held Moore to just 12 points and four rebounds.

I was also pleased that we had only 10 turnovers.

Next up is a good Southern Illinois team that is playing good basketball after a slow start. The Salukis have three excellent players in Monte Jenkins, Chris Thunnell and Ricky Collum and they are finding other players that compliment that trio. They will be a very tough opponent for us at the TWA Dome.

Playing in the Dome will be very exciting for our team. This is the site of the NCAA Midwest Regional in March and will be the site of the 2005 Final Four. The immense size of the building and the different shooting background will be a challenge for both teams.

We will go to St. Louis Sunday and will practice at the TWA Dome from 4-6 p.m. We have a shoot-around Monday morning and then we tip it off at 5:15 p.m.

The support our basketball team has received by the fans' response to this game is tremendous. Nearly 3,000 fans have purchased tickets and will be on hand to back us at the TWA Dome. We will also have 80 members of the Golden Eagles marching band, our cheerleaders and Sundancers. It should be a great night for Southeast Missouri State.

The fans have done their part to make this a success, now we have to do our part and find a way to beat Southern Illinois. We will stay in St. Louis Monday night and then fly out Tuesday morning for Oklahoma and our game with Oklahoma State. We fly to Tulsa and then bus on to Stillwater for the game.

Oklahoma State is the 25th-ranked team in the nation and a favorite to win the Big 12 Conference.

Again, happy holidays to all of you. We will see you in St. Louis.

Gary Garner is the head basketball coach at Southeast Missouri State University. His weekly column is sponsored by Rust Communications.