Indians' holiday feast includes a rare mix of turkey, Bourbon

Turkey and dressing on Bourbon Street might not be the way most college students spend their Thanksgiving, but it will have to do for the Southeast Missouri State University men's basketball team.

The Indians will enjoy their holiday in New Orleans, where they will participate in the six-team University Hoops Classic hosted by Tulane. The tournament runs Thursday through Sunday.

Southeast will be in New Orleans today, preparing for Thursday's 5 p.m. opener against Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The Indians play Indiana State at 5 p.m. Friday and, after having Saturday off, face either Tulane, Central Florida or Maine -- who make up the other three-team group -- on Sunday.

Southeast coach Gary Garner said he would like his players to be home for Thanksgiving but scheduling doesn't always work out that way. Two years ago the Indians played in a tournament around the holiday in Kansas City.

"Preferably I'd like to have them home for Thanksgiving," Garner said. "But we hope to have Thanksgiving dinner Wednesday night."

Garner also plans to let his players take in the sights and sounds of New Orleans, even though the Indians' primary objective will be basketball.

"Oh yeah, we'll do some things," he said. "You can't take a group of kids to New Orleans and not see what Bourbon Street is all about. That's part of a college education."

Southeast (1-1) will look to build on Monday's 82-63 victory over NAIA Central Methodist, but the Indians won't have it easy.

Wisconsin-Milwaukee, which lost its season opener to Wisconsin 83-72 and defeated Mississippi Valley State 77-75 Tuesday night, was 16-13 last year and is considered one of the top teams in the Horizon League. The Panthers feature one of the Horizon's premier players in 6-foot-3 senior Clay Tucker, who scored 18 points against Wisconsin.

Indiana State slumped to 6-22 last season -- the same record as Southeast -- but it was only two years ago that the Sycamores went 22-12 and stunned Oklahoma in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Sycamores beat Youngstown State 63-56 in their season opener and lost to Valparaiso 81-56 Tuesday.

Looking back

Garner said he wished the Indians would have more comfortably than the final margin in Monday's game.

"I felt like we could go on to win by 35 or 40 points and we probably should have," he said. "But the positive thing is we're starting to pass the ball better. We're looking for the open man. On one play in particular, Demetrius King had an open 3-pointer, but he got it to Derek Winans for a better shot. And we were up 20 or 22 at the time. That's good to see."

After being outrebounded by 10 during Friday's season-opening loss at Arkansas State, the Indians controlled the boards 42-33 Monday. Junior center Brandon Griffin and junior forward Damarcus Hence, who were originally credited with eight rebounds apiece, were given 11 and 10, respectively, following a review of game film.

Griffin has 19 rebounds in two games while Hence has 18 rebounds.

Getting healthier

The Indians are getting healthier, but it will probably be several more weeks before they're at full strength.

Senior forward Tim Scheer saw his first game action of the season Monday, playing 13 minutes. Scheer, who missed the opener with a strained calf muscle, should receive more playing time Thursday.

Junior forward Reggie Golson, recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery, should play this week.

mmishow@semissourian.com

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