Redhawks renew rivalry with SIU tonight

Among the many questions Dickey Nutt fielded when he was hired as Southeast Missouri State's men's basketball coach in March, one was more prevalent than any other.

"If there's one thing I heard once, I heard it 100 times after I got the job," Nutt said. "It's when are we going to play Southern Illinois? Our fans really wanted to see that game again."

Tonight they'll get their chance as the Salukis (3-2) face Nutt's rebuilding Redhawks (3-6) at the Show Me Center. Southeast returns the short trip to Carbondale, Ill., next year.

SIU leads the longest series in Southeast history 67-44, but the teams have not met since the 2004-05 season when the Salukis won 72-68. Nutt figured it was time to change that.

"They've got an outstanding program, and our program might not be at the level we need it to be right now to compete with them," Nutt said. "But I felt like why penalize our fans just because our program is low right now?

"We want to get our fans back and we feel like this is one of those games that will help us do that. We were at a crossroads with our attendance and I felt like having these types of teams on our schedule, the SIUs, the Arkansas States, regardless of where we are, would be good."

As for what might happen on the court, Nutt knows the improving Redhawks -- who last week picked up the program's first Ohio Valley Conference win in nearly two years -- will face a major challenge.

SIU, although coming off a rare down season, has built one of the nation's top mid-major programs. The Salukis had a run of six straight NCAA tournament appearances end with an NIT berth during the 2007-08 season.

Last year the Salukis dipped to 13-18, including an 8-10, fifth-place Missouri Valley Conference finish, but Nutt believes that was an aberration.

"Man, we're facing a giant," Nutt said. "They're very big, very well coached, they're experienced. It all equals to a good team and a good year."

Southeast will be at a major size disadvantage as SIU features 6-foot-11, 245-pound sophomore Nick Evans, 6-8, 225-pound junior Carlton Fay, 6-8, 230-pound sophomore Anthony Booker and 6-9, 290-pound freshman Gene Teague in its regular rotation.

"They're so big," Nutt said. "The biggest problem we've had all year with the teams we haven't done so well with is our inability to score the basketball, [them] shutting our perimeter guys off and daring our inside guys to score."

Kevin Dillard, a 6-foot sophomore guard, leads the Salukis offensively with an average of 15.6 points per game. He is first in the MVC with 24 assists.

Dillard was SIU's top scorer last season with a 12.2 average and earned MVC freshman of the year honors.

Fay (12.8 ppg) and 6-1 senior guard Tony Freeman (10.3 ppg) round out SIU's double-figure scorers. Fay, who comes off the bench, was also No. 2 for the Salukis last season with a 10.4 average.

Freeman, an Iowa transfer who was third-team all-Big 10 two years ago, missed Saturday's 71-61 loss at Saint Louis University with a calf injury but is expected to play tonight. The preseason all-MVC pick is SIU's top 3-point shooter at 41.7 percent (10 of 24).

Evans contributes nine points and a team-leading 5.6 rebounds.

While SIU is averaging a healthy 75.8 points -- higher than usual for the defense-oriented squad -- Nutt said hard-nosed defense remains the Salukis' calling card and Southeast must be up to the challenge.

"Our toughness is really going to be tested. That's our theme for this game, toughness," Nutt said. "We've got to withstand their toughness, not allow them to take us out of everything we want to do."

At least the Redhawks will carry some momentum into the contest following Saturday's 74-66 win at Tennessee State that ended the program's OVC-record 26-game league losing streak.

"We really want to build on that game and start a winning streak," junior guard Anthony Allison said.

SIU has won 11 of the past 12 meetings, including four straight. Southeast's most recent victory in the series was 87-84 during the 2000-01 season when current SIU coach Chris Lowery was a Southeast assistant.

"It's going to be a tremendous challenge for us, but we're really looking forward to the game," Nutt said. "Hopefully we'll have a great crowd because we really need our fans to get behind us."