Redhawks to face former power

~ Southeast plays Coppin State in suburban Chicago today.

The first two games of the Chicago Invitational Challenge were rough on the Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team.

Southeast suffered lopsided losses as a heavy underdog at Xavier (90-59) and Illinois State (90-71) to open the season.

The final two games of the eight-team event figure to offer the Redhawks (2-2) a much better chance at success.

At the neutral site Sears Center in Hoffman Estates, Ill., Southeast plays Coppin State (2-2) at 2:30 p.m. today.

The Redhawks will close out the event Saturday against either North Carolina-Wilmington (1-2) or Longwood (2-3), at either 11 a.m. or 2 p.m.

"We're looking forward to playing these next two games," Southeast coach Scott Edgar said.

Especially now that the Redhawks have a two-game winning streak, including Tuesday's impressive 87-77 home triumph over Evansville of the Missouri Valley Conference.

"It'll give us a lot of confidence going to Chicago," sophomore point guard Roderick Pearson said.

Said Edgar: "It was a great win going to Chicago. It's a lot easier to teach something after a win."

The Chicago Invitational Challenge was set up for the perceived four top teams -- nationally ranked Indiana, Xavier, Illinois State and Kent State, who are in a separate portion of the bracket this weekend -- to all win their first two games.

That's what happened as those squads, playing at home, all romped.

While Southeast was throttled at Xavier and Illinois State, Coppin State lost 74-51 at Kent State and 98-49 at Xavier; UNC-Wilmington lost 89-73 at Illinois State and 95-71 at Indiana; and Longwood fell 100-49 at Indiana and 80-62 at Kent State.

"All four of us in our bracket have the same mindset. ... We're using these games to try to develop our teams for conference play," Edgar said. "We won't have a lot of atmosphere because it will be a neutral site. We'll have to create our own energy. I anticipate hard-fought games."

Coppin State, located in Baltimore, is coming off a 12-20 season, including 9-9 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

The Eagles have struggled in recent years, but before that they were a consistent mid-major power under veteran coach Ron "Fang" Mitchell.

Coppin State won nine MEAC regular-season titles during the 1990s and compiled 11 straight winning seasons from 1988 to 2000.

The Eagles made three NCAA tournament appearances in the 1990s, including a first-round upset of South Carolina in 1997 as they became just the third No. 15 seed to win a game.

"For quite a while, they were a major national story in college basketball," Edgar said.

While the Eagles have fallen on somewhat hard times, Edgar said: "They'll be well-coached, they'll play extremely hard for 40 minutes. I told the kids, Coppin State will be the quickest, toughest team they'll play."

The Eagles feature 6-foot-2 senior guard Tywain McKee, a first-team all-MEAC performer who was one of 25 players named to the Collegeinsider.com preseason mid-major All-American team.

But McKee, who averaged 17.4 points per game last season and scored 34 points in Coppin State's first two games this year, missed the past two contests because of a team suspension and could miss today's game.

Regardless, Edgar anticipates a struggle as the Redhawks shoot for their third straight win.

"A lot of people don't know about Coppin State, but they will be very, very good," Edgar said.

Today begins a stretch of four straight games away from home for Southeast, including true road contests Wednesday at Louisiana Tech and Dec. 1 at Bradley.

After that, the Redhawks begin Ohio Valley Conference play Dec. 6 against Tennessee State at the Show Me Center.

"This will be a very challenging part of the schedule for us," Edgar said. "And then before we know it, the marathon of the OVC season begins."