Salukis leery of underdog Indians

Southern Illinois basketball coach Bruce Weber says he'll begin to see just what the Salukis are made of tonight.

Weber isn't trying to convince anybody that Southeast Missouri State University (3-3) will be one of the best teams SIU (3-0) faces this year, although Weber does seem to respect the Indians.

But the 7 p.m. contest at the Show Me Center will be SIU's first road game of the season and begins a stretch of three straight road dates for the high-flying Salukis.

"Now the real season starts. You go on the road and see how good you are," Weber said. "If you follow college basketball, it's hard to win on the road. That's one thing we did well last year, and I think these next three games will show us what we're made of."

Following tonight's contest, the Salukis play two NCAA Tournament teams from last season when they visit Illinois-Chicago and Charlotte.

Of course, the Salukis had quite an NCAA Tournament themselves last year when they reached the Sweet 16 to cap a sensational 28-8 season. Weber is trying everything he knows to make sure his players aren't living in the past.

"I heard the Rams talk about Super Bowl hangover or blues or whatever you want to call it, but I think it does linger a little bit," Weber said. "When you're constantly told how good you are over six months, it's human nature. So when I yell at them, they probably think, 'what is he doing, we're pretty good,' but we've kind of talked about it, that it's over now and this is a new season."

Although the Salukis were not overwhelming during wins over George Mason (83-74) and Colorado State (83-71), they appeared to put the Sweet 16 hangover behind them Tuesday night when they destroyed preseason Ohio Valley Conference favorite Murray State 85-56.

"We had a nice run and kind of stole their spirit," Weber said. "That was a really good game for us."

It got the attention of Southeast coach Gary Garner -- not that he needed convincing about how good the Salukis were.

"After seeing that score, it's pretty frightening," Garner said. "That tells you they maybe have a chance to be even better than they were last year."

That's hard to imagine, considering the Salukis lost forward Roland Roberts, their second-leading scorer, second-leading rebounder, top shot-blocker and general inside enforcer.

But virtually all of SIU's other key players from last season returned, including four-year standout Kent Williams, a 6-foot-2 senior guard, and 6-8 senior forward Jermaine Dearman, a star in the Salukis' NCAA Tournament run.

Dearman (16.7 ppg) and Williams (14.0) are off to strong starts, as are 6-3 sophomore guard Stetson Hairston (15.0) and two first-year starters, 6-7 junior forward Sylvester Willis (13.0) and 6-3 sophomore guard Darren Brooks (11.0). Willis has hit 15 of 19 field-goal attempts for a sizzling 78.9 percent while Hairston is shooting 63 percent and Dearman 55.6 percent.

Dearman and Willis lead a strong SIU rebounding corps with 7.7 and 7.3 boards per game, respectively, while Williams (9-for-20) and Hairston (5-for-8) have been the Salukis' most dangerous 3-point shooters.

"They've got a really good player and a really good athlete at every position," Garner said. "They're just very good, a top 40 team in the country for sure."

Southeast, coming off a 6-22 season, has shown improvement this year, but the Indians don't appear to be the kind of team that would scare the Salukis.

Still, Weber doesn't believe his players will take the Indians for granted.

"Any time you go on the road, it's going to be a tough game," Weber said. "And if you let them shoot the ball, they're going to shoot it well. They had a huge win over Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a team a lot of people had in the top 40.

"It'll be a good test for us. I know they have heard so much about Salukis, Salukis, they want people to talk about the Indians."

Weber also remembers the last time the Salukis visited the Show Me Center -- an 87-84 Southeast win in the 2000-2001 season.

"We went in there and they played at an extremely high level. We'll have to be ready for that again," Weber said.

Garner, who says rebounding and handling SIU's pressure will be two keys tonight, knows Southeast will have to again play at a high level to hang with the Salukis. He hopes a big crowd will help the Indians' chances of pulling off an upset.

"I know the fans really get into this game every year and we need all the support we can get," Garner said. "It will take a tremendous effort by us, but we're looking forward to the challenge."

mmishow@semissourian.com

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