Once Upon A Time In Las Vegas
The Southern Illinois Salukis (12-4, 4-1 MVC) visit Cedar Falls, Iowa and the McLeod Center on Saturday to play the Northern Iowa Panthers (7-8, 3-2) in a game between two Missouri Valley Conference rivals. Southern Illinois defeated Drake 53-49 on Wednesday night behind 21 points from Marcus Domask. Southern Illinois has won seven straight. Northern Iowa defeated Valparaiso 69-67 on Wednesday and has won two straight and four of the last five. Southern Illinois does not have any players on its injury report, while Northern Iowa will play without Nate Heise.
The Southern Illinois Salukis play a suffocating man-to-man defense that is holding opponents to an average of only 59.8 points per game which is ranked 17th in the nation. The Salukis are allowing a field goal shooting percentage of 40.5% and a three-point shooting percentage of 29.6%, which are 66th and 43rd respectively. Southern Illinois is averaging 32.4 rebounds per game and allowing an average of 29.7 boards per contest. The king of the boards for Southern Illinois is Marcus Domask with an average of 6.2 rebounds per game. Domask is the leader in blocked shots with an average of 0.5 swats per contest and Lance Jones is the leader in steals with an average of 1.9 per game.
Southern Illinois is scoring an average of 67.2 points per game, with a field goal shooting percentage of 45.9% and a three-point shooting percentage of 31.9%. Domask is the leading scorer for Southern Illinois with an average of 17.6 points per game while shooting 49.2% overall and 34.8% from long range. Jones is the second leading scorer with an average of 13.6 points per game and is shooting just 38.6% overall while hitting 29.6% of his attempts from 3-point land. Domask is averaging a team-best 3.6 assists per game. Southern Illinois is averaging 13.4 turnovers per contest.