Tuesday **CBB Non-Conference Game of the Month** - 12/11/2007 8:00:00 PM

Southern Illinois Salukis -4.5 -110

***Non-Conference Game of the Month*** Southern Illinois is coming off another poor performance, this time on the road at Charlotte on Saturday. It marked the third straight loss for the Salukis and it is now becoming time where they need a big win and this is the game for it to happen. The Salukis lost two valuable members from last season's squad in their backcourt, MVC Player of the Year Jamaal Tatum and Tony Young but there is still a lot of talent on this team and playing at home again doesn?t hurt.

The Gaels enter this game with a 7-0 record and that has gotten them into unchartered waters, namely the AP Top 25. Taking nothing away from that record, which includes a very strong home win against Oregon, but St. Mary?s has yet to be tested on the road. The Gaels are coming of a win in Anaheim against San Diego St. but this will be their first true road game of the season. And there aren?t many tougher places than to start the road schedule as Southern Illinois has won 80 of its last 84 games at SIU Arena.

If there is any good that came from the loss on Saturday, it was the second half performance by Southern Illinois that can carry over into Tuesday. The Salukis finally got tired of getting beat to the punch midway through the second half and landed a few blows of their own. They started to play like they had earlier in the season as the defensive intensity picked up, a few shots fell, and they prevented a blowout of the magnitude of the USC game.

St. Mary?s has a strong frontcourt with Omar Samhan and Diamon Simpson along with Ian O'Leary but Southern Illinois has can match up well with Randal Falker, who is a candidate for MVC Player of the Year and Matt Shaw, who can also step out and hit the long ball. The Gaels have played the 222nd ranked schedule compared to 35th for Southern Illinois so the Salukis have been tested more thus far. They bounce back in a big way and hand St. Mary?s its first loss of the season. Play Southern Illinois 3 Units

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