Salukis earn 3rd seed in 2023 Missouri Valley Tournament
BY JIM BEERS, Contributing Writer
CARBONDALE – The Missouri Valley Conference regular season is over and Valley Teams are anxiously awaiting the opening tip-off of the 2023 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament.
This is the 47th Annual MVC Tournament, fondly referred to as “Arch Madness”. The event has been hosted by the MVC in St. Louis for 32 previous years and 2023 makes it the 33rd year in St. Louis.
The MVC Tournament has earned the reputation for being one of America’s premiere tournaments as St. Louis has everything to offer attendees including transportation, restaurants that offer excellent and delicious food, entertainment, recreation, and most of all, the best organized and managed tournament in the country.
This year’s event will feature a 12-team bracket which includes all of last year’s teams, Southern Illinois University, Drake, Illinois State, Missouri State, Indiana State, Bradley, Northern Iowa, Valparaiso, and Evansville, along with newcomers Belmont, University of Illinois-Chicago, and Murray State.
The almost week-long event begins Wednesday March 1 with the annual Coach of the Year Reception and Banquet with all teams attending. Major Player Awards will also be announced. The event is hosted at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis Hotel at the Arch.
Thursday March 2 will be Games 1-4 at the Enterprise Center (Televised on the MVC TV Network)
Game 1 features 38 UNI vs #9 Illinois State at 12 PM.
Game 2 will feature #5 Indiana State vs # 12 Evansville at 2:30 PM.
Game 3 will feature #7 Murray State vs #10 Valparaiso at 6 PM.
Game 4 will feature # 6 Missouri State vs #11 University of Illinois Chicago at 8:30 p.m.
Friday March 3 will be games 4-8 at the Enterprise Center (Televised on the MVC TV Network)
Game 5 will feature #1 Bradley vs the winner of UNI & Illinois State at 12 PM
Game 6 will feature #4 Belmont vs the winner of Indiana State & Evansville at 2:30 PM
Game 7 will feature # 2 Drake vs the winner of Murray State & Valparaiso at 6 PM
Game 8 will feature #3 Southern Illinois vs the winner of Mo. State & UIC at 8:30 PM
Saturday March 4 will be “Semi-Final” Games 9-10 at the Enterprise Center (Televised on the CBS Sports Network)
Game 9 will feature the winner of Game 5 and the winner of Game 6 at 2:30 PM
Game 10 will feature the winner of Game 7 and the winner of Game 8 at 5:00 PM
Sunday March 5 is the MVC Tournament “CHAMPIONSHIP” Game 11 at the Enterprise Center (Televised on CBS Sports)
Game 11 will feature the winner of Game 9 and the winner of Game 10 at 1:00 PM. The winner will be the 2023 MVC Tournament Champion and earn the automatic bid to the 2023 NCAA Basketball Tournament, otherwise known as “March Madness”.
The Salukis won their final two conference games to land tied for 3rd Place in the MVC. Using the MVC tie-breaker system, SIU was awarded the 3rd Place seed based upon the fact that they beat Belmont in head-to-head competition.
The final MVC rankings and subsequent tournament seeds are as follow:
Bradley (1st, 16-4)
Drake (2nd, 15-5)
Southern Illinois University (3rd, 14-6)
Belmont (4th, 14-6)
Indiana State (5th, 13-7)
Missouri State (6th, 12-8)
Murray State (7th, 11-9)
Northern Iowa (8th, 9-11)
Illinois State (9th, 6-14)
Valparaiso (10th, 5-15)
University of Illinois-Chicago (11th, 4-16)
University of Evansville (12th, 1-19)
SIU 86-Northern Iowa 63 on “Senior Night”
The Salukis knew that they would likely have to win their final two games to earn the 3rd Seed in the MVC Tournament.
It was Senior Night 2023 Wednesday February 22 and the Banterra Center at SIU was on fire to help the Dawgs win against the Northern Iowa Panthers.
Prior to the opening tip-off, the Saluki faithful honored six Saluki senior players in an emotional Saluki send-off ceremony. Marcus Domask, Lance Jones, Xavier Johnson, JD Muila, Jawaun Newton, and Trent Brown were honored along with their parents and family members.
In the SIU win, senior Lance Jones, who had been in a terrible funk for several games, led all players with 28 points. Senior Marcus Domask contributed 24 points, and senior Trent Brown added 11 points.
SIU Head Coach, Bryan Mullins said, “It was good to see a lot of emotion and passion on our senior’s faces throughout the game. I’m happy for the seniors to play the way they did for the group. We have to build off this and continue to play well with a big game coming up this weekend at UIC.”
The Salukis led 8-2 early and never really looked back. They led by 11 points at halftime, 34-23. SIU outrebounded Northern Iowa, 34-28 in the win. After halftime the Dawgs let the 3-pointers fly making 9-of-15 treys. Second half free throw shooting was also great with SIU making, 9-of-10, at the line.
In the win, the Salukis shot 57.7 percent (30-of-52). From 3-point land, SIU hit 17-of-29 (58.6%). With the win, Southern improved to 21-9 overall and 13-6 in the MVC.
Salukis win, 68-65, at University of Illinois-Chicago to secure 3rd Seed in MVC Tournament
It was a “must win” situation in Chicago Sunday February 26 when the Salukis hit the court to attempt to clinch the 3rd Seed in the MVC Tournament. With such a huge SIU fan base in Chicago, it was similar to a home-court advantage for the salukis in the Credit Union One Arena, the home of UIC.
The game was competitive throughout most of the 40-minute game with the dawgs leading by 3-5 points most of the time. Just about when SIU would make a good run, UIC would make a come-back and threaten the Dawgs. A 5-0 run to end the first 20-minute half allowed the Salukis to have a 10-point lead, 31-21, at the half.
In the second half the story was much the same with Southern never really able to put UIC away. Lance Jones gave Carbondale a 64-60 lead with just over 30-seconds to play in the game.
In typical fashion, UIC answered with a 3-pointer to make things really interesting getting within 1-point, 64-63. SIU’s Domask responded with a bucket with 26-seconds remaining to extend SIU’s lead to 66-63.
UIC would score again to get back within 1-point, 66-65, but Lance Jones came through in the final seconds at the free throw line to give the Salukis the win, 68-65.
For the second game in-a-row, Lance Jones, who hails from Chicago suburb Evanston, led the Dawgs with 19 points. He also recorded four rebounds, and three assists, to spark the Salukis. Marcus Domask added 16 points, five rebounds and three assists.
SIU’s bench was phenomenal outscoring UIC’s bench, 22-2, in the win. Saluki players Troy D’Amico (6), Foster Wonders (6), and Trent Brown (6) contributed 18-of-those 22 bench- points.
Another major factor in the SIU wins of late is the fact that the Dawgs have decreased their turnovers the last several games. Against UIC the Salukis only turned the ball over six times. On the contrary, the Dawgs turned 13 of UIC’s turnovers into 15 points!
SIU’s Lance Jones is MVC Player of the Week.
Lance Jones was honored as the MVC Player of the Week 2-27-23. This honor was the second of his career and the fifth time this season that an SIU player earned the title.
In earning his award, Jones had one of the best weeks of his SIU career averaging 23.5 points, 1.5 steals per game, 3.5 assists, and grabbing 3 rebounds. Coming out of his slump as of late, Jones helped the Salukis win the final two games of the regular season to help secure the 3rd seed in the MVC Tournament.
In those final games, Lance shot 60.7 percent (17-of-28) and 50% from three point land (7-of-14). He led the Dawgs with 28 points in the Northern Iowa win and 19 points to help beat UIC.
Marcus Domask is State Farm MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year
For the second year-in-a-row SIU’s Marcus Domask has earned the title of State Farm MVC Scholar-Athlete of the year. He heads up a Scholar Athlete Team of 16 MVC players.
Domask has an overall GPA of 3.99 cumulative in Sports Administration. He leads his team in scoring and is 5th in the league with an average of 16.97 points per game. Marcus also leads the Dawgs in rebounding (5.8 per game) and assists (3.8 per game).
Domask scored 30 or more points three times this year, the most of 32 points he tied his previous record against Illinois State. Only two players in the MVC have accomplished that feat of scoring 30 points three times during the 2022-23 season.