Posted on: Friday, February 20, 2004

Southern Illinois eager to play UH

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

Southern Illinois has just about clinched everything it could this season except for the thing it wants most: an NCAA Tournament bid.

The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team may be the last obstacle to that objective.

The Rainbow Warriors are in Carbondale, Ill., for the first time in the program's history. They will take on the Salukis tomorrow in the marquee game of ESPN's Bracket Buster Saturday.

"We're going to have to play a lot harder and smarter and reach down to our lower gut to get some fight in us that we didn't have," Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace said after the 'Bows' 74-57 loss at Boise State on Wednesday.

They will probably need that and more. The Salukis are on a 13-game winning streak, and are 21-2 overall and ranked No. 20 in the Associated Press Top 25.

After an 84-69 victory at Evansville on Wednesday, Southern Illinois clinched the regular-season championship of the Missouri Valley Conference at 15-0.

What's more, the Salukis have won 37 of their past 38 games in SIU Arena.

"Our goal is to get to the NCAA Tournament," SIU head coach Matt Painter said. "And despite the rankings, despite what the experts might say, we haven't done that yet. We know that this Hawai'i team is very good and they could be the team that keeps us out of the tournament."

Hawai'i is 17-6 overall and tied for first place in the Western Athletic Conference at 9-4.

Because the Bracket Buster Saturday occurs late in the conference season, neither team has had much time to scout the other.

"All I know is that they're big and they run a lot of disciplined offensive sets," Painter said of the 'Bows.

However, Hawai'i will continue to be not quite as big as before. Starting center Haim Shimonovich will miss his second consecutive game with a sprained right knee.

In his absence, the 'Bows were out-scored 40-16 in the paint, and out-rebounded 40-29, in the loss at Boise State.

But the Salukis are not exactly big themselves. They start three guards alongside 6-7 forward Sylvester Willis and 6-9 forward Brad Korn.

"We are a defensive-oriented basketball team," Painter said. "We put a lot of pressure on the basketball and we try to use our quickness to get us opportunities in transition."

SIU is allowing 61.6 points per game, and has not allowed an opponent to reach 80 points this season.

More important, according to Painter, is the Salukis' ability to "take care of the ball." SIU is averaging a conference-low 11.7 turnovers per game. By comparison, the efficient Hawai'i offense averages 13.4 turnovers per game.

"We don't do anything fancy," Painter said. "But we have some guards who do a good job of getting us into our offense."

The main guard is Darren Brooks, a 6-foot-3 senior who leads the conference with 16.6 points per game. He also leads the Salukis with 6.3 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game.

"He's our main guy on both ends of the court," Painter said.

Tomorrow's game will tip-off at 11 p.m. (7 p.m. Hawai'i time) to accommodate the ESPN broadcast. Only 600 tickets remain in the 10,014-seat arena.

"When we get the big crowds, it's a very good atmosphere," Painter said. "The crowd is right on top of you and it can get very loud. Our fans certainly play a part in our success."

• Kuebler honored: Hawai'i senior guard Michael Kuebler was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District 13 second team yesterday.

Four other players from the WAC were named to first teams: Kirk Snyder of Nevada in District 13; Paul Millsap of Louisiana Tech in District 8; Michael Harris of Rice and Bryan Hopkins of Southern Methodist in District 9.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8101.