Desmar Jackson has played pretty big in big games for SIU?s men?s basketball team this season, and tonight doesn?t get much bigger.
After becoming the first Saluki since Kent Williams to score 20 points or more in three straight games this season, Jackson will get a lot of attention from No. 17 Creighton tonight at SIU Arena.
The 6-foot-5 Jackson wouldn?t want anything different with ESPNU in town, and the chance to put a stamp on an 8-11 season.
?I?m going to be pretty juiced up. I know the team is, too, the guys,? Jackson said. ?This is a big game for us. Huge game. This could turn our season around if we get this win.?
Jackson, the leading scorer for a 10-21 Wyoming squad in 2010-11, scored 29 points to lead SIU (8-11, 1-7 Missouri Valley Conference) to its last home victory and its only league win over Indiana State on Jan. 12.
He had 17 points and six rebounds in the season-opening win at New Orleans and 29 points in a loss to Utah State that might have given the Salukis a share of the World Vision Classic championship.
Without senior guard Jeff Early, who will serve a one-game suspension, Jackson will likely have to produce with the basketball and without it to have a shot at giving the fans at the arena a chance to rush the floor.
The Salukis? second-leading rebounder at 6.1 per game, Jackson might have to grab a few more without Early on the floor. After scoring nine and 11 points, respectively, in his last two games, both double-digit losses, SIU might settle for his normal 16 and 6.
?I visited with Desmar personally (Friday), and I just said, ?Hey, we have to have better effort out of you. We have to have better play,?? said SIU coach Barry Hinson. ?I think sometimes he feels the pressure of being referred to as the best player, and I said, ?Sorry. That?s part of it. When you score 28, 29 and 21, and then you can?t back it up, there?s a target on your back. That?s part of the by-product. You have to play hard every game.??
Creighton (17-3, 6-2 MVC) comes off its first back-to-back losses of the season and presents the Salukis with a myriad of defensive challenges.
Forward Doug McDermott, the preseason Valley player of the year who is second in the nation in scoring to Virginia Tech?s Erick Green at 23.8 points per game, stands 6-8 and averages 7.1 rebounds per game. Senior center Gregory Echenique, who stands 6-9, 260, averages 10 points and 7.3 rebounds per game and has nearly more blocks (35) than the Salukis (47).
The Bluejays just happen to be the top 3-point shooting team in the nation, percentage-wise, at 44.1 percent and lead the Valley with 187 triples in 20 games. SIU allowed its last two opponents to sink a combined 17-of-39 from behind the arc.
?Much like we did at Northern Iowa, I think there?s only one way to slow down another team?s offense. You have to have good offense on your side of the ball, as well, and you have to get great possessions,? Hinson said. ?What we did at Northern Iowa limiting them to 58 points had a lot to do with our patience on the offensive end. Now it would have helped if we could have scored at a little bit better rate than we did; but if I was to take something from the Northern Iowa game, our guys tried to do what we asked them to do.
?We just couldn?t put the ball in the basket.?
After becoming the first Saluki since Kent Williams to score 20 points or more in three straight games this season, Jackson will get a lot of attention from No. 17 Creighton tonight at SIU Arena.
The 6-foot-5 Jackson wouldn?t want anything different with ESPNU in town, and the chance to put a stamp on an 8-11 season.
?I?m going to be pretty juiced up. I know the team is, too, the guys,? Jackson said. ?This is a big game for us. Huge game. This could turn our season around if we get this win.?
Jackson, the leading scorer for a 10-21 Wyoming squad in 2010-11, scored 29 points to lead SIU (8-11, 1-7 Missouri Valley Conference) to its last home victory and its only league win over Indiana State on Jan. 12.
He had 17 points and six rebounds in the season-opening win at New Orleans and 29 points in a loss to Utah State that might have given the Salukis a share of the World Vision Classic championship.
Without senior guard Jeff Early, who will serve a one-game suspension, Jackson will likely have to produce with the basketball and without it to have a shot at giving the fans at the arena a chance to rush the floor.
The Salukis? second-leading rebounder at 6.1 per game, Jackson might have to grab a few more without Early on the floor. After scoring nine and 11 points, respectively, in his last two games, both double-digit losses, SIU might settle for his normal 16 and 6.
?I visited with Desmar personally (Friday), and I just said, ?Hey, we have to have better effort out of you. We have to have better play,?? said SIU coach Barry Hinson. ?I think sometimes he feels the pressure of being referred to as the best player, and I said, ?Sorry. That?s part of it. When you score 28, 29 and 21, and then you can?t back it up, there?s a target on your back. That?s part of the by-product. You have to play hard every game.??
Creighton (17-3, 6-2 MVC) comes off its first back-to-back losses of the season and presents the Salukis with a myriad of defensive challenges.
Forward Doug McDermott, the preseason Valley player of the year who is second in the nation in scoring to Virginia Tech?s Erick Green at 23.8 points per game, stands 6-8 and averages 7.1 rebounds per game. Senior center Gregory Echenique, who stands 6-9, 260, averages 10 points and 7.3 rebounds per game and has nearly more blocks (35) than the Salukis (47).
The Bluejays just happen to be the top 3-point shooting team in the nation, percentage-wise, at 44.1 percent and lead the Valley with 187 triples in 20 games. SIU allowed its last two opponents to sink a combined 17-of-39 from behind the arc.
?Much like we did at Northern Iowa, I think there?s only one way to slow down another team?s offense. You have to have good offense on your side of the ball, as well, and you have to get great possessions,? Hinson said. ?What we did at Northern Iowa limiting them to 58 points had a lot to do with our patience on the offensive end. Now it would have helped if we could have scored at a little bit better rate than we did; but if I was to take something from the Northern Iowa game, our guys tried to do what we asked them to do.
?We just couldn?t put the ball in the basket.?
