If there is a good time to host Creighton's men's basketball team this season, tonight might be it for SIU.
The Bluejays (21-5, 11-4 Missouri Valley Conference) fell out of both major top 25 polls Monday after losing its second and third straight games last week. The Salukis (8-18, 5-10 MVC) dropped their sixth straight road game Saturday at Indiana State, but return home to try to extend Creighton's longest losing streak of the season to four games. A disappointing 5-10 in the league, SIU is 4-3 at home in Valley play with wins against Illinois State, Indiana State, Bradley and Evansville.
"They're a good team, so obviously, they're a little bit down, where they are, and it doesn't help them that the national media's killing them at this point, whether they're going to get in (to the NCAA tournament) or not," said SIU coach Chris Lowery. "Those are the pressures, when you're making a run like that, you don't want your kids to feel. Whether they can deflect that away from them and get them back focused is kind of up to them, but for us, it's a good time for us, and we need to play hard against them."
Creighton was questioned last week by The Associated Press as to if another loss or two could knock them out of what appeared to be a sure NCAA bid after back-to-back losses to Evansville and Northern Iowa. The Bluejays then lost at home to Wichita State, 89-68, on Saturday, which put the Shockers two games up with three to play in the race for the top seed at the MVC tournament. Monday, ESPN.com's Joe Lunardi had both Wichita State and Creighton as six seeds in his latest Bracketology, a virtual guess at what the NCAA bracket could look like if it was announced then.
Wichita State was in the East Region, while the Bluejays appeared in the West.
SIU senior forward Mamadou Seck, a combined 0-3 against the Bluejays, said the Salukis couldn't look at Creighton's recent re-sults if it hoped to win tonight.
"They're a good team," he said. "They were 15th in the nation before the last three, so they're a good team, but as a player you always want to play a good team. And they're a good team."
The Bluejays, the top offensive team in the league (79.5 points per game), are also the top 3-point shooting team in the Valley at 42.6 percent. Only Northern Iowa (217) has made more 3s than Creighton (216), which could mean trouble for SIU. Indiana State, which entered Saturday's game against the Salukis eighth in the league in 3-point shooting, set an NCAA record by going 12-for-12.
The Bluejays (21-5, 11-4 Missouri Valley Conference) fell out of both major top 25 polls Monday after losing its second and third straight games last week. The Salukis (8-18, 5-10 MVC) dropped their sixth straight road game Saturday at Indiana State, but return home to try to extend Creighton's longest losing streak of the season to four games. A disappointing 5-10 in the league, SIU is 4-3 at home in Valley play with wins against Illinois State, Indiana State, Bradley and Evansville.
"They're a good team, so obviously, they're a little bit down, where they are, and it doesn't help them that the national media's killing them at this point, whether they're going to get in (to the NCAA tournament) or not," said SIU coach Chris Lowery. "Those are the pressures, when you're making a run like that, you don't want your kids to feel. Whether they can deflect that away from them and get them back focused is kind of up to them, but for us, it's a good time for us, and we need to play hard against them."
Creighton was questioned last week by The Associated Press as to if another loss or two could knock them out of what appeared to be a sure NCAA bid after back-to-back losses to Evansville and Northern Iowa. The Bluejays then lost at home to Wichita State, 89-68, on Saturday, which put the Shockers two games up with three to play in the race for the top seed at the MVC tournament. Monday, ESPN.com's Joe Lunardi had both Wichita State and Creighton as six seeds in his latest Bracketology, a virtual guess at what the NCAA bracket could look like if it was announced then.
Wichita State was in the East Region, while the Bluejays appeared in the West.
SIU senior forward Mamadou Seck, a combined 0-3 against the Bluejays, said the Salukis couldn't look at Creighton's recent re-sults if it hoped to win tonight.
"They're a good team," he said. "They were 15th in the nation before the last three, so they're a good team, but as a player you always want to play a good team. And they're a good team."
The Bluejays, the top offensive team in the league (79.5 points per game), are also the top 3-point shooting team in the Valley at 42.6 percent. Only Northern Iowa (217) has made more 3s than Creighton (216), which could mean trouble for SIU. Indiana State, which entered Saturday's game against the Salukis eighth in the league in 3-point shooting, set an NCAA record by going 12-for-12.
