After a year in the weight room, the Salukis are looking for a strong start to the basketball season.
SIU hopes it will start its season when it hosts Henderson State at 3:05 p.m. Saturday at SIU Arena in an exhibition game.
Head coach Chris Lowery said the main concern for the team during the offseason was bulking up.
“We were not physically able to deal with our league, our non-conference schedule and it caught up with us at the end,” Lowery said. “Our focus was on getting bigger, faster, stronger — and I think our guys did that.”
Kevin Dillard, who was listed as 160 pounds last year, said weight was just one of his concerns entering the season. He is listed at 170 pounds entering this season.
“I focused on putting on some weight and becoming a better leader. I felt last year, I wasn’t ready to become a leader at such a young age,” Dillard said. “But now I feel capable of leading this team a little bit better.”
SIU is looking to rebound after finishing 13-18 last season. It was the first time SIU had a losing record since going 14-16 in the 1997-98 season.
By the end of last season, the Salukis were only dressing eight players, and only two of them were seniors.
Tony Freeman could provide the senior leadership the team lacked last year.
Freeman sat out all last season after transferring from Iowa. In his final year there, he averaged 13.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. Lowery said Freeman brings an element to the team that has been lacking in recent years.
“He’s a scorer, plain and simple,” Lowery said. “And we haven’t had one of those since (Jamaal) Tatum left.”
Freeman said while the style of play at SIU is different from Iowa; it was not too much of a jump.
“I like to go there and bang, and run up and down. This whole system is what I was used to in high school,” Freeman said. “Making the transition from Iowa to SIU was a little different, but sitting out a year, I got used to it.”
Saturday’s game will be the first of two exhibition games for SIU. The Salukis will also face Southern Indiana State on Nov. 7 before starting the season against the University of Tennessee-Martin Nov. 14.
Dillard said the exhibition season is a good time for the younger players on the team.
“This is going to be a confidence booster. Especially for the freshman just so they can play their first D-I game and just get their feet wet before we starting playing regular season games,” Dillard said.
Freeman said after the last two weeks of practice, everybody is excited to get out and play another team, even if it doesn’t matter in the standings.
“It doesn’t matter if we were playing Duke, we are just ready to get out there,” Freeman said. “We’re pumped. Practice has been tough, and we’re just looking to go out and play against another team.”
Ryan Voyles can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 256.
