SIU Men’s basketball to play in 2018 Continental Tire Las Vegas Holiday Invitational

The Continental Tire Las Vegas Holiday Invitational is pleased to announce the tournament field for this year’s event, to be held November 22-23, 2018 at the beautiful Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Joining Southern Illinois in the stellar field are Nevada, Tulsa, and UMass.

Southern Illinois returns all five starters and its top-four leading scorers from last year’s 20-win team, led by first-team All-District guard Armon Fletcher (14.1 ppg). Sean Lloyd Jr. (12.1 ppg) and Kavion Pippen (12.1 ppg) are two of Southern’s six seniors in 2018-19, and both earned postseason awards from the Missouri Valley Conference last year. Eric McGill and Thik Bol will both return to the Salukis after missing last season with injuries. Bol blocked an MVC-leading 76 shots in 2016-17. 

The Salukis also return Marcus Bartley and Aaron Cook, who tied for the team lead with 90 assists last year. Cook was named to the MVC’s Most Improved Team after averaging 9.8 points per game as a sophomore. Southern Illinois returns 83 percent of its scoring, 77 percent of its rebounding, and 79 percent of its assists from the 2017-18 team that won 20 games and finished second in the MVC, the best conference finish for the program since 2006-07.

FS1 presents coverage of four 2018 Continental Tire Las Vegas Holiday Invitational games played at Orleans Arena, televising two opening-round games on Thursday, Nov. 22, and the championship and consolation games on Friday, Nov. 23.

Each team will play four games in the Invitational – the first two at on-campus sites and the final two rounds at the Orleans Arena November 22-23. Hosting more than 200 events each year, the Orleans Arena is located just west of the Las Vegas strip and was recently named the #1 mid-size arena in the USA by Venues Today magazine.

Tickets for the final rounds in Las Vegas are available at participating teams ticket office and are available at the Orleans Arena box office via the internet at www.orleansarena.com.

About the field


Nevada returns four of its top five scorers in seniors Caleb Martin (18.9 ppg), Jordan Caroline (17.7 ppg), Cody Martin (14 ppg) and Lindsey Drew (8.1 ppg) from a team that went 29-8.  The Wolf Pack reached the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 and won its second consecutive outright Mountain West title.  The 29 wins tied the school record. Head coach Eric Musselman, the 2018 Mountain West Coach of the Year, returns for his fourth season leading the Wolf Pack and may have his most talented and deep team in his tenure at Nevada.   The Pack became just the second MW team to win back-to-back outright regular season titles going 15-3 in conference play last season after a 14-4 record in 2017.  They will seek to become the first MW school to win three consecutive outright regular season titles in 2018-19.
 
Tulsa returns eight letterwinners, including three starters, from last year’s team that registered 19 wins and finished fourth in the American Athletic Conference. Fifth-year head coach Frank Haith’s squad is led by senior point guard Sterling Taplin, who averaged 11.8 points and 4.4 assists per game while setting career highs in nearly every offensive category a season ago. The returning cast also includes 6-foot-8 junior forward Martins Igbanu (9.4 ppg/5.1 rpg) and 6-foot-5 senior wing DaQuan Jeffries (9.7 ppg/4.9 rpg). In all, the team brings back 56.3-percent of its offense from the 2017-18 campaign and the Golden Hurricane will receive a boost from 6-foot-7 sophomore forward Jeriah Horne, who sat out last season after transferring into the program.
 
UMass and Head Coach Matt McCall return six players and add four transfers and three freshmen to a squad that went 13-20 during a transition year a season ago. The Minutemen return the Atlantic 10 Most Improved Player in guard Luwane Pipkins, who averaged over 20 points per game to join the likes of former UMass stars Julius Erving and Marcus Camby while breaking the single-season three-point record and single-game scoring record with 44 points. Carl Pierre joins Pipkins as a returning starter who averaged over 12 points per game during his freshman campaign, reaching double-figures in the scoring column in 23 games on the year and in 17 of the last 19 games of the season.  
 
About Continental Tire


Based in Fort Mill, S.C., Continental Tire the Americas, LLC manufactures and distributes a complete premium line of passenger, light truck and commercial tires for original equipment and replacement markets. Our ultra-high, performance tires include award-winning technologies that focus on safety, help save money, and reduce CO2 emissions. Continental’s premium products are available at leading independent tire dealers, car dealers, and mass retail companies across North America. Continental Tire is a proud supporter of IMSA, Major League Soccer (MLS), West Coast Customs, World Racing, Lingenfelter Performance Engineering, and Petty’s Garage.


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