By Tom Weber 

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois opens Missouri Valley Conference play at Northern Iowa on Thursday at 7 p.m. in a game televised on ESPN3. The Salukis are 21-7 at home all-time against Northern Iowa and 7-21 on the road. SIU is 0-11 in the McLeod Center, which opened in 2007, and has lost 14-straight overall at Northern Iowa. The last road win at UNI came on Jan. 22, 2003 under head coach Bruce Weber, an 88-78 overtime victory. Last year, the Salukis were 4-5 in MVC road games, winning at Missouri State, Evansville, Loyola and Indiana State.

Sean Lloyd Jr. named to Las Vegas Invitational All-Tournament team
G Sean Lloyd Jr. (6-5, 210, Jr.) led the team to three wins in four games during the Las Vegas Invitational and was named to the All-Tournament team. His tournament averages were 17.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.0 steals, 35.5 minutes. Lloyd is the nephew of two-time MVC player-of-the-year Lewis Lloyd, who played two seasons at Drake (1980-81) and seven years in the NBA. Another uncle, Daryl Lloyd, also played at Drake and led the team in scoring in 1985 with 17.9 points per game.

Armon Fletcher against Northern Iowa at the SIU Arena last year (SIU Salukis photo)

G Armon Fletcher flourishes at hybrid forward
The Salukis unveiled a new, four-guard lineup on Dec. 13 versus Jackson State, inserting guard Aaron Cook into starting lineup in place of forward Jonathan Wiley, who had started the previous eight games. G Armon Fletcher (6-5, 207, Jr.) moved to the “hybrid four” position and has averaged 14.8 points and shot 47 percent from the field since the change. He scored a career-high 24-points against Jackson State.

Aaron Cook steps up on offense
G Aaron Cook (6-2, 185, So.) has made dramatic improvement in his offensive game as a sophomore.
2016-17    2017-18
Scoring    3.0 PPG    10.1 PPG
FG Percentage    .333    .450
3FG Percentage    .185    .400

Kavion Pippen leads team in field goal percentage, blocked shots
Juco transfer C Kavion Pippen (6-10, 240, Jr.) leads the team in field goal percentage (.585) and blocked shots (25). Pippen scored in double figures in seven-straight games to start the season. The nephew of NBA legend Scottie Pippen was named MVC Newcomer of the Week on Nov. 12 and again on Dec. 4. He had a career-high 24-point outing versus Jackson State.

Four-different players have topped 20 points
Through 13 games, the Salukis have already seen four-different players reach the 20-point mark in a game. Armon Fletcher and Kavion Pippen have done it twice, while Aaron Cook and Sean Lloyd have each done it once.

Salukis among Top 100 in three defensive categories
The Salukis rank No. 76 in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.410), No. 83 in blocked shots (4.2) and No. 93 in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.325).

Dawg Bites
•The Salukis have opened conference play with a win only once in the last seven years — at Loyola on Dec. 30, 2015.
•In the the last three games, SIU has 45 assists and only 19 turnovers.
•In the last two games, SIU is 39-of-45 (.867) from the free throw line.
•F Thik Bol (6-8, 202, Sr.) had knee surgery on Nov. 3 and is expected to return to practice when the team returns from Northern Iowa.
•G Eric McGill (6-2, 175, Jr.) injured his left hand on Dec. 17 and is out indefinitely.
•SIU has gone 95-consecutive games with at least one 3-point field goal and 1,003-consecutive games with at least one free throw (dating back to 1986).

Birthday Boys
Four players on SIU’s roster have birthdays within a two-week span of each other in December and early January —  Eric McGill (22nd), Tyler Smithpeters (26th), Aaron Cook (28th) and Thik Bol (6th).