CARBONDALE - Southern Illinois University's men's basketball team will get two former head coaches in the 2010-2011 non-conference schedule.
Wednesday, the Salukis were paired with former leader Matt Painter and preseason No. 2 Purdue in the third round of the Chicago Invitational Challenge. SIU is scheduled to play the Boilermakers at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates Friday, Nov. 26, at 7:30 p.m. It will be the last of four games the day after Thanksgiving.
Win, and the Salukis will get the winner of Richmond and Wright State Saturday at 7 p.m. Lose, and SIU will draw the loser of Richmond/Wright State at 4:30. The eight-team field is not a true tournament. The teams were split into four-team pods, with the winners taking on the winners, and so forth, with a guarantee of two games in Chicago.
SIU will host Austin Peay and Charleston Southern prior to going to Chicago as part of the event. The dates and times of those games have not been announced.
Purdue was ranked second in the country in ESPN analyst Andy Katz's latest preseason poll, right behind defending national champion Duke. The Boilermakers return two guys who entered the NBA draft initially, guard E'Twaun Moore and forward JaJuan Johnson, as well as former Big Ten player of the year Robbie Hummel. Purdue is expected to return three starters and 11 of 14 lettermen from last season.
Purdue finished 29-6 last year in Painter's fifth season.
Painter led SIU to a 25-5 mark in his only season in Carbondale as a head coach. The Salukis won the 2004 Missouri Valley Conference title with a 17-1 record and reached the first round of the NCAA tournament, where they fell to Alabama 65-64. Painter left following the season to become the head coach in waiting for Gene Keady.
SIU will take on former Saluki head coach Bruce Weber in Champaign Nov. 14. Weber, now at Illinois, led the Fighting Illini to a 21-15 record last season but could return five starters. Weber added McDonald's All-American Jereme Richmond and 7-foot center Meyers Leonard, who finished third in the Illinois Mr. Basketball voting.
Richmond comes off its best season in school history and its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2004. The Spiders return three starters off last season's 29-6 squad, including Atlantic 10 player of the year Kevin Anderson. Richmond has been ranked in the top 35 in five different polls this year, the highest at No. 21 by FoxSports.com's Jeff Goodman.
Wright State finished 20-12 last season and could return two starters for first-year coach Billy Donlon.
SIU is 0-2 lifetime against Purdue, 2-0 against Wright State and has never played Richmond.
For more on this story, please see Thursday's editions.
todd.hefferman@thesouthern.com / 618-351-5087
