CARBONDALE (WSIL) --聽聽Southern Illinois hosts Austin Peay on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Banterra Center in the home opener for Saluki Basketball.聽
The game is billed as the聽Charles Helleny Tipoff Classic in honor of the late Charles Helleny, a long-time supporter of the program.
Helleny, who was known as "Mr. Southern Illinois," was a聽1957 SIU alum and聽generously donated the fourth-largest gift in Saluki Athletics history. He passed away in August 2019, and SIU's first home game against a Division I opponent each season is named in his honor.
The first 1,000 SIU students in attendance at the game will receive a free "Pack The Pound" t-shirt. The pregame show will feature a special instrumental rendition of the聽National Anthem, performed by renowned saxophonist Jeff Wisely.
The Salukis (0-1) are聽2-0 in home openers under head coach聽. SIU is trying to win three-straight home openers for the first time since winning 12-straight from 1998-99 to 2009-10.聽
Head Coach Bryan Mullins said Austin Peay is a good team and they are looking forward from Tuesday's loss.聽
鈥淥bviously, I'm disappointed in that we couldn't get the win on Tuesday night; we did it to ourselves with the turnovers. Little Rock is a good team 鈥� won a championship recently with Coach Walker. They have a great program and we didn't play well enough to win on the road. With all the mistakes and the turnovers, we had a chance to still win it and didn't. As far as where this team can go, this team has a very high ceiling. Coup [] hasn't practiced in three and a half weeks, obviously missed a game and has been out 鈥� so we're still getting guys back out on the court. We can't beat ourselves and find the best adjustment for our guys in what we can do on the road."
