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Southern Illinois opens against in-state rival

Nov 17, 2007 - 2:14 PM Northern Illinois (0-3) at No. 21 Southern Illinois (0-0) 8:05 pm EST

CARBONDALE, Illinois (Ticker) - After a pair of routs in exhibition games, No. 21 Southern Illinois opens the regular season Saturday against Northern Illinois.

The Salukis are coming off a school-record 29-win season that included their third trip to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16. Southern Illinois, 79-3 at home since the start of the 2001-02 season, return 10 players that played at least 10 minutes per game in 2006-07.

Senior guard Bryan Paradise is the top returning scorer at 15.3 points per game, followed by senior forward Michael Hart (9.3) and senior forward Egan Grafel. The Salukis, who won the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title five times in six years, have won 20 or more games and reached the NCAA Tournament six consecutive years.

The Huskies are coming off a tough performance at the BTI Classic, losing to Northern Iowa, UMass and Cal Poly. Northern Illinois is allowing an average of 88.3 points per game and 34.3 free throw attempts.

Senior guard Ryan Paradise leads the Huskies in scoring, averaging 15.3 points.

Northern Illinois is 2-24 all-time against ranked opponents.

The two teams have played more than 75 times, but not since the 1996-97 season.