Preview: Miami vs. Southern Illinois

Who: Miami (8-16, 3-9 MAC) at Southern Illinois (11-16, 4-12 MVC) in Ramada Worldwide BracketBuster series

When: 3:05 p.m. Saturday

Where: SIU Arena, Carbondale, Ill.

Radio: 1450, 1230, 980, 101.3, 100.3

Probable Miami starters: Will Felder, 6-7, Jr., F, 11.4; Drew McGhee, 6-11, Jr., C, 5.4; Reggie Johnson, 6-1, Fr., G, 8.7; Geovonie McKnight, 6-3, Fr., G, 5.7; Allen Roberts, 6-3, Jr., G, 12.8

Probable Southern Illinois starters: Dantiel Daniels, 6-5, So., F, 8.1; Kendal Brown-Surles, 5-9, Sr., G, 5.8; Desmar Jackson, 6-5, Jr., G, 15.0; T.J. Lindsay, 6-3, Jr., G, 3.6; Jeff Early, 6-1, Sr., G, 11.9

About Miami: The RedHawks are 1-0 in this series, winning 77-72 in Carbondale on Dec. 28, 1956. … Miami is 5-4 in BracketBuster games, but has lost four of the last five. … McGhee made his first start since Nov. 13 last Saturday against Buffalo and scored a team-high 13 points, his fourth double-digit scoring effort of the season. … MU has been outscored by exactly 61 points in each half this year, 767-706 in the first half and 917-856 in the second. … Sophomore guard Will Sullivan (41.0) and junior guard Josh Sewell (38.5) are the top two active RedHawks in 3-point shooting percentage in 2012-13.

About Southern Illinois: The Salukis are in last place in the 10-team Missouri Valley Conference. … SIU is shooting an MVC-worst 64.7 percent from the foul line. … Early is tied for fifth in the MVC in rebounding with a 7.2 average. … Daniels has been slowed by injuries this season, but is finally back to 100 percent. He's shooting 60.7 percent from the field, yet only 48.8 percent from the charity stripe.

Coach John Cooper on Southern Illinois: "They might be about the same size as us, so it's probably our most even matchup of the year. They're a quick team. They've got a bunch of guards that have the ability to put the ball down on the floor. They're more athletic than we are, they compete very hard and they come from a very good league, so we'll have our hands full."

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