May 28, 2009

Cape Girardeau, Mo. - Regional rivalries will return to the Southeast Missouri State University basketball with head coach Dickey Nutt's first Southeast team scheduled to play Saint Louis, Arkansas State, Southern Illinois-Carbondale and Memphis.

"Coaches learn that the two most important elements in building a great basketball program are recruiting and scheduling," Nutt said. "In scheduling you want to schedule opponents according to what type of team you are expected to have. I've departed from that this season somewhat in order to give our fans the opportunity to see us play the top teams in our region but more importantly to enhance our recruiting. Everywhere I have gone since taking the Southeast job, fans always want to know when we are going to play SIU. Well, we will play the Salukis at the Show Me Center this season.

"We may not be ready as a program to play teams like Saint Louis and SIU, but it is time to get ready if we are going to compete in the Ohio Valley Conference. I think our players will look forward to the challenge."

The Redhawks will open the season in St. Louis going against SLU at the new Chaifetz Arena on Saturday, Nov. 14 and Nutt likes the idea of playing a game in St. Louis against the Rick Majerus coached Billikens of the Atlantic 10 Conference. "We want to make St. Louis one of our top recruiting areas and try and have great presence in this city." Our fan base is strong in St. Louis and we want to do everything we can to give our fans a chance to see us play a quality opponent."

The Redhawks and Billikens last played during the 2004-2005 season with the Redhawks winning 65-49 at the Savvis Center. The Bills lead the series 7-4.

Southeast will open the home regular season by hosting Arkansas State on Wednesday, Nov. 18. Nutt coached the Red Wolves for 13 seasons and ranks as the second winningest coach in ASU history just two games shy of being the all time wins leader. He also finished his tenure at ASU just nine wins short of being the all-time win leader in Sun Belt Conference history with 102 wins, placing him second behind the legendary Gene Bartow.

"This will be an interesting game to say the least. Arkansas State is a fine program with great fan support and I'm sure this will be a game where they will bring fans. I will look forward to this game with all respect, but I can't wait to show off our facility and our great fan support. My wish would be to have a sell out crowd. That would be nice."

Arkansas State beat Southeast 86-67 last season in Jonesboro in the renewal of the long series that shows Southeast with a 38-25 series lead. The last time Arkansas State played at the Show Me Center, the Redhawks beat the Nutt coached ASU team 74-71 in 1999.

The long anticipated renewal of the SIU series will be on Wednesday Dec. 9 when the Salukis play at the Show Me Center. SIU leads the longest series in Southeast history, 68-44. The teams last me during the 2004-2005 season with the Salukis winning 72-68. The last win by Southeast was 87-84 in 2000 when current Saluki coach Chris Lowery was an assistant at Southeast.

The Redhawks will play the nationally prominent Memphis Tigers at the FedExForum in Memphis on Tuesday, Dec. 22. The Tigers and Redhawks series is tied 2-2. The teams last met during the 1993-94 season with Memphis winning 109-83.

"Memphis will have an outstanding team, but again, we want to have presence in Memphis. In my opinion, Memphis is the biggest basketball city in the south and we want to use this game somehow to our advantage. We will look forward to this game." Nutt said.

The remainder of the Southeast schedule that will feature 16 games at the Show Me Center will be released in the near future when all contracts are signed.