Dec. 3, 2003

THE TEAMS: Southeast Missouri is 3-1 after a season opening 63-62 win over Wisconsin-Green Bay, an 83-51 win over Kentucky Christian, a 61-50 loss to Montana and a 77-75 win over UC Santa Barbara.

Southern Illinois is 3-0 with road wins over Wyoming and Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a home win over Jacksonville State.

THE COACHES: Gary Garner is 95-83 in his 7th season at Southeast and is 343-247 in his 21st year as a collegiate head coach.

Matt Painter is 3-0 in his first season at SIU.

THE SERIES: SIU leads the series 66-44 and has won nine of the last 10 games. The last Southeast victory over SIU was 87-84 at the Show Me Center in 2000. The last Southeast win at the SIU Arena was 55-50 in 1982.

*** SOUTHEAST NOTES***

SOUTHEAST THIRD AT MONTANA TOURNEY: Southeast Missouri State claimed third place in the Montana Holiday Classic by beating UC Santa Barbara 77-75. The Indians lost to Montana 61-50 in the semi-finals.

GONNER MAKES ALL-TOURNAMENT: Junior Dainmon Gonner was selected to the All-Tournament team at the Montana Holiday Classic. He had 21 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two blocks and one steal vs. Santa Barbara and 10 points, seven rebounds, two assists, one block and three steals vs. Montana.

STREAK BUSTERS: Southern Illinois has the nation's second longest home win streak at 28 games. During the 2000 season Southeast ended Murray State's nation leading 47 game home win streak.

WINANS CLOSES ON MILESTONES: Junior guard Derek Winans has started 61 straight games at Southeast and has 901 career points. He needs just 99 points to become the 18th player in Southeast history to score 1,000 points.

CRADER CONTRIBUTES: Adam Crader, 6-11 backup center, is averaging 6.0 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. He had seven points on 3-4 shooting against Montana. After four games this season he has 24 points after scoring just 39 points in 22 games last season.

HALE WARMS UP: After making just three of his first 11 3-pointers, Brett Hale hit 2-3 vs. UC Santa Barbara as he scored 10 straight points late in the game. For the season, Hale averages 8.8 points per game and is shooting 39% from the field, 36% from three and 77% from the line.

BALANCED SCORING: Southeast has only two players averaging in double figures, but six players averaged 6.0 or more points per game. Dainmon Gonner leads scorers with 12.8 points per game while Derek Winans averages 10.0 per game, Brett Hale 8.8, Brandon Griffin 8.3, Norman Prather 8.0 and Adam Crader 6.0.

COPI-RITE PLAYER OF THE GAME: Copi-Rite, Inc. of Cape Girardeau will sponsor a Player of the Game after each Southeast home game. The game-by-game winners follow.

11-21 - Dainmon Gonner

11-24 - Brett Hale

INJURIES: Damarcus Hence has missed the last two games because of a sprained ankle. He is probable for the SIU game.

SOUTHEAST PICKED 4th IN OVC: The preseason poll of league coaches and sports information directors picked Southeast to finish fourth in the OVC behind Austin Peay, Morehead State and Murray State.

OVC STAT LEADERS RETURN: Junior guards Brett Hale and Kevin Roberts both led the OVC in statistical categories last season. Hale led the league in free throw percentage with 64-70 for .914.

Roberts led the league in assists with 179 and in assist/turnover ratio with 3.1. The 179 assists was the second highest single season market Southeast putting him just behind school record holder Dwayne Rutherford who had 200 assists during the 1998-99 season.

SID STREAK: Ron Hines, sports information director at Southeast Missouri State, has worked 668 consecutive basketball games. He has not missed a game since 1980. The streak is the longest in Division I basketball.

Gary Garner RADIO SHOW: The Gary Garner Radio Show will be heard each Wednesday from 6:00 until 7:00 p.m. live from Buffalo Wild Wings on 1220 AM. Erik Sean will host the show that will be shared with football coach Tim Billings this Wednesday.

Gary Garner TV SHOW: Southeast Missouri Basketball with Gary Garner will be seen each Thursday at 6:30 p.m. on UPN-The Beat beginning on Dec. 25. Steve Sotak will be host for the 30-minute show.

NEXT GAME: Southeast will host UMKC at the Show Me Center Saturday, 7:30 p.m., and then will go on the road to play the Arkansas Razorbacks on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 7:05 p.m., at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark.