NORMAL–One of the great all-time Redbirds reached another milestone early in the game. Forward Jackie Carmichael put in a bucket with time expiring on the shot clock early in the first half for his 800th career point as a Redbird. He followed that up a couple minutes later with an alley-oop feed from Nic Moore that sent the crowd into a frenzy.

The Redbirds played an overall consistent game and took down their in-state conference rival by a score of 60-40.

Carmichael helped pace the Redbirds by scoring the first seven points while the Salukis looked for an answer to defend him. Carmichael blocked a shot by Kendal Brown-Surles about 7 minutes into the first half in spectacular fashion.

While the Salukis looked to stop Carmichael, the Redbirds looked for a way to stop Senegal-native Mamadou Seck. Seck leads Southern Illinois in all three major scoring categories this season.

The score remained close throughout the entire first half until close to 6 minutes left in the half when the Redbirds went on a 7-0 run to increase their lead over their in-state rival. The Redbirds took a 26-17 lead into the half after an impressive half by Jackie Carmichael.

The Redbirds opened up the second half with a breakaway dunk by John Wilkins that got the crowd going once again. Nic Moore followed that up a few minutes later with a three-pointer that gave the Redbirds what was their largest lead of the day with a 15-point lead.

The Salukis struggled in the second half to create their own shots as the Redbirds continually played suffocating defense. On the other end the Redbirds managed to get good penetration against the Southern Illinois defense as well as create their own shots.

Throughout the second half the scoring went back and forth as the Redbirds held a commanding lead over the Salukis. Southern Illinois simply had no answer to combat the Redbirds high-powered offense. Carmichael and Wilkins were key players as they led in points and rebounds, respectively.
Jackie Carmichael capped off the victory with another alley-oop off of an in-bounds pass from Bryant Allen with five minutes left. With the win the Redbirds move into third place in a key Missouri Valley Conference matchup.