SIUE Men Open Season Today

Southeran Illinois University-Edwardsville opens its 45th season of men's basketball this afternoon. The Cougars have an all-time record of 569-579.

OPENING DAY
Lennox Forrester is 1-4 in season openers during his time at SIUE. The Cougars haven't started a season 1-0 since defeating Harris Stowe 90-61 to open the 2007-08 season.

TONIGHT'S OPPONENT
Missouri is playing its first season of basketball as a member of the SEC. The Tigers return three letterwinners from a 2011-12 team that finished with an overall record of 30-5. The Tigers won their final Big XII Championship with a 90-75 defeat of Baylor in the championship game. Missouri earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament but was upset by No. 15 seed Norfolk State 86-84. First-year Head Coach Frank Haith earned National Coach of the Year Honors for his efforts.

SERIES STUFF
The Cougars and Tigers have met one previous time during the 2008-09 season-SIUE's first season of reclassification to NCAA Division I. Missouri defeated SIUE 107-57. Mark Yelovich is the only current Cougar that appeared in the game. He led SIUE with 13 points. Laurence Bowers is the one Missouri holdover. He scored 10 points in the Tigers win.

AGAINST THE SEC
The Cougars are 0-3 against current members of the SEC, which includes the previous loss to Missouri though they were still Big XII members at the time. The Cougars lost back-to-back games at South Carolina and at Auburn at the start of the 1991 season.