2003–04 Southern Illinois Salukis men's basketball team

The 2003–04 Southern Illinois Salukis men's basketball team represented Southern Illinois University Carbondale during the 2003–04 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Salukis were led by first-year head coach Matt Painter and played their home games at the SIU Arena in Carbondale, Illinois as members of the Missouri Valley Conference. They finished the season 25–5, 17–1 in MVC play to finish as regular season champion. They lost in the semifinals of the MVC tournament to Missouri State, but did receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as No. 9 seed in the West region. The Salukis fell to No. 8 seed Alabama, 65–64,^[2] in the opening round.

2003–04 Southern Illinois Salukis men's basketball
MVC Regular season champion
NCAA tournament
Conference	Missouri Valley Conference
Ranking
AP	No. 23
Record	25–5 (17–1 MVC)
Head coach	Matt Painter (1st season)
Home arena	SIU Arena
Seasons ← 2002–03 2004–05 →

2003–04 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 23 Southern Illinois	17	–	1		.944			25	–	5		.833
Northern Iowa †	12	–	6		.667			21	–	10		.677
Wichita State	12	–	6		.667			21	–	11		.656
Creighton	12	–	6		.667			20	–	9		.690
Southwest Missouri State	9	–	9		.500			19	–	14		.576
Drake	7	–	11		.389			12	–	16		.429
Bradley	7	–	11		.389			15	–	16		.484
Indiana State	5	–	13		.278			9	–	19		.321
Evansville	5	–	13		.278			7	–	22		.241
Illinois State	4	–	14		.222			10	–	19		.345
† 2004 Missouri Valley Tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll[1]

Roster

2003–04 Southern Illinois Salukis men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown G 1 Darren Brooks 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Jr Jennings St. Louis, Missouri G 3 Jamaal Tatum 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Fr Helias Catholic Jefferson City, Missouri F 13 Brad Korn 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Sr   Oswego, IL C 21 Josh Warren 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 255 lb (116 kg) Jr   Washington, MO F 23 Jermaine Dearman 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Sr   Indianapolis, IN G 33 Kent Williams 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Sr   Mt. Vernon, IL	Head coach Matt Painter (Purdue) Assistant coach(es) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-conference regular season
Nov 22, 2003*		at Wyoming	W 67–62	1–0	Arena-Auditorium  Laramie, Wyoming
Nov 26, 2003*		Jacksonville State	W 84–49	2–0	SIU Arena  Carbondale, Illinois
Nov 29, 2003*		at Milwaukee	W 81–77	3–0	U.S. Cellular Arena  Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Dec 3, 2003*		Southeast Missouri State	W 71–58	4–0	SIU Arena  Carbondale, Illinois
Dec 6, 2003		at Drake	W 75–66	5–0 (1–0)	Knapp Center  Des Moines, Iowa
Dec 15, 2003*		at Wright State	W 79–73	6–0	Ervin J. Nutter Center  Fairborn, Ohio
Dec 17, 2003*		at Murray State	L 64–68	6–1	Regional Special Events Center  Murray, Kentucky
Dec 21, 2003*		Montana	W 82–71	7–1	SIU Arena  Carbondale, Illinois
Missouri Valley regular season
Dec 28, 2003		Illinois State	W 57–40	8–1 (2–0)	SIU Arena  Carbondale, Illinois
Jan 2, 2004*		Charlotte	L 59–64	8–2	SIU Arena  Carbondale, Illinois
Jan 7, 2004		at Indiana State	W 67–50	9–2 (3–0)	Hulman Center  Terre Haute, Indiana
Jan 11, 2004		Wichita State	W 73–64	10–2 (4–0)	SIU Arena  Carbondale, Illinois
Jan 14, 2004		Evansville	W 81–63	11–2 (5–0)	SIU Arena  Carbondale, Illinois
Jan 17, 2004		at Bradley	W 72–62	12–2 (6–0)	Carver Arena  Peoria, Illinois
Jan 21, 2004		at Illinois State	W 71–58	13–2 (7–0)	Redbird Arena  Normal, Illinois
Jan 25, 2004		Indiana State	W 53–44	14–2 (8–0)	SIU Arena  Carbondale, Illinois
Jan 28, 2004		at Wichita State	W 84–79	15–2 (9–0)	Charles Koch Arena  Wichita, Kansas
Jan 31, 2004		Northern Iowa	W 63–53	16–2 (10–0)	SIU Arena  Carbondale, Illinois
Feb 3, 2004		Missouri State	W 59–52	17–2 (11–0)	SIU Arena  Carbondale, Illinois
Feb 7, 2004*		at Creighton	W 61–60	18–2 (12–0)	Qwest Center Omaha  Omaha, Nebraska
Feb 11, 2004	No. 23	Drake	W 96–76	19–2 (13–0)	SIU Arena  Carbondale, Illinois
Feb 14, 2004	No. 23	at Missouri State	W 59–58	20–2 (14–0)	Hammons Student Center  Springfield, Missouri
Feb 18, 2004	No. 20	at Evansville	W 84–69	21–2 (15–0)	Roberts Municipal Stadium  Evansville, Indiana
Feb 21, 2004*	No. 20	Hawaii	W 66–62	22–2	SIU Arena  Carbondale, Illinois
Feb 24, 2004	No. 16	Creighton	W 68–60	23–2 (16–0)	SIU Arena  Carbondale, Illinois
Feb 28, 2004	No. 16	Bradley	W 72–71	24–2 (17–0)	SIU Arena  Carbondale, Illinois
Mar 1, 2004	No. 15	at Northern Iowa	L 52–68	24–3 (17–1)	UNI-Dome  Cedar Falls, Iowa
Missouri Valley tournament
Mar 6, 2004*	No. 15	vs. Evansville Quarterfinals	W 93–67	25–3	Savvis Center  St. Louis, Missouri
Mar 7, 2004*	No. 15	vs. Missouri State Semifinals	L 74–80	25–4	Savvis Center  St. Louis, Missouri
NCAA tournament
Mar 18, 2004*	(9 W) No. 23	vs. (8 W) Alabama First round	L 64–65	25–5	KeyArena  Seattle, Washington
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. W=West. All times are in Central Time.

Rankings

Main article: 2003–04 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

^[3]

Awards and honors

• Darren Brooks – MVC Player of the Year
• Matt Painter – MVC Coach of the Year (second of three straight season a different Saluki head coach received the honor – Bruce Weber (2003) and Chris Lowery (2005))