SIU men’s basketball will seek revenge in a local rivalry and travel to east Texas for a third-consecutive weekend. Here’s a preview of this week’s matchups: 

Southeast Missouri State — 7 p.m. Wednesday at SIU Arena 

Last season, SEMO beat SIU 55-54 with a buzzer-beating three-pointer in Cape Girardeau, Mo. This season, with new head coach Rick Ray, the Redhawks are 0-5 with four of their five losses by 13 points or more.

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SEMO is the worst free-throw shooting team in the country, shooting 50.5 percent from the line. The team ranks 276th of 351 nationally in two-point shooting, 43.4 percent, and 331st in three-point shooting, 25 percent.

Junior guard Antonius Cleveland averages 13 points per game while shooting 40 percent. Cleveland can cause matchup problems for the Salukis becasue at 6 feet 6 inches, he can play multiple positions. He has played point guard, small forward and power forward this season.

Junior forwards Trey Kellum and Joel Angus III average 10.7 and 10 points per game respectively.

SIU has three double-figure scorers, including senior guard Anthony Beane, junior forward Sean O’Brien and junior guard Mike Rodriguez at 20.4, 13.6, and 10.4 points per game, respectively. 

North Texas — 5 p.m. Saturday at UNT Coliseum in Denton, Texas

This game will be the first of back-to-back Saturday matchups with the Mean Green, who play in Carbondale on Dec. 12.

As of Sunday, North Texas is 2-3 but winless against Division I opponents.

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The Mean Green’s matchup with the Salukis will be its third game of the week. North Texas plays Northern Iowa on Monday and Texas-Arlington on Thursday, both on the road. 

Much like SEMO, North Texas struggles from behind the arc, shooting 29.4 percent — 273rd in the country.

The Mean Green score 27.8 percent of their points on free throws, which is 20th in Division I.

 Junior guard J-Mychal Reese, a Texas A&M transfer, is 94.7 percent from the free-throw line this season.

Offensively, North Texas is led by sophomore forward Jeremy Combs who nearly averages a double-double a game with 17.4 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.

Combs will likely be covered by O’Brien who is averaging 7.6 rebounds per game but is coming off a career weekend where he scored 46 points and grabbed 21 rebounds in two games.

Sean Carley can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @SCarleyDE