SIUC senior Shane Hawkins has defense on his mind heading into St. Louis tonight.

After a disappointing 13-15 regular-season mark and 8-10 record in the Missouri Valley Conference, the eighth-seeded Salukis bring one of the league’s most potent offensive and rebounding attacks into the MVC Tournament opener tonight against ninth-seed University of Northern Iowa.

But it is SIUC’s roller-coaster defense that may make for an early trip back to Carbondale.

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We’re going to have to play a 40-minute basketball game in order to advance, and that’s something we haven’t done yet, Hawkins said. So maybe this is the time that we can turn it on.

The Salukis enter post-season play in the Kiel Center with the best rebounding team and third-best offensive team in the Valley. But SIUC’s defense, ranked ninth in the Valley, has left the Salukis scratching their heads several times this season.

Monday’s season-ending loss to Wichita State University is an example of the peaks and valleys SIUC has faced this season. The Salukis led by as many as 14 points in the first half and seemed to have control of the game.

But the Shockers took advantage of several open three-point attempts in shooting 53 percent from the field in the second half and earning a 70-66 win. After making just one of 14 three-pointers in the first half, Wichita State blistered the nets, going 9-for-13 behind the arc after halftime.

Our defense has too many lapses, Hawkins said. We could play defense for 30 minutes and just get killed the other 10. You saw that against Wichita. We played pretty well the first half, and they go on a 10-minute stretch where they just hit about four or five threes unguarded. And college basketball players are going to knock that shot down.

Vengeance will be on the minds of a Northern Iowa club that finished with its worst record (4-14) ever in MVC play. After sweeping the Panthers during the regular season, the Salukis could be faced with a repeat of last year’s disappointment.

SIUC beat Indiana State University twice during the 1996-97 regular season, including a 99-61 thumping at SIU Arena Jan. 25, 1997. The eighth-seeded Salukis appeared ready to advance to meet Illinois State in the second round of the MVC Tournament Feb. 28. after taking a 44-40 lead into halftime over the ninth-seeded Sycamores.

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However, SIUC fell apart in the second half. Indiana State outscored the Salukis 46-28 after halftime to roll to an 86-71 win.

Although his team is in the same situation this season, SIUC coach Rich Herrin is confident his team will come ready to win.

Can a good team beat another good team three times? Sure it can, Herrin said. But I would say that it will be a tough ballgame. They’re just like we are. It’s a brand new season. We all start from scratch, and we’ll be ready to go.

Northern Iowa limps into the tournament having lost 12 of its last 14 games. The Panthers were the best team in the Valley in December with a 6-2 record, but fell apart in the conference season after being hit by the injury bug.

With everyone back, Saluki sophomore Chris Thunell knows the Panthers will be a tough challenge.

I think it’s on everybody’s mind because we know that Northern Iowa is a good team, Thunell said. They’re a team that can be very explosive. It’s going to be hard to beat a team three times in one year, but we’ve got to go in there and definitely play our butts off.

The road gets tougher for the Salukis if they win tonight. Their next obstacle in their bid for an NCAA Tournament berth would be top-seeded Illinois State University Redbirds, who they play noon Saturday in the quarterfinals.

Hawkins said the temptation to overlook the Panthers could be deadly.

If you don’t take care of business Friday, then it doesn’t matter how rough the rest of the path was, Hawkins said. We’ve got to take it one game at a time. We know that we can beat anybody in the conference we’ve proven that. But you can’t get caught looking ahead and trying to play Monday night’s game Friday night.

SIUC battles ninth-seed University of Northern Iowa at 6:05 tonight in the opening round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at the Kiel Center in St. Louis.

The game can be heard on WXLT 95.1 FM or at http://www.siu.edu/~athletic.