Drake University had plenty of reasons to believe it was set for a turnaround.

After starting the season 2-4, his Bulldogs defeated intrastate-rival Iowa State University 63-61 Dec. 10 before facing the SIUC men’s basketball team 10 days later.

Since the Iowa State win, Drake has lost 14 straight, including a 80-78 setback to the Salukis Dec. 10 to begin the streak. The Bulldogs have not been competitive during the skid either, losing by an average of almost 17.

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In tonight’s rematch at the SIU Arena, the Salukis look to continue Drake’s losing spell.

The Bulldogs sit in last place in Missouri Valley Conference at 0-13 and 3-18 overall. Drake was 0-18 in league play the previous year.

But SIUC coach Rich Herrin knows this can be a dangerous game, especially after Drake eliminated Wichita State University from last season’s MVC tournament.

Our players know that Drake beat Wichita last year, Herrin said. You always have to be concerned when this team comes in.

They don’t have anything to lose, and the pressure is on us a little bit. If they have luck hitting the three, then we’ll struggle all night.

The Salukis are coming off a win at the University of Northern Iowa Saturday. A win tonight would put them at the .500 mark, as SIUC is 11-12 overall and 6-7 in league play.

Junior guard Monte Jenkins led SIUC with a career-high 30 points in the win over the Panthers. But Jenkins said he was fortunate enough to hit the big shots, and he expects to see a more balanced effort tonight.

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I’m just going to go out and play my game and let it happen, he said. I’m not playing for myself, I’m trying to win.

We’ve got to beat these teams if we’re going to move up in the rankings. We know Drake is not a good team, but that’s no reason not to give it your all.

Sophomore guard Matt Woodley leads a futile Bulldog scoring attack that averages a league-low 61.3 points per game. Woodley (10.9 points per games) is one of three sophomores in the starting lineup, and Drake has only three seniors on the entire roster.

The Bulldogs also recently lost back-to-back games against Bradley University 79-53 Feb. 1 and 67-54 Feb. 7.

They’re young and they don’t have great confidence, Herrin said. It’s hard to have great effort and intensity when you struggle.

The last time the two teams met, SIUC squeaked out a victory in Des Moines, Iowa. Sophomore forward Chris Thunell does not want to have to deal with the embarrassment of losing to the worst team in the conference.

The last time we played them, we made a lot of turnovers, Thunell said. We need to turn it up because we don’t want to be the team that loses to them.

The Salukis face Drake University at 7:05 tonight at SIU Arena.

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