It’s do or die for the men’s basketball team Saturday when fifth place Drake University rolls into the SIU Arena at 7:05 p.m. with a 7-7 mark in the Missouri Valley Conference.

The Salukis, 4-10 in the conference, must put together a series of victories in their remaining four games against Drake and conference leader Bradley at home, and hit the road to battle10th-place Indiana State and seventh-place Evansville.

SIUC’s last meeting with the Bulldogs, Jan. 25, resulted in a 87-67 mauling of the Dawgs, and put SIUC in a four game losing rut which eventually led into a 1-6 slide until the Feb. 11 74-71 victory over second-place Illinois State.

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With sophomore guard Shane Hawkins’ 20 point effort against Tulsa Wednesday, SIUC coach Rich Herrin said Hawkins’ performance opens up offensive opportunities for other members of the offense.

I don’t think there is any doubt about it. When (Troy) Hudson and Hawkins are on a role, it gives people like Scott Burzynski a shot from the outside, and that’s what we need, he said. Jaratio Tucker can also create and plays hard, and Monte Jenkins did a good job for us (against Tulsa).

I didn’t know this, but Hawkins was sick with the flu (earlier this season), and I think he is stronger now, and he’s got his legs back.

With the Salukis a game-and-a-half behind eighth-place Northern Iowa, and a berth in the MVC Tournament, Herrin said his squad is not giving up on making post season play.

We’re trying to win every ball game, and we had a good effort in the Tulsa game; but we just ran out of gas, and they beat us on the boards late, he said. I think our players have an advantage that they don’t get to high or too low (in their expectations), but they were down after the game last night.

Herrin also said one of the keys to the Saluki victories this season has been shooting over 40 percent from the floor, and fatigue may have been the difference in the previous meeting with Drake, but his squad has had an opportunity to rest more later in the season.

Drake pulls into Carbondale after a 74-52 loss to Illinois State Wednesday, a team which the Dawgs have swept the series from this season, but Herrin said the outcome of that game is irrelevant to Saturday’s game against the Bulldogs.

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That score doesn’t mean a thing, he said. I think our players know we’re still alive, and we have got to win. That shows after last night (Wednesday), and our players want to get to St. Louis.

We want to get to St. Louis, but we’re not going to make a big issue. We really can’t control everything. We can control what we can do, and we’re going to have to have some help.