Thursday’s weather and airplane mechanical problems may have been a blessing in disguise for the men’s basketball team.

After the team’s efforts to reach Des Moines, Iowa failed, Saluki coach Rich Herrin considered the safety of his team over the importance of a game. He decided that SIUC would do whatever it took to cancel the game even forfeit if needed.

Luckily for the Dawgs, Drake and SIUC officials agreed on rescheduling the contest for tonight.

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The team will leave Carbondale Tuesday morning for Des Moines, play the Bulldogs at 7:05 p.m., and then travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa to battle the University of Northern Iowa Wednesday.

The blessing may be that SIUC was able to rebound from its devastating loss to Bradley Jan. 15 with a confidence building victory at home against Wichita State Saturday night.

Herrin said the team is going to have a tough week, as the Salukis (9-6 overall, 2-2 in the MVC) battle Drake Tuesday, UNI Wednesday, and return home to take on Evansville Saturday.

We’ve just gotta play, be ready to play and use our depth, Herrin said. Were not going to have any time to prepare for Northern Iowa on Tuesday, so we will have to prepare for them on Monday and Drake on Sunday. Drake has to be the most important thing. We have to beat Drake.

Sophomore guard Shane Hawkins said the WSU game was a definite plus for the team to build on going into the three-game swing, but also said the team could not relax despite the victory.

We had a great effort for 40 minutes, and that’s what it takes, especially in the Valley, he said. You have to play great whether your playing the top teams or the bottom teams. Hopefully this will carry on. We have three very tough games, and three that we need to get.

During the WSU game, the Salukis played a zone defense due to the Shockers’ lack of outside shooting, and held Wichita State to six field goals in the first half.

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Hawkins said the zone defense will not always work to the extent that it did against a weak-shooting Shocker team.

There are times when you can play the zone against teams who have struggled shooting the three, or even the perimeter shot, and there’s time you have to play it, Hawkins said. I think teams that play the zone get lax, and when they have to go to the press or man-to-man, it shows.

As far as the Salukis’ consistency this season, Hawkins said the team is still young, and it takes time to figure out how the squad is going to perform on a given night.

That’s something we’re not going to know at the very beginning, he said. It’s something that’s going to take 10 or 15 minutes to figure out how we’re going to play. We can be very good, and we can be very bad. We have had some great wins, and we’ve had some very bad loses.