Arena #140: SIU Arena - Southern Illinois vs. Illinois St.

For the final road trip of the 2018-19 season, it was time to make a visit to the penultimate arena I had yet to check out in the state of Illinois, SIU Arena in Carbondale, IL.  On this day, the host Southern Illinois Salukis were taking on their upstate conference rival Illinois St.  SIU Arena is a pretty impressive facility for a school in the Missouri Valley Conference.  The arena is well designed and right-sized building given the fanbase and the location.  I always appreciate when arenas are laid out to where there’s really no bad seat in the building and I would say SIU Arena is one of those places.  Plus it’s always fun to be at a game on senior day, even if you have no real connection to the school or the players as there’s some added energy in the building on those days.  I wasn’t sure what to expect from the matchup, but it turned out to be a pretty competitive game throughout until the Salukis ultimately pulled away at the end to send the senior day crowd home happy.

Exterior of the SIU Arena in Carbondale, IL

Inside the seating bowl of the arena

Opening tip between the Salukis and the Redbirds

Illinois St. with a 3-point attempt during the second half

Arena #111: Ford Center - Evansville vs. Southern Illinois

Final travel weekend for the 2017-18 season started in downtown Evansville, IN at the Ford Center for a Missouri Valley Conference matchup between the Evansville Purple Aces and the Southern Illinois Salukis.  My 8th arena in the MVC was a fairly new and modern arena, though as it serves as a multi-purpose arena for all of Evansville, the arena seemed to be a little too big for a school that has struggled in basketball for the better part of the last couple decades.  Being located in basketball-crazed Indiana, however, seemed to have brought out more fans than I might have expected for this matchup of 2 of the poorer teams in the Valley this season.  In the end, the Purple Aces ended up pummeling the Salukis all afternoon long turning this one into a bit of a snoozer.

Outside the Ford Center on a rainy Saturday afternoon

The arena was nice, but a bit sparsely populated on this day

Opening tip between the Purple Aces and Salukis

One of the many baskets Evansville scored early and often in this matchup