SIUE – Finding a Place at the Table

(St. Louis, MO) – Making the transition into Division 1 and the Ohio Valley Conference has not been easy for Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, but they are making great progress.

SIUE didn’t qualify for “Music City Madness”, the league’s post season tournament in their first year of OVC play and have finished well below .500 in each of their Division 1 seasons.

Head Coach Lennox Forrester’s team has won seven of their last 10 games and are 7 and 6 in conference action. With three games left they are roughly one win away from qualifying for this year’s festivities in Nashville and have already won more games than in any of the last five seasons.

The Cougars are a team that seems to have found themselves during league play. With a record of 4-10 outside the OVC, only one Cougar averaged double figures in the scoring column, but in their 13 conference games four players (Donivine Stewart, Kris Davis, Keaton Jackson and Rozell Nunn) reach that level. Only Davis played for Forrester last season.

So as those transfers have learned how to play with one another, more success has occurred.

Stewart, a Bradley transfer is leading SIUE in scoring during league games (13.6) and is handing out five assists per OVC tilt. Jackson, a junior college transfer gives the Cougars a unique player for many mid-major programs. He has size! While 6’10”, the Vancouver, Washington native is not a classic big man, but is long and athletic and his contributions to Cougar success are growing.

Forrester’s experience at two successful Missouri Valley Conference programs has prepared him to build the SIUE program on a firm foundation.

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