CARBONDALE, Ill. - The men's basketball team took on Southern Illinois University in a preseason exhibition matchup on November 3rd, 2025, at the Banterra Center in Carbondale, Illinois.
The contest would not count towards McKendree's team and player records and statistics.
Score: McKendree University 42, Southern Illinois University 83
Record: Bearcats 0-0, 0-0 GLVC | Salukis 1-0, 0-0 MVC
HOW IT HAPPENED
Both teams showed their aggressiveness early in the game, where sophomore guard Rini Harris (O'Fallon, Ill.) gave the Bearcats their first score of the contest after SIU opened up the game with a sunken three-pointer. Fifth-year forward Noah Franklin (Cobden, Ill.) would chip one inside the paint subsequently after Harris to take an early 4-3 lead.
The Salukis wasted no time in using their home crowd to their advantage, as a 13-2 run catapulted them to go up by 10. A pound-for-pound layup by senior guard Cha'Vez Woods (Louisville, Ky.) and a calm tip-in from sophomore forward Wyatt Zellers (Scottsburg, Ind.) brought the squad back within single digits for a moment's time.
Despite SIU extending their lead again, senior guard Caleb Burton (O'Fallon, Ill.) would put McKendree on his back by scoring eight of their final 10 points of the first half, including a stepback three-pointer with four seconds remaining, as the Bearcats would find themselves down 20-40 heading into the extended break.
The two squads treaded evenly in half number two's opening minutes in large part due to sophomore forward Joshua Schönbäck (Kierling, Austria) earning his first bucket from beyond the arc. The Salukis held the Bearcats without a field goal for the next five minutes, but lifted the lid off the rim when the team knocked down back-to-back treys from redshirt sophomore forward Jakob Fredricksen (Elizabethtown, Ky.) and redshirt junior guard Justin King (Mascoutah, Ill.) to be down 32-54 with 11:19 remaining.
Fredricksen would nail his second three-pointer of the contest in McKendree's next made shot, whereas freshman guard Andrew Moore (Montgomery County, Mo.) gave his squad their next five points. But it would not come close, as the Salukis would take control of the game and win over the Bearcats, 83-42.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Burton led all Bearcat with eight, and was followed by Moore with seven and Fredricksen with six as the latter two each shot 50.0%.
• McKendree shot 27.8% from the field, 22.7% from deep, and 41.2% from the line.
• The Bearcats finished with eight second-chance points.
• McKendree had 23 bench points in the road contest.
• 20 of the Bearcats' 42 total points came from inside the paint.
UP NEXT
McKendree will officially tip-off their season when they compete in the annual GLVC/G-MAC Crossover from November 14th to 15th in Tiffin, Ohio at the Gilmore Center. There, the Bearcats will face the host Tiffin University on Saturday, and will play Malone University the next day to close out the event.
Both matchups will be streamed live and on-demand on FloCollege (FloSports) with a subscription purchase. Further details regarding the games will be made public in the coming days.
Keep up with McKendree University Men's Basketball on Facebook, X (Twitter), and Instagram. #GLVCmbb | #D2mbb
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