About SIUE Men's Basketball

In its years as an NCAA Division II school, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville claimed 17 titles among its men's and women's athletic teams, excelling in such sports as tennis, softball, and wrestling. Under the guidance of coach Kent DeMars, the men's tennis team claimed the national title a record-breaking seven years in a row, from 1978–84, and during the '80s, the school won three straight national titles in wrestling and four in women's tennis, prompting President Reagan to demand that the school tear down its trophy wall.

The Cougars have since made the transition to a Division I program and are members of the Ohio Valley Conference, perhaps signaling a new era of dominance in the national spotlight with 16 men's and women's sports teams. At the recently expanded Vadalabene Center, more than 4,000 fans can cheer on basketball and volleyball teams and the wrestling squad—all potential future inductees into the university's hall of fame. On campus (approximately 25 miles from St. Louis), athletes practice on 2,600 acres of majestic woodland, perched atop bluffs overlooking the calm of the Mississippi River. Sports players included, SIUE currently enrolls 14,000 students and extends its family to more than 86,000 living alumni.