No. 2 Purdue joins SIU in hoops tourney at Sears
Men's college basketball returns to the Sears Centre in November with a chance for Chicago fans to get up close with No. 2-ranked Purdue and Southern Illinois Salukis.
The Fifth Annual Chicago Invitational Challenge at tje Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates will be held Nov. 26-27 and joining Big Ten power Purdue and SIU will be Wright State, Richmond, Austin Peay, Oakland, Southern University, and Charleston Southern.
Tournament prices are $92 for floor seats and lower bowl, and $62 for upper bowl and are good for all eight games. Tickets are available at participating school's ticket offices and after 10 a.m. Friday via 1-888-SEARSTIX (732-7784), searscentre.com, and the Sears Centre Arena Box Office.
The Purdue Boilermakers (27-5) will feature senior all-Big Ten forward E'Twaun Moore (16.4 ppg) and JaJuan Johnson (15.5 ppg), along with senior Robbie Hummel (15.7 ppg), who will be returning off season ending knee injury.
Southern Illinois returns three starters from last year's team that finished 15-15, led by senior forward Carlton Fay. Fay averaged 12.0 points and 3.4 rebounds, while shooting .381 from 3-point range. Also returning are junior guard Justin Bocot (9.1 points) and sophomore center Gene Teague (6.1 points, 4.6 rebounds), who was named the Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year.
The Spiders from the University of Richmond (26-5) are coming off their best season and first NCAA appearance since 2003.
With Atlantic 10 player of the year Kevin Anderson (17.8 ppg), the pre-season No. 21 ranked Spiders are one of the favorites to win the resurgent Atlantic 10 Conference Championship.
The Wright State raiders (20-12) under Chicago native and first year head Coach Billy Donlon are poised to have a fifth straight 20-win season.