Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009 | 4:07 p.m.
Matchups for the new annual men's basketball series between the Mountain West and the Missouri Valley Conferences were announced on Wednesday afternoon.
UNLV draws an intriguing contest, as perennial NCAA Tournament Cinderella story Southern Illinois will make a trip to the Thomas & Mack Center on Nov. 21.
The conferences agreed on a four-year deal to have nine annual matchups. Bradley will visit BYU on Nov. 13 in the series opener, and the final tilt will have Wyoming traveling to face Northern Iowa on Dec. 23.
The rest of the first-year contests include Colorado State at Indiana State on Nov. 20, Air Force at Missouri State on Dec. 5, TCU at Wichita State on Dec. 12, Creighton at New Mexico and Illinois State at Utah on Dec. 19, and San Diego State at Drake on Dec. 22.
Southern Illinois, which appeared in six straight NCAA Tournaments from 2002-07, finished 17-14 a year ago and landed in the NIT. The Salukis are regarded as one of the nation's toughest defensive teams year-in and year-out.
SIU is 7-9 so far this season and 2-3 in league play.
They landed in the Sweet Sixteen in 2002 under current Illinois head coach Bruce Weber. Also on his staff that year was his eventual successor -- current Purdue coach Matt Painter. Chris Lowery, who followed Painter, took the program back to the regional semifinals in 2007. The Salukis advanced to the second round in 2005.
The challenge is similar to those set up between the ACC/Big Ten and the Pac-10/Big XII.
Evansville, which finished last in the MVC last season, will not participate in the challenge next season.
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