CARBONDALE - Chris Lowery pointed to a loss as the starting point for the 2009 season.

The Southern Illinois University men's basketball coach hoped the worst was over as his team began the new year. The Salukis went 5-7 in the 2008 part of their 30-game regular season, but played the strongest non-conference schedule in the Missouri Valley Conference, according to the latest RPI report. SIU faced two of the nation's top programs on back to back nights at Madison Square Garden, drew Saint Mary's (Calif.) College at Conseco Fieldhouse in the Wooden Tradition and faced Western Kentucky on the road.

The new year began with a bang. Days after falling to Northern Iowa on New Year's Eve to fall to 5-8, guard Torres Roundtree and forward Christian Cornelius left the team. SIU fell 67-60 at home against the Bulldogs in the first game of the new year, then managed to top Wichita State and Evansville. The two wins showcased the nine healthy players left, and may have returned a little of the Salukis' swagger.

"You can't compare, because we're a different team because of the people who left," Lowery said. "That's where the starting point has to be, is the Drake game, as a starting point to measure the season from. So far, we're 2-1 from that point, so we gotta continue to build from there."

Starting with tonight's game at Creighton (13-4, 3-2), SIU hopes to build on some positive changes.

Freshman guards Ryan Hare and Kevin Dillard appear to have locked up starting spots with solid play at both ends of the floor. Hare, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard, showed the ability to post up against the Shockers and is one of the team's top rebounders. Dillard leads the league freshmen and the Salukis in scoring at 12.2 points per game, and has become a brilliant complement to senior point guard Bryan Mullins.

Mullins broke the school's career assists record and is on pace to eclipse the steals record, too. He's still averaging more than 33 minutes per game, but is scoring nearly 10 points a game and is shooting better than 45 percent from behind the arc.

Carbondale High School grad Nick Evans, who's played less than 100 games because he was home-schooled until his junior year of high school, has turned into a solid contributor. Without the basketball, his 6-11 frame turned into a pure physical obstacle for opposing post players, and his 10 blocked shots lead the team. With it, he's been able to take good shots and keep the ball moving in the offense.

"The coaches really put a lot of work into me, and I really see stuff a lot better now than my last year of high school and my redshirt year," Evans said. "We've played some really big games against some tough competition. We've come up short a few times, and saw where we could make some improvements, and I think it's starting to show now."

The second half will, undoubtedly, bring challenges as Lowery tries to avoid his first losing season as a head coach. Eight of SIU's remaining 14 regular-season games will be away from SIU Arena, including tonight's game in Omaha. Road trips to Drake and Northern Iowa, two of the three teams tied for the league lead Monday, still loom on the horizon. Illinois State, which was a game back of the leaders Monday, still has two dates against the Salukis, beginning with next week's tilt in Normal.

Bradley coach Jim Les, whose Braves were in the lead entering their game Tuesday night at Indiana State, said there was still a big group at the top.

"You can never win the league in the first third of the season, but you can put yourself in the hunt, and I think several teams have done that," he said.

todd.hefferman@thesouthern.com / 351-5087