SIUE Cougars

The SIUE Cougars play at the Vadalabene Center in Edwardsville, Illinois, one of the newer additions to Division I basketball in the Ohio Valley Conference. Still a young program by Division I standards, SIUE has moved quickly from afterthought to contender, culminating in a breakthrough NCAA Tournament trip. The Cougars have built a program on rapid, self-made improvement. It's a name that's gone from unfamiliar to respected in barely a decade and a half.

SIUE basketball began play in 1967 under Hall of Fame coach Harry Gallatin, competing for decades at the Division II level. The program transitioned to Division I starting in 2008, joining the Ohio Valley Conference, and became fully eligible for NCAA postseason play by 2012. In 2025, SIUE won the OVC Tournament championship to earn its first-ever NCAA Division I Tournament berth, falling to overall No. 2 seed Houston in the first round.