MACOMB, Ill. - After playing four straight non-conference contests the Leathernecks (6-4, 1-1) will hit the road and resume Summit League action Friday at IUPUI (6-8, 0-2)...The Summit League game is slated to begin at 6 p.m. (CT). 

The Breakdown
Who: Western Illinois (6-4, 1-1) vs. IUPUI (6-8, 0-2)
When: Friday, Dec. 30 at 6 p.m.
Where: Indianapolis, Indiana
Arena: The Jungle (1,215)
Live Stats: HERE
Live Video: HERE

Radio
Leatherneck Sports Network (88.3 FM)
Radio Talent: Beau Spencer (play-by-play) & Adam Studzinski (color)
Listen HERE

A LOOK AT IUPUI: IUPUI, a fellow member of The Summit League, enters Friday night's game with a 6-8 overall mark, and a 0-2 league record...The Jaguars most recently defeated Valparaiso...IUPUI continued its hot December stretch on Friday as the Jaguars weathered a heavy second half storm to knock off Valparaiso, 97-88 inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis...The win was IUPUI's fourth straight...The Jaguars are led by the NCAA Division I's active scoring leader Alex Young, who was recently named Summit League Player of the Week, as well as the Lou Henson Award National Player of the Week...Young is averaging 20.1 PPG and 6.6 RPG...guard Stephen Thomas leads the Jaguars in assists per game with 4.1...IUPUI has outscored its opponents 73.7-73.1 per game this season...IUPUI is coached by Todd Howard (Louisville '93) who is in the midst of his first season with the Jaguars.

IUPUI  PROBABLE STARTERS    PPG    RPG    MIN
G #2     Stephen Thomas (6-1 Sr.)     10.3     3.1     34.6
G #4     Ian Chiles (6-1 So.)     8.7     2.9     23.4
F     #1     Lyonell Gaines (6-6 Fr.)     7.2     4.7     21.7
F     #5     Alex Young (6-6 Sr.)     20.1     6.6     30.5
C #50     Mitchell Patton (6-9 So.)     5.0     3.1     12.9

THE SERIES: Friday night's game between IUPUI and Western is the 36th meeting between the two teams...Western holds an all-time series mark of 8-25 against the Jaguars...The two teams first played in the 1974-75 season with the Leathernecks picking up a 82-65 victory...Western has struggled as of late against the Jaguars, having lost the last six against them.

WHAT'S IN A WIN?: A win would mark the team's 1,191th victory in program history...A win would mark head coach Jim Molinari's 36th victory at Western, and 259th career victory...It would also make the ninth win over IUPUI in program history.

6-OF-8 A WIN: In the Leathernecks' last eight games they have earned six victories, an accomplishment they had not achieved since the 2001-02 season.

7-of-9 A WIN: If the Leathernecks are able to pick up a victory Friday, they would have won seven of their last nine games, something the program has not done since the 1998-99 season when they earned seven straight wins and earned 10 victories in 12 games.

TAKING CARE OF THE ROCK: The Leathernecks have committed 10 or less turnovers in three of their 10 games this season...They had back-to-back games with a total of 11 (five versus Eastern Illinois on Dec. 10th, six against UIC on Dec. 19th), then only committed eight versus Eureka on Dec. 27th...Last season the Leathernecks played back-to-back games with only 11 turnovers, committing only four on Dec. 8th against Culver Stockton and seven at Eastern Illinois Dec. 11th.

TOP-TEN NATIONALLY: Current through Dec. 18th, junior forward Terell Parks ranks 6th in the nation in field goal percentage for the second straight week with a 66.7 percentage...Earlier this season in the NCAA's release of stats on Nov. 27th, freshman forward Obi Emegano ranked third nationally with a 74.1 percentage.

FROM DOWNTOWN: Senior point guard Ceola Clark III has shot 49 three-pointers this season and made 25 of them, connecting on 51 percent of them...On Dec. 10th against Eastern Illinois, Clark tied a Western Illinois single-game record by making six consecutive from beyond the arch...In Western's following game at UIC on Dec. 19th, Clark hit his first four threes of the game, and missed only one, going 4-for-5 from downtown...He then made 4-of-6 the following game against North Dakota on Dec. 22...In games played through Dec. 18th, his three-point field goal percentage ranks 33rd in the nation.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE: Junior forward Terell Parks leads the Leathernecks with four double-doubles this season...Parks is the only Leatherneck to have recorded a double-double on the year...After his 14 points and 15 rebounds against NDSU on Dec. 1st, Parks averaged a double-double for nearly a month...He enters this weekend averaging 12.2 points and 9.5 rebounds per game.

SWIPIN' AND DISHIN': Senior point guard Ceola Clark III has been racking up assists and steals  since the beginning of his career at Western...He currently sits second in career steals with 153, and 12th in career assists with 231.

STEALS (DIVISION I)    Year
1. 167 Bill Heisler    1997-01
2. 153 Ceola Clark III    2009-pr
3. 138 Andre Humphrey    1993-95
4. 127 David Jackson    2004-08
5. 115 Eric Chinn                      1986-88

ASSISTS    Year
1. 506 Dwayne Banks    1977-80
--------------------------------------------------
10. 242 Joe Dykstra    1978-83
11.233 Brian Williams    2000-01
12. 231 Ceola Clark III    2009-pr

DISHIN' (CONTINUED): Prior to Western's game versus UIC on Dec. 19th, senior point guard Ceola Clark III has averaged 5.2 assists per game, which ranks 56th nationally.

ONE-POINT LOSS: The Leathernecks have lost a total of four games this season, two of which were decided by one point...One of Western's other losses, to Michigan on the road, was decided by only four points.

DOUBLE-FIGURES: Junior forward Terell Parks, senior guard Ceola Clark III, and freshman forward Obi Emegano have been a force in the scoring department for Western this season...Emegano has been the leading scorer in five of Western's games...Parks has scored in the double-figures in all but two games this season, while both Clark and Emegano have scored 10 or more in six of the team's 10 games.

AS A TEAM IN THE NATION: In games through Dec. 18th, as a team, the Leathernecks rank in the top-100 of six categories...Those include 42nd in personal fouls per game (16.4), 53rd in scoring defense (60.4), 66th in turnovers per game (12.6), 78th in free throw percentage (71.6), 89th in field goal percentage (45.8), and 95th in assist turnover ratio (1.06).

MORE IN THE SUMMIT LEAGUE: In games through Dec. 28th, senior guard Ceola Clark's 6-of-7 (82.7%) of behind the arch on Dec.10th vs. Eastern Illinois is the best single-game percentage in the Summit League...Junior forward Terell Parks' two 15-rebound single-game performances (vs. Greenville College on Nov. 22 and vs. NDSU Dec. 1) rank second in the league...As a team, Western's 54-rebound  performance in their game versus Greenville on Nov. 22 is a Summit League best...Their single-game low of five turnovers versus Eastern Illinois on Dec. 10th is a league best.
 
GRABBIN' BOARDS: Junior forward Terell Parks has pulled down a team-best 95 rebounds  this season (9.5 per game)...27 of them offensive and 68 of them defensive...He has been the top rebounder in eight of the team's 10 games this season, and pulled down a season-high 15 twice, first on Nov. 22 vs. Greenville, and then on Dec. 1 vs. North Dakota State...In games played through December 28th, he ranks in the top-10 of all Summit League rebounding categories: first in overall rebounds (9.5 per game), first in defensive rebounds (6.8 per game) and  in seventh offensive rebounds (2.7 per game).

MORE PARKS ON THE GLASS: Through December 18th, Parks' 10.1 rebounds per game also ranks tied for 21st nationally.

MAKING 'EM COUNT: Junior Terell Parks, freshman guard Remy Roberts-Burnett, and freshman Obi Emegano have been making the most of their shot attempts this season...Emegano has taken a team-high 89 shots...Parks has made 48 of his 75 attempts for a 64.0 shooting percentage...Emegano has made 50 of his 89 attempts for a 56.2 shooting percentage...Roberts-Burnett has taken 57 shots and made 30 of them for a 52.6 shooting percentage...Parks ranks second in the Summit League, Emegano ranks fifth, and Roberts-Burnett ranks 10th...Through December 18th, both Parks (#6) and Emegano (#20) ranked in the top-20 nationally.

LEADING THE WAY: Leading the Leathernecks in points per game is freshman forward Obi Emegano and junior forward Terell Parks who are each averaging 13.2 and 12.2 points per game, respectively...The only other Leatherneck that is averaging in the double-figures is senior guard Ceola Clark III who is averaging 11.7 points per game...Clark owns the most assists on the team with 42 (4.6 per game)...Clark (25) has connected on the most three-point shots this season...Parks' 9.5 rebounds per game is a team-best...Parks also leads the team in field goal percentage, having made 48-of-75 (64.0 percent) from the floor...Clark leads the team in three-point field goal percentage (51.0), Tyler leads the team in free throw percentage, having made 27-of-36 (75.0 percent) from the stripe...Seniors Clark and Tyler are averaging the most minutes per game having averaged 35.7 and 32.4 minutes, respectively.

LAST TIME OUT: The Western Illinois men's basketball team (6-4) defeated Eureka (5-5) 73-52 behind a performance from freshman Obi Emegano that overwhelmed the Red Devils all night long Tuesday evening (Dec. 27). The win improves the Leathernecks overall record to 6-4 and makes it six victories in the last eight games, something the Leathernecks have not since their 2001-02 campaign. Emegano dropped a game-high 25 points on the Red Devils, scoring 10 in the first and 15 in the second. He also added one assist, one block, and two steals in 35 minutes of action. Junior forward Don McAvoy III (14) and junior forward Jack Houpt (11) added double-digit performances. Senior guard Tommie Tyler led the team in both rebounds (6) and assists (5). The Leathernecks finished with a 43.9 field goal percentage, and held Eureka to 36.7%, while grabbing only one more rebound then Eureka (35-34). Advantages in points off turnovers (25-5), second chance points (11-2), and points from bench (22-5) also helped Western to its victory. The team also committed only eight turnovers, the third time the team has had fewer than 10 turnovers in a game this season. Eureka had three players score in the double-digits in Dustin Fritsch (11), Rian Nailor (11), and Niko Rivera (10).

50-PLUS REBOUNDS: On November 22, 2011, the Leathernecks pulled down 54 rebounds as a team, the most since November 21st of 2006 against IPFW when they had 51...That total is the most of any Summit League team has totaled in a single game this season.

INJURY REPORT: Sophomore guard Billy Molinari suffered a season-ending knee injury in Western's second game of the season at Michigan on November 17th...After redshirting his freshman season two years ago, Molinari suffered a season-ending foot injury last season in the team's season-opener.

2011-12 EXHIBITION ACTION: The Western Illinois men's basketball squad defeated the Illinois College Blueboys in an exhibition game Wednesday evening (Nov. 9) at Waste Management Court in Western Hall, 70-62. Three Leathernecks scored double-figures in the game, with senior guard Tommie Tyler posting a team-high 19 points, while also dishing out a team-best five helpers. Freshman guard Remy Roberts-Burnett finished the game with 16 points, while junior forward Terell Parks scored 10 points and finished with a team-high 10 boards.

PRESEASON POLL: Western Illinois senior guard Ceola Clark III was tabbed preseason Second Team All-Summit League as announced by the Summit League office on Oct. 13th...As a team, the Leathernecks were picked to finished ninth in the league...Oral Roberts (473 points) received 27-of-32 first-place votes and was tabbed as the favorite to win the 2011-12 Summit League Men's Basketball Championship...Two-time defending champion Oakland (423 points) received four first-place votes and finished second in the poll...IUPUI forward Alex Young was the preseason choice for 'Player of the Year'...The 2011-12 preseason All-League teams and team rankings were voted on by the head coaches, sports information directors and media members.

OTHER PRESEASON HONORS: Western Illinois senior guard Ceola Clark III was also tabbed First Team All-Summit League by Athlon Sports in their 2011-12 College Basketball issue...Athlon's Sports also predicted the Leathernecks to finish eighth in the Summit League.

MORE RECOGNITION FOR CLARK: ESPN Chicago writer and blogger Scott Powers ranked his 'Top 30' college basketball players in Illinois earlier this month, and Western Illinois senior guard Ceola Clark III was listed 12th.

A FRESH START: Western Illinois took part in its first official practice on October 14th inside of Western Hall...The Leathernecks return five letterwinners, including three starters from last year's 7-23 team that ended its injury-plagued season ninth in the Summit League, and welcome six newcomers to the squad.

2011-12 SENIOR CLASS: This season will be the last for two Leatherneck men's basketball players...Guards Ceola Clark III joined the Leatherneck family in 2007 and was redshirted his freshman season, while Tommie Tyler joined the team in 2008...Both have already had very successful careers at Western.

RETURNERS: This season, senior guard Ceola Clark III returns to the team after playing in only six games a year ago due to injury. Along with Clark, Western will welcome back senior guard Tommie Tyler, junior forward Jack Houpt, sophomore center David Gebru and sophomore guard Billy Molinari. Clark III, Molinari, Tyler and Gebru played a combined 32 games last season due to injuries.

NEWCOMERS: This offseason coach Molinari and the Leathernecks were able to land a pair of JUCO All-Americans in Don McAvoy III and Terell Parks, and sign four freshmen in Obi Emegano,  Jeremy McDonald, Jalen Packer and Remy Roberts-Burnett.

WHAT IS A LEATHERNECK?: Western Illinois holds the distinction of being the only non-military institution to officially have its nickname derived from a branch of the military service. The school began use of the Marine Corps' official nickname, "The Fighting Leathernecks," in 1927 when then-athletic director and head baseball, basketball and football coach Ray "Rock" Hanson was granted permission by the U.S. Navy, based on his status as a Marine hero, to use the Marine's official seal, bulldog mascot and nickname.

UP NEXT: The Leathernecks will continue Summit League action, first at home against South Dakota next Tuesday (Jan. 3), before hitting the road for games at Oakland on Jan. 5 and at IPFW on Jan. 7.