MACOMB, Ill. - Western Illinois closes out the Summit League schedule this weekend with two road games, looking to end a losing streak in the process. The Leathernecks (7-20 overall, 2-14 Summit) travel to Centenary on Thursday night (Feb. 24) followed with a Saturday night (Feb. 26) game at Oral Roberts.
The game can be heard on the Leatherneck Sports Network and on the internet at www.GoLeathernecks.com. The pregame show will air 30 minutes prior to tip. Rocky Vision subscribers can also watch the video stream of the Thursday game courtesy of Centenary College.
Western looks to end a 10-game overall losing streak, and nine consecutive in Summit League play. In order to snap the streak Western will have to keep the Gents winless this season (0-28, 0-16 Summit) before facing second-place Oral Roberts (15-14, 11-5). The game at ORU will be televised live on Fox College Sports.
LANDER ON A TEAR: Senior guard Matt Lander has been making the most of his final month as a Leatherneck. During the month of February (span of six games), Lander is averaging 21.2 points per game (improving to 17.3 ppg overall)... He has scored 20 or more points in four of the six games, and not netted less than 16... Lander twice matched his then career-high of 24 points (Oakland, UMKC) but improved on that scoring 26 points against Southern Utah... The senior guard has made 40-of-53 at the line, good for 75.5 percent, and shooting 45.8 percent from the field.
FREE THROW LEADERBOARD: Matt Lander continues to make the most of his opportunity at the free throw line, and now ranks among the Western Illinois season 'Top 10' leaders... Lander leads the Summit League with 146 made free throws in 192 attempts (76 percent)... His 146 made currently ranks him 10th on the Western season list, just one out of eighth place and 10 shy of sixth. If Lander can convert two more attempts that would give him the third-highest total of Western's Division I era and most by someone not named Dykstra (J.D. Dykstra 163 in 1984-85; Joe Dykstra 156 in 1982-83)... Lander's 192 attempts place him eighth on the season 'Top 10'... He owns three of the top five free throw shooting efforts in the Summit League... Against North Dakota State he converted a career-high 13 shots (14 attempts), putting him in a three-way tie for the individual season-high. Earlier this season Lander made 12 free throws in a win against Centenary, then did again against Southern Utah.
INJURY LIST: Western Illinois is now left with five injured players on the bench with three substitutes. In fact for the final seconds of the Southern Utah game Western saw its third player foul out and was left with five healthy players... Seven different Leatherneck have missed time or are missing time who have also started in a game this season... Junior guard Tommie Tyler has been out since mid January, and preseason First Team All-Summit League selection Ceola Clark III has been out since early December with a toe injury. He also missed a game in November due to an ankle injury... Billy Molinari has missed all but three minutes in the season-opener due to a foot injury... David Gebru will miss the remainder of the season due to a knee injury suffered in December... Brandon Smith has been out since earlier this month... In all eight Western players have combined to miss 89 games due to injuries... Already minus Molinari, the Leathernecks had a 3-3 record heading into the Oral Roberts game when Clark was injured. Since that home conference loss, Western has gone just 4-17... Then the following game since Gebru was lost for the year (at Eastern Illinois), Western is 2-16.
SUMMIT LEAGUE LEADERS: Heading into this weekend, Western continues to lead the Summit League in scoring defense (64.9 ppg) by a four-point margin. The Leathernecks also lead the way in field goal defense (.431) and rank third in 3-point FG defense (.346)... Western is sixth in 3-point shooting (.357), seventh in turnover margin (-1.5) and tied for fifth in defensive rebounds (22.5)... Individually Matt Lander is seventh in scoring (17.3 ppg), has made the most free throws with 146, tied for ninth with 2.6 assists, and ranks second in minutes played (35.8)... Kaimarr Price stands tied for fourth averaging 6.7 rebounds per game. He's also ninth at 0.8 blocks, tied for ninth with 2.1 offensive rebounds and fourth grabbing 4.6 defensive boards... Jelani Johnson is tied for fifth averaging 1.3 steals per game. Having now met the statistical minimum, Johnson ranks third in 3-point shooting at 46.6 percent (27-of-58).
MINUTES LEADER: Senior Matt Lander continues to lead the Leathernecks averaging 35.8 minutes per game. He registered 40 minutes at Eastern Illinois, and versus North Dakota State and UMKC... Lander has played at least 29 minutes in all but one game this season... Since the injury to Ceola Clark III he has played at least 34 minutes in all but one game... In fact, the last nine games Lander has played 37+ minutes.
TEAM NOTES: Western snapped a streak of getting out-rebounded, which stood at eight games before holding UMKC to an opponent season-low 24. The Leathernecks were +6 against UMKC, one off their season-high rebound margin... Western limited Southern Utah to two offensive boards and forced SUU to 16 turnovers while committing just 12... For the first time since the North Carolina Central game Western had more assists than the opponent (14/13 vs. UMKC), a span of six games... The five blocks against the Kangaroos matched a team season-high... Western's .511 field goal shooting against UMKC marked the fourth time this year above 50%. The other three occurrences came during the month of November... Matt Lander has been the outright scoring leader or shared top-scorer honors in 23 games this season. He is on the verge of surpassing 700 career points in just two short years... Kaimarr Price is averaging 11 points and 6.6 rebounds in Summit League play. He scored in double-figures seven of the previous nine games, and scored at least nine points in 15 of the last 18 games... Price leads the team with three double-doubles and been the top rebounder or shared the honor 18 times this season... Senior team captain Arsenio Mims has given the team valuable minutes this season. He has played in 14 of his 16 games since the calendar flipped to 2011. The senior scored a career-high five points at South Dakota State with a season-high two steals... Western turned the ball over 13 or fewer times in 12 of the last 19 contests... The Leathernecks collected seven steals against IUPUI, the most since Jan. 8 at Oakland. They stole six passes at North Dakota State - all in the first half... In five of Western's seven wins, the opponent has committed more fouls. The two other Western wins (St. Francis and Savannah State), the Leathernecks committed just one more foul than the opponent.
DOUBLE CONSISTENCY: Matt Lander opened the season scoring in double-figures 14 consecutive games. The streak ended against Oakland (5 points), but started again the following game... Lander is working on a streak of 12 consecutive games scoring 10-plus points... He scored a career-high 26 points versus Southern Utah... Also during the past 12 games he matched his then career-high of 24 points at home against UMKC, a feat he also accomplished in November at 14th-ranked Missouri and earlier this month against Oakland... The senior guard leads the Leathernecks averaging 17.3 points... He has scored in double-figures 36 times in his career, including a 20-point game 11 times.
HOUPT FROM LONG DISTANCE: Sophomore forward Jack Houpt scored in double-figures for the sixth time this season scoring 15 points at South Dakota State, hitting three 3-pointers and 4-of-5 free throws... Houpt also scored in double-figures against: Purdue Calumet (13), Culver-Stockton (season-high 18), Prairie View A&M in Cancun (season-high five 3s for 16 points), Oral Roberts (10) and North Dakota State (15 points, including all four free throw attempts in the final 17 seconds to secure the win)... Houpt came close at IPFW hitting three 3-pointers, netted eight points in the first half against North Carolina Central, hit three 3s in the first half against Oakland and finished with nine points against Southern Utah... He continues to hold the team lead hitting 40 3-point field goals... Houpt dished out a career-high six assists against UMKC and recorded nine assists to just two turnovers over the past two contests while averaging 39 minutes.
JOHNSON EARNING THE START: Jelani Johnson earned a start for the 13th time in the last 14 games, now 17 this season...Johnson scored 10 points - all in the second half - and just missed on his rebounding high as he cleared away seven at South Dakota State. Johnson added two assists and two steals in 37 minutes... He matched a career-high dishing out four assists against Oakland in 39 minutes... Against IUPUI, Johnson scored 13 points (one off his career high) and played turnover free ball for 36 minutes... He equaled a personal-best grabbing eight rebounds versus North Carolina Central - tying his high from the Centenary game... He again dished out four assists, this time at home against IPFW... Johnson played nearly all 40 minutes at IPFW (checking out of the game but for less than a minute), a career-high... He fell one minute shy of a complete game versus North Dakota State at home, grabbing seven boards to go with his career-high 14 points, then played 39 minutes the last time out against Southern Utah (nine points on three 3-pointers)... He not only leads the squad with 34 steals, Johnson also leads shooting 46.6 percent (27-of-58) from 3-point range... Johnson is averaging 34.4 minutes per game in Summit League play.
SCOUTING THE GENTS: Centenary has two games remaining in its Summit League membership, playing host to Western and IUPUI this weekend. Next year the Gents drop to the NCAA Division III membership... The Gents have not played since last week, an 81-61 loss to Oral Roberts... Maxx Nakwaasah recorded a double-double, 12 points/11 rebounds... Leo Davis scored a team-high 22 points off the bench, hitting 6-of-9 from long distance... Centenary was out-rebounded 41-23 in the loss... Nakwaasah leads the scoring attack at 11.7 points per game... The Gents are shooting 39 percent from the field, 29 percent from 3-point range and 62.2 at the line.
ROUND ONE - CENTENARY RECAP: Western Illinois pulled away from Centenary late in the game and kept the Gents winless following a 57-51 Summit League victory... Matt Lander scored 12 of his game-high 21 points from the free throw line, hitting 12-of-14 shots. He added four assists... For the second straight game David Gebru matched a career-high scoring 13 points... Jelani Johnson grabbed a career-high eight rebounds to go with his seven points and three steals... Emeka Okafor, Jr. grabbed seven rebounds in just 10 minutes... The Leathernecks made 21-of-36 free throws, shot 40 percent from the field and held the Gents to 28.6 percent shooting... Western out-rebounded Centenary 37-30.
