MACOMB, Ill. - After Thursday's double-overtime loss at home to Oral Roberts (15-4, 7-0), the Western Illinois men's basketball team (9-6, 4-3) will finish its short home stand against the Southern Utah Thunderbirds (8-9, 3-4) at 7 p.m. Saturday evening inside of Western Hall.
The Breakdown
Who: Western Illinois (9-6, 4-3) vs. Oral Roberts (8-9, 3-4)
When: Saturday, Jan. 14 at 7 p.m.
Where: Macomb, Illinois
Arena: Waste Management Court at Western Hall (5,139)
Live Stats: HERE
Radio
Leatherneck Sports Network (88.3 FM)
Radio Talent: Beau Spencer (play-by-play) & Adam Studzinski (color)
Listen HERE
VideoRocky VisionVideo Talent: Aaron Viner (play-by-play) & Andrew Jones (color)Watch HERE
A LOOK AT SOUTHERN UTAH: The Southern Utah Thunderbirds, a fellow member of the Summit League, enter Saturday's game with a 8-9 overall mark, and are 3-4 in Summit League games...In its last action, Ray Jones, Jr., scored 21 points, dished out seven assists and pulled down seven rebounds to lead Southern Utah's men's basketball team to a 72-64 win at IUPUI on Thursday night, giving Coach Roger Reid his 200th career win...The win, which was SUU's second straight at IUPUI, moved SUU to 3-4 in Summit League games and 8-9 overall while IUPUI dipped to 2-5 and 8-11...Southern Utah has four players averaging in double figures this season, including Jackson Stevenett (14.2), Ramell Taylor (12.8), Matt Massey (10.5), and Damon Heuir (10.2)...Stevenett leads the team in rebounds per game, having averaged 5.1...Jones leads the team with 95 assists, 5.6 per game...Massey owns a team-best 56.7 field goal percentage...The Thunderbirds average 69.3 points per game overall and 70.6 in conference games, while allowing an average of 70.8 overall and 71.9 in Summit League games.
LEADER OF THE THUNDERBIRDS: The Thunderbirds are coached by Roger Reid who owns a 88-89 record in his 5th season as head coach at Southern Utah
SUU PROBABLE STARTERSÂ Â Â PPG Â Â Â RPG Â Â Â APG Â Â Â FG% Â Â Â 3FG% Â Â Â FT%
F-#13 Ramell Taylor, 6-5, 190, Sr    12.8    5.0    1.1    .489    .100    .754
F-#21 Jackson Stevenett, 6-4, 185, Jr    14.7    5.1    1.9    .500    .400    .808
C-#34 Matt Massey, 6-9, 232, Sr    10.5    4.0    0.8    .567    .125    .791
G-#3 Damon Heuir, 6-2, 200, Jr    10.2    2.8    2.6    .459    .367    .763
G-#5 Ray Jones, Jr., 6-2, 175, Sr    9.8    4.1    5.6    .519    .294    .710
THE SERIES: Saturday night's game will be the 31st meeting between the two teams...Southern Utah leads Western in the all-time series, 17-13...The first-ever meeting between the two teams came on Jan. 22, 1997 when SUU downed Western 75-71 in Macomb...Western was swept last season in both league contests...The Leathernecks, however, swept the Thunderbirds two seasons ago.
WHAT'S IN A WESTERN WIN?: A win would mark the team's 1,194th victory in program history...A win would mark head coach Jim Molinari's 39th victory at Western, and his 262th career victory...A win would mark Western's 14th-ever against Southern Utah.
SUMMIT LEAGUE HONORS: Senior gaurd Ceola Clark III was named Summit League co-Player of the Week on Jan. 9 for his efforts in last week's games...The honor marks the second of his career and first this season...Clark helped lead Western to three-straight league victories, averaging 18.7 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 6.0 assists per game last week...Clark shares the weekly honor with Oral Roberts' Dominique Morrison.
WINNING WAYS: In a span of eight Leatherneck games earlier this season (Nov. 22 & Dec. 27), they had earned six victories, an accomplishment they had not achieved since the 2001-02 season...The Leathernecks have earned nine victories in their last 13 games...The last season to have had a better stretch of wins was the 1998-99 season when Western earned 11 wins in 14 games...The Leathernecks also surpassed their win total from last year, which was 7, in their win over Oakland on Jan. 5th.
LAST WEEK: The Leathernecks picked up three Summit League victories in five days (Jan. 3-Jan.7) last week...Western defeated South Dakota at home on Jan. 3, then hit the road and defeated Oakland on Jan. 5 and IPFW on Jan. 7...The last time Western swept a road trip was in the 2009-10 season when they defeated Oral Roberts (Feb. 11) and Centenary (Feb. 13), which was part of a four-game league win streak that continued at home the following week (Feb. 18 and Feb. 20). #wiuathletics
