MACOMB, Ill. - The Leatherneck men's basketball squad (7-5, 2-2) will continue league action at Oakland (8-9, 2-3) Thursday evening (Jan. 5) at 6 p.m., then travel to IPFW (8-6, 2-3) on Saturday (Jan. 7) for a 1:30 p.m. afternoon showing.
The Breakdown
Who: Western Illinois (7-5, 2-2) vs. Oakland (8-9, 2-3)
When: Thursday, Jan. 5 at 6 p.m. (CT)
Where: Rochester, Mich.
Arena: Athletics Center O'rena (3,000)
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 OAKLAND: Oakland, a fellow member of the Summit League who advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season after winning the Summit League Tournament, enter's Thursday evenings game with a 8-9 overall mark, and a 2-3 league record...The Golden Grizzlies have lost five straight contests, most recently a 89-80 decision to Oral Roberts at home... Reggie Hamilton tallied a game-high 28 points and Travis Bader finished with 16 to lead four Oakland players in double figures, but Oral Roberts (12-4, 4-0) shot 69 percent from beyond the arc (11-16) and ended the Golden Grizzlies' 31-game home court league winning streak, 89-80, on Tuesday night inside the Athletics Center O'rena...Oakland has four players averaging in the double-figures, but is led by Hamilton who leads the league with 23.2 points per game...Hamilton also leads the Golden Grizzlies with 76 assists and 44 steals...In Summit League games this year, Oakland has five players averaging more than 10 points per game...The Golden Grizzlies have been dominate on offense, averaging 77.9 points per game throughout the year, and 80.0 in league contests...However, they have given up 79.8 points per game on the year, and 83.4 in league games.
LEADER OF THE GOLDEN GRIZZLIES: The Golden Grizzlies are coached by Greg Kampe (Bowling Green '78)...Kampe is in the midst of his 28th season with Oakland and has a 470-333 (.585) record at OU.
OAKLAND PROBABLE STARTERS PPG RPG APG FG% FT% MIN
G #23 Reggie Hamilton (5-11 Sr.) 23.3 3.3 4.5 42.0 90.5 33.6
G #13 Laval Lucas-Perry (6-2 Sr.) 11.1 3.5 1.6 37.9 67.7 27.6
G #3 Travis Bader (6-5 So.) 13.2 2.9 1.4 36.6 80.0 35.1
F #42 Corey Petros (6-11 Fr.) 9.8 8.7 0.9 53.0 51.9 31.2
C #15 Drew Valentine (6-5 Jr.) 21.1 7.5 2.4 52.7 74.4 34.5
THE SERIES: Thursday night's contest is the 29th time the two programs have faced one another...The Golden Grizzlies own a 24-4 mark over the Leathernecks...Oakland has won the previous 10 meetings...Last season Western was beat by scores of 50-79 and 65-88.
WHAT'S IN A WIN?: A win would mark the team's 1,192th victory in program history...A win would mark head coach Jim Molinari's 37th victory at Western, and his 260th career victory...A win would mark Western's fifth-ever against Oakland, and the first in six seasons.
TAKING CARE OF THE ROCK: The Leathernecks have committed 10 or less turnovers in five of their last six games this season (5 vs. Eastern Illinois, 6 at UIC, 8 vs. Eureka, 9 at IUPUI, 10 vs. South Dakota)...They had back-to-back games with a total of 11 (five versus Eastern Illinois on Dec. 10th, six against UIC on Dec. 19th)...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.
MORE TAKING CARE OF THE ROCK: As a team, Western has averaged just 11.1 turnovers per game which ranks 15th in the nation in the NCAA's most recent release.
TOP-TEN NATIONALLY: in the NCAA's most recent release, junior forward Terell Parks ranked 8th in the nation in field goal percentage with a 64.4 percentage, the fourth straight week he has ranked in the top-10 nationally...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.
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 111 shots...Parks has made 61 of his 95 attempts for a 64.2 shooting percentage...Emegano has made 66 of his 111 attempts for a 59.5 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 fourth, and Roberts-Burnett ranks 13th.
ONLY TEAM IN THE NATION: In the NCAA's most recent release of statistics, two Leathernecks rank in the top-25 (Parks and Emegano)...Western is the only team in the nation to have two players in the top-25.
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 157, and 10th in career assists with 242.
