WHAT'S UP?: Western Illinois concludes its home stand this weekend when the Leathernecks (7-11, 2-5 SL) welcome IUPUI to Macomb on Friday (Jan. 30) and North Dakota State on Sunday (Feb. 1)... The Jaguars are 8-13 overall on the season and 4-3 in Summit League play, while NDSU is 13-7 overall and 5-2 in league action... Friday's contest is slated for 7 p.m., while Sunday's game will tip at 2 p.m... IUPUI is tied for third in the league standings after being picked ninth in the preseason poll, while NDSU sits second in the standings after being picked to finish fifth in the preseason poll.
FOOD FIGHT NIGHT: Western will have its annual "Food Fight" game this Friday (Jan. 30) inside Western Hall versus IUPUI at 7 p.m. Fans are encouraged to donate as much canned food as they would like. Five cans of food can be exchanged for a free general admission ticket. A free general admission ticket for kids 12 and under will only require two cans of food. Donations can be taken to the west foyer of Western Hall. The Summit League's Food Fight is in its seventh season and each institution has again designated a home game to collect food and/or cash donations. During the first six years, over 139,000 tons were raised. The event will extend to The Summit League Tournament in Sioux Falls for the fifth-straight year. Last year Western collected 7,172 pounds of food, and two years ago WIU finished third in the competition among Summit League programs, donating a program-record 8,797 pounds of food.UP NEXT: The Leathernecks hit the road next week to begin their longest road trip of the season, playing at South Dakota on Feb. 5... WIU then heads to Oklahoma to play at Oral Roberts on Feb. 12 and at Omaha on Feb. 14. A LOOK AT IUPUI: The Jaguars are 8-13 overall on the season and 4-3 in Summit League play...IUPUI has neither won nor lost consecutive games since the beginning of league action... Winning games versus Fort Wayne, Denver, Omaha and South Dakota, while falling to Oral Roberts, South Dakota State and North Dakota State... Four Jaguars lead IUPUI in scoring: Marcellus Barksdale (8.7), Mason Archie (8.0), DavRon Williams (7.9) and Khufu Najee (7.1)... Williams also leads IUPUI in rebounds per game (6.5)... P.J. Boutte averages 3.3 assists per game... Barksdale has a team-high 42 steals on the year... Jason Gardner is IUPUI's head coach and is in his first season with the Jaguars. LEATHERNECKS VS. JAGUARS SERIES HISTORY: IUPUI leads the all-time series 28-13... Prior to the Leathernecks winning the previous five meetings over the last three seasons, IUPUI had won 26-of-27 from 2000 to 2011... Through the first nine meetings between the two programs, Western captured seven victories... Below is a look at the last 20 meetings between the two teams. HOME SWEET HOME: Western is 36-14 (.720) inside Western Hall since the beginning of the 2011-12 season... The Leathernecks went 10-4 during their 2011-12 campaign, 12-2 during the 2012-13 league slate, and 7-5 last season... So far this year WIU is 7-3 on LeRoy A. Ufkes Court inside Western Hall. ROAD RAGE: With all of its success at home, Western has struggled on the road the last four seasons... WIU is 14-37 (.275) on the road since the beginning of the 2011-12 season... The Leathernecks went 6-10 in 2011-12, they were above .500 in 2012-13 with a 7-6 road mark, struggled last season with a 1-13 record on the road, and are 0-8 so far this year. OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR: Sophomore guard Garret Covington has 696 career points which ranks tied for 62nd all-time, 68 points away from 50th all-time... David Nurse ranks 50th with 764 points... Covington has 109 career three pointers and is four away from the program's 'Top 10' list... Kevin Rhodes is 10th all-time with 112 career triples. MORE COVINGTON FOR THREE: Sophomore guard Garret Covington had 70 three-pointers as a freshman, and has 39 so far as a sophomore... He has played in 47 career games, has only had six games without at least one three, and has made at least one triple in 41 games... He has 30 games with multiple three pointers... He has 10 games with one trey, eight games with two triples, 10 games with three makes from long range, nine games with four three pointers, two games with five connections from beyond the arc, and a career-high six three-pointers in one game. DOUBLE FIGURES: Sophomore guard Garret Covington has 696 career points and averages 14.8 points per game during his career... He has 36 games with 10 or more points, 27 games having scored between 10-19 points, and nine games with 20-plus points... He finished the Leathernecks' win over Southeastern Louisiana (Nov. 22) with 29 points, a career-best... Those 29 points were the most by a member of the program since David Jackson scored 32 against Fort Wayne on Nov. 21, 2006. SANDIFER'S ASSISTS: Sophomore guard Jabari Sandifer has 175 assists in his young career, and averages 3.6 per game during his career... As a freshman, he played in all 30 games and averaged 3.1 per game, and has played in all 18 games this season and averages 4.6 per game (83 total)... He has at least one assist in all but two of his 48 career games played... He has multiple assists in 43 of those games... Three-plus assists in 37 career games... 21 games with four-plus... Nine games with five-plus... Eight games with six-plus... Three games with eight-plus, all of which have come this season... And a career-high 13 assists this season versus Greenville College (Nov. 29) while not turning the ball over in 29 minutes of play... His 13 helpers was two shy of WIU's single-game record. |
