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 NORTH DAKOTA STATE: The Bison, who sit second in the league standings (as of Jan. 31) and were picked to finish fifth in the preseason poll, enter Sunday's game with a 14-7 overall mark and 6-2 Summit league action... NDSU has defeated Oral Roberts, South Dakota State, WIU and Denver at home, and IUPUI and Omaha on the road... NDSU's two defeats came at South Dakota and at Fort Wayne... Three Bison players average more than 10 points per game led by Lawrence Alexander who averages 18.2 points per game... Carlin Dupree averages a team-high 3.0 assists per game... Dexter Werner averages a team-best 6.0 rebounds per game off of the bench... David Richman is NDSU's head coach, and he is in his first season at the helm... He spent seven years as the associate head men's basketball coach at North Dakota State and 11 years total with NDSU.

LEATHERNECKS VS. BISON SERIES HISTORY: North Dakota State leads the all-time series 10-7... NDSU won the meeting in Fargo earlier this year (Jan. 16), 61-48... The series was tied prior to the beginning of last season at 7-7 before NDSU swept the Leathernecks in 2013-14... All of the two teams meetings have been regular season league games or Summit League Tournament games, with the Leathernecks winning the first-ever meeting on January 12, 2008, 83-67, in Macomb... The Bison went on to win six of the next seven meetings before WIU earned five consecutive during the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons.

Western Illinois vs. North Dakota State • 17 Total Meetings • NDSU leads 10-7

Date        Result    Score    H/A/N
Jan 12, 2008     W     83-67    H
Feb 7, 2008     L     62-86     A
Jan 10, 2009     L     64-81     A
Feb 5, 2009     L     52-61     H
Dec 3, 2009     L     55-60     H
Feb 27, 2010     L-OT     59-63     A
Jan 15, 2011     W     67-62     H
Feb 10, 2011     L     48-68     A
Dec 1, 2011     W     55-51     H
Feb 25, 2012     W     77-64     A
March 4, 2012     W     58-53     N
Jan 19, 2013     W     50-42     H
Feb 14, 2013     W     49-36     A
March 11, 2013     L     43-55     N
Jan 18, 2014     L     52-65     A
Feb 13, 2014     L     52-56     H
Jan 16, 2015    L    48-61    A

HOME SWEET HOME: Western is 37-14 (.725) 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 705 career points which ranks tied for 61st all-time, 59 points away from 50th all-time... David Nurse ranks 50th with 764 points... Covington has 110 career three pointers and is two 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 40 so far as a sophomore... He has played in 48 career games, has only had  six games without at least one three, meaning he has made at least one triple in 42 games... He has 30 games with multiple three pointers... He has 11 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 705 career points and averages 14.7 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 182 assists in his young career, and averages 3.7 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 19 games this season and averages 4.7 per game (83 total)... He has at least one assist in all but two of his 49 career games played... He has multiple assists in 44 of those games... Three-plus assists in 38 career games... 22 games with four-plus... 10 games with five-plus... Nine games with six-plus... Four games with seven or more... 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. 

TEAM LEADERS: Sophomore Garret Covington and junior Tate Stensgaard are the only two Leathernecks to have started all 19 games this season for the Leathernecks... Covington also leads the team in points per game (14.9), minutes per game (31.8), field goals (84), three-pointers (40), free throws (75), free throw percentage (84.3) and defensive rebounds (69)... Covington and junior Jalen Chapman lead the steals (20)... Chapman leads the team with 11... Stensgaard leads the team in field goal percentage (58.8)... Junior Jamie Batish leads the team in three-point field goal percentage (40.3)... Senior Mohamed Conde leads the team in rebounds per game (6.1) and offensive rebounds (43)... Sophomore Jabari Sandifer leads the team in assists per game (4.7)... and blocks (11).