MACOMB, Ill. -Â The Fighting Leatherneck men's basketball team, who sit 2-0 for the first time in six years, welcomes in-state foe UIC (0-1) to Western Hall Tuesday evening (Nov. 17) for a nonconference tilt scheduled to tipoff at 7 p.m... Western Illinois enters the contest receiving votes in the AP 'Top 25' (4) and ranks 24th in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major 'Top 25' poll... UIC comes to Macomb having dropped its season-opening game at home against the San Francisco Dons, 78-75.
LEATHERNECKS VS. FLAMES SERIES HISTORY:Â UIC leads the all-time series 20-16... The two teams have faced one another three times in the last four seasons with UIC winning two of the three meetings... During the 2011-12 season Western traveled to Chicago and dropped a heartbreaking game to the Flames, 57-56... A season later UIC visited Western Hall and the Leathernecks downed the Flames, 70-54... Last season Western dropped a close game in Chicago, 67-64.
NATIONAL RANKINGS: After upsetting No. 17 Wisconsin last Friday (Nov. 13), and moving to 2-0 after beating Hannibal-LaGrange at home on Sunday (Nov. 15), Western Illinois is receiving votes in the AP 'Top 25' poll with four votes for the first time in the program's history... The Leathernecks also jumped up into CollegeInsider.com's Mid-Major 'Top 25' poll at No. 24.Â
COVINGTON TABBED PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Western Illinois junior guard Garret Covington (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville) was named The Summit League's 'Player of the Week' as announced by the league office Monday (Nov. 16)... The honor is the third of Covington's career... Covington, who averaged 15 points, 2.5 rebounds, two assists and 1.5 steals per game this past week, knocked down two free throws (which proved to be the game-winning shots) with 10 seconds remaining in Western Illinois' historic victory over No. 17 Wisconsin. On the week he made 50.0 percent (10-of-20) of his shots from the field, connected on 44.4 percent (4-of-9) of his attempts from long range, and made all six of his free throw attempts.
HISTORICAL NIGHT IN MADISON: The Fighting Leathernecks topped No. 17 Wisconsin, 69-67, Friday night in Madison... Prior to the game, Wisconsin celebrated its historic 2014-15 season by raising its Final Four banner inside the Kohl Center... WIU's victory over No. 17 Wisconsin marked the program's first-ever win over a nationally ranked opponent... It was also The Summit League's fifth road win over a nationally ranked opponent in the league's history... The win also marked the first against a ranked Big Ten program on the road in the league's history... The win evened the series with Wisconsin at 1-1... The win marked head coach Billy Wright's first road win as a head coach… The last time the Leathernecks beat a power conference team was in 1994, a win against Big Ten member Northwestern in Macomb… WIU also defeated Northwestern in 1990… Western now owns a total of three wins over power conference teams, all of them being wins against Big Ten teams… Prior to Friday's game Wisconsin had won each of its last 13 regular season opening games, and was 210-22 (.905) inside the Kohl center under head coach Bo Ryan.
THE LAST TIME OUT: Fighting Leatherneck men's basketball improved to 2-0 on the season with a 94-57 victory over Hannibal-LaGrange Sunday evening (Nov. 15) inside Western Hall... The 2-0 start is the program's first since the 2010-11 season... Five Leathernecks scored in double figures for the first time since 2009... Garret Covington led the way with 14, J.C. Fuller and Jabari Sandifer each tallied 13, Delo Bruster contributed 11, and Jalen Morgan finished with 10.
SIGNING CLASS: Western Illinois men's basketball head coach Billy Wright announced the addition of two guards to the Fighting Leatherneck family in C.J. Duff (Waukegan, Illinois/Carmel) and Jeremiah Usiosefe (Hamilton, Ontario/The Hill Academy)... Both student-athletes will graduate this spring and officially join the team for the 2016-17 season.
NATIONAL EXPOSURE:Â The Leathernecks will have a total of 14 games this season, seven at home and seven on the road, that will be aired live nationally... Of the seven road contests, four slated to air on ESPN3, two on the Big Ten Network, and one on Fox Sports 2... The seven home games that will be available for a national audience will air on ESPN3.
COVINGTON TABBED PRESEASON FIRST TEAM: Western Illinois men's basketball junior guard Garret Covington, who earned Second Team All-Summit League honors following both his freshman and sophomore campaigns, was tabbed preseason All-Summit League First Team prior to the 2015-16 season... He was also tabbed preseason First Team All-Summit League by Athlon Sports, Blue Ribbon, NBC Sports and Sporting News.
SUMMIT LEAGUE PRESEASON POLL:Â The Fighting Leathernecks were picked to finish ninth in The Summit League's annual preseason poll with 126 votes... The preseason poll is voted on by the league's head coaches, sports information directors and select media members.
THE 2015-16 SCHEDULE: The Western Illinois men's basketball schedule features 13 home regular season contests...The Leathernecks' upcoming slate also includes a total of six games against in-state programs, as well as two road matchups against two Big Ten opponents and one Big East school... Head Coach Billy Wright on the team's schedule: "This season we have put together a tough nonconference schedule where the majority of our opponents have postseason tournament experience, not to mention our league from top to bottom gets better and better each year. As our program takes the next step forward it was important to schedule teams that not only have postseason experience, but to also schedule teams that offer a good competitive balance."
THE RETURNERS: Western returns 10 players that were on the roster a season ago... Four seniors, three juniors, two sophomores and one redshirt-freshman... The four seniors include: guards Jamie Batish (Melbourne, Australia/Sandringham College/Neosho CC) and J.C. Fuller (Sioux City, Iowa/East/Kirkwood CC), as well as forwards Tate Stensgaard (Rapid City, S.D./Stevens/Sheridan) and Jalen Chapman (Bronx, N.Y./Eagle Academy/Western Oklahoma State College)... The juniors returning are: guard Garret Covington (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville), guard Jabari Sandifer (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) and forward Mike Miklusak (Dyer, Ind./Lake Central)... The 2015-16 sophomore class includes: forward Dalan Ancrum (Round Rock, Texas/Westwood) and guard DeVante Mayes (Peoria, Ill./Peoria Central)... Forward Jalen Morgan (Indianapolis, Ind./Pike), who was injured all of last season, is WIU's only redshirt-freshman.
THE NEWCOMERS: The Leathernecks have six newcomers for the 2015-16 season, all freshman... The list of newcomers includes: two guards in Noah Wells (Champaign, Ill./Champaign Central) and Ryan Maas (Pekin, Ill./Pekin), one forward in James Claar (Bolingbrook, Ill./Plainfield East), and two centers in Brandon Gilbeck (Spring Green, Wis./River Valley) and Jordan Hughes (Schaumburg, Ill./James B. Conant).
YEAR TWO FOR WRIGHT: Last season Billy Wright returned to the Fighting Leathernecks men's basketball program after being hired as the Leathernecks' 20th head coach in program history... Wright looks for WIU's program to improve during his second year at the helm after an injury-filled 2014-15 season... Prior to his return to Western, Wright spent the 2013-14 season at Ball State as an assistant coach... Before that he was WIU's associate head coach during the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons, and an assistant coach for Western for three seasons (2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11).
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