THE LAST TIME OUT: J.C. Fuller finished with a career-high 29 points and Garret Covington added 26 as Western Illinois men's basketball improved to 4-0 on the season following a 83-63 victory at Eastern Illinois last Saturday night (Nov. 21)... WIU struggled in the first half and trailed EIU by four, 37-33, at halftime... The second half was a different story for Western as the Leathernecks opened the period on a 5-0 run and recaptured a lead they had not possessed since early in the first half... Eastern quickly tied the game at 40-40 on its next possession after WIU's small run, but Western responded by grabbing the game's first double-digit lead, 55-45, after a 15-5 run... The remainder of the game was all Leathernecks as WIU cruised to a 20-point victory.

BEST START SINCE: Western Illinois is 4-0 this season, the first time since the 1989-90 season the program has started undefeated after the first four games... The 1989-90 team lost its next game and went 4-1 to start the year... The only team during the the program's NCAA Division I era to have a better start was the 1986-87 team which won its first five games... No WIU team has started better than 5-0 since the 1957-58 team which won its first 27 games played and earned the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship.

AS A TEAM IN NATION (Thru 11/22): Besides still being tied for the country's best win/loss percentage at 100.0 percent, Western Illinois is connecting on its attempts from long range better than any other team in the country, making 58.6 percent of his attempts (34-58)... The Leathernecks also rank in the 'Top 50' of the following categories: #12 in field goal percentage (52.8), #15 in field goal percentage defense (32.8), #29 total blocks (22), #32 in scoring margin (21.5) and #43 in scoring defense (61.0).

INDIVIDUALLY IN NATION (Thru 11/22): J.C. Fuller ranks second in 3-point field goal percentage having made 76.9 percent if his shots from long range (10-13)... Fuller also ranks 40th in total points (81) and #49 in defensive rebounds per game (7.0). 

1,000 POINT CLUB: Garret Covington sits tied for 31st all-time in Western Illinois career scoring with 916 points... He is only 71 points from becoming the 23rd player in WIU program history to join the 1,000 point club... The last player at Western to reach that milestone was Ceola Clark III who finisehd his career with 1,472 points.

MORE COVINGTON IN THE RECORD BOOK: Garret Covington has 929 career points which ranks tied for 31st in program history, two points shy from sole possession of 30th all-time, and 45 points away from sole possession of 25th... Bobby Dye ranks 30th with 930 points and Bob Smith ranks 25th with 974 points... Covington is also in WIU's career three-pointers 'Top 10' having made 143 career three-pointers which ranks sixth all-time at WIU… David Burse ranks sits fifth all-time with 160 career three-pointers.

FULLER ON FIRE: J.C. Fuller started off Summit League play last season slow, averaging only 5.0 points per game and shooting just 30 percent (9-of-30) from the field through the first five league games... However, in the teams' last 16 games dating back to last season, Fuller has averaged a team-high 17.9 points (287 total), 5.0 rebounds (80 total) and 2.6 assists (41 total) per game... During that same time frame he has made 49.7 percent (105-of-211) of his shots from the field, shot 47.2 (34-of-72) percent from the 3-point line, and 81.1 percent (43-of-53) from the free throw line.

MID-MAJOR TOP 25: After the first week of basketball Western Illinois debuted at No. 24 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll... This week, after remaining undefeated and starting the year 4-0, the Leathernecks jumped up seven spots and sit No. 17... The No. 17 rating is the program's best-ever... The previous best what No. 18 during the program's 2012-13 championship season (Jan. 14).

PREVIOUS APPEARANCES IN THE POLL THIS SEASON:
Nov. 16 - #24
Nov. 23 - #17

HOME SWEET HOME: Western is 39-17 (.696) 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, 7-5 in 2013-14, 8-6 in 2014-15, and are 2-0 so far this season on LeRoy A. Ufkes Court inside Western Hall.

ROAD RAGE NO MORE: Western is 2-0 so far this season on the road... Prior to this season WIU was 14-42 (.250) on the road since the beginning of the 2011-12 season, and 1-26 (.037) in the last two seasons... The Leathernecks went 6-10 (.375) in 2011-12, they were above .500 in 2012-13 with a 7-6 (.538) road mark, struggled again during the 2013-14 season with a 1-13 (.071) record on the road, and went 0-13 (.000) in 2014-15.

COVINGTON EARNS LEAGUE'S FIRST WEEKLY HONOR: Junior guard Garret Covington (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville) earned The Summit League's first 'Player of the Week' honor to open the season on Nov. 16... The honor is the third of Covington's career... Covington averaged 15 points, 2.5 rebounds, two assists and 1.5 steals per game this past week during the week prior... He 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... 

FULLER SHARES LEAGUE'S SECOND WEEKLY HONOR: Senior guard J.C. Fuller (Sioux City, Iowa/East/Kirkwood CC) was named 'co-Player of the Week' on Nov. 23... Fuller's honor is the first of his career... Fuller finished the week averaging 24.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.0 steals per game, and helped the Fighting Leathernecks go 2-0 on the week with wins over UIC at home, 84-57, and at Eastern Illinois, 83-63... He dropped a career-high 29 points on EIU... The Sioux City, Iowa native shot averaged a team-high 37.0 minutes per game while shooting 60.0 percent from the field (15-25), 71.4 percent from the 3-point line (5-7) and 86.7 percent from the free throw line (13-15).

COVINGTON FOR THREE: Garret Covington has 143 career three-pointers... He had 70 three-pointers as a freshman, 63 as a sophomore and has 10 so far as a junior... He has played in 61 career games, has only had six games without at least one 3-pointer, meaning he has made at least one triple in 55 games... He has 38 games with multiple 3-pointers... He has 16 games with one trey, 10 games with two triples, 12 games with three makes from long range, 11 games with four 3-pointers, four games with five connections from beyond the arc, and a career-high six 3-pointers in one game... He made his six triples consecutively in WIU's win over Idaho last season (Dec. 11, 2014).

SANDIFER'S ASSISTS: Jabari Sandifer, who finished the 2014-15 Summit League slate ranked first out of all players in assists per game (3.9), has 230 assists in his career, and averages 3.7 per game during his 62 career games played... As a freshman, he played in all 30 games and averaged a team-best 3.1 per game (92 total)… As a sophomore, he played in all 28 games and averaged 4.3 per game (119 total)... This season, as a junior, he has played in all of the teams' games and is averaging 4.8 assists per contest (19 total)... He has at least one assist in all but two of his 62 career games played... He has multiple assists in 57 of those games, 3-plus assists in 47 career games, 27 games with 4-plus, 13 games with 5-plus, 11 games with 6-plus, and six games with seven or more... His four career games with eight-plus assists all came last season as a sophomore... He logged a career-high 13 assists last year 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.

WHAT IS A LEATHERNECK?: Western Illinois holds the distinction of being the only non-military institution to officially have its nickname derived from a branch of the military service. The school began use of the Marine Corps' official nickname, "The Fighting Leathernecks", in 1927 when then-athletic director and head baseball, basketball and football coach Ray "Rock" Hanson was granted permission by the U.S. Navy, based on his status as a Marine hero, to use the Marine's official seal, bulldog mascot and nickname.