MACOMB, Ill. -Â The Western Illinois men's basketball team continues its nonconference schedule and wraps up the month of November at Creighton this Saturday evening (Nov. 28)... The Fighting Leathernecks and Bluejays are slated to tipoff at 7 p.m. and the contest can be viewed live on Fox Sports 2 and FoxSportsGo.com.
A LOOK AT THE BLUEJAYS: Creighton, who moved from the Missouri Valley Conference to the Big East prior to the 2013-14 season, enters Saturday's matchup 4-1 on the season... The Bluejays most recently won the 2015 Men Who Speak Up Main Event in Las Vegas with wins over Rutgers on Nov. 23, 85-75 and Massachusetts 97-76 on Nov. 25... Cole Huff (14.2), Maurice Watson, Jr. (14.0), and Isaiah Zierden (12.2) lead the team in scoring through five games... Watson, Jr. also leads the team with 29 assists... Geoffery Groselle averages a team-best 7.2 rebounds per game... CU is coached by Greg McDermott who is in his sixth year at the helm.
SERIES HISTORY: Western has faced Creighton three times with the Bluejays winning all three meetings... The first meeting between the two teams came on Dec. 20, 1999 with CU earning a 76-72 win in Macomb... The second meeting came on Nov. 20, 2000 with the Bluejays winning 96-50 in Omaha... The most recent meeting took place in Omaha on Dec. 20, 2010 when Creighton beat WIU 60-47.
BEST START SINCE: Western Illinois is 5-0 this season matching the program's best start during its NCAA Division I era... The only other team during the program's DI era to start a season 5-0 was the 1986-87 team... 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.DYNAMIC DUO?: Senior J.C. Fuller and junior Garret Covington average a combined 39.4 points, 4.8 3-pointers, 11.0 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.2 steals per game as a duo... The duos 39.4 points per game makes up nearly 50 percent (48.2) of WIU's scoring... They also combine for a 58.0 field goal percentage, a 60.0 3-point field goal percentage, and a 92.1 free throw percentage. OR DYNAMIC TRIO?: Add junior Jabari Sandifer to the combination of Fuller and Covington... That trio averages 50.8 points, 6.0 3-pointers, 15.4 rebounds, 9.0 assists, and 4.0 steals per game... The trio makes up 62.1 percent of Western's scoring, 41.4 percent of its rebounds, and 56.3 percent of its assists... They also combine for a 55.4 field goal percentage, a 58.8 3-point field goal percentage, and a 87.7 free throw percentage. AS A TEAM IN THE NATION (Thru 11/23): 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 THE NATION (Thru 11/23): 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).Â
THE LAST TIME OUT: Junior guard Garret Covington recorded a game-high 24 points as Western Illinois cruised past Trinity Christian College Wednesday afternoon (Nov. 25), beating the Trolls 79-44 inside Western Hall... Covington was effective scoring his 24 points, shooting 8-of-12 from the field and making all six of his free throw attempts... He also grabbed five rebounds and dished out three assists, which tied for the team lead... J.C. Fuller, who leads the team in scoring on the season, added 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the floor, 2-of-3 from long range and making his lone shot from the charity stripe... Fuller also pulled down five boards, while dishing out two helpers and leading the team with three steals.
1,000 POINT CLUB: Garret Covington sits 30th all-time in Western Illinois career scoring with 953 points... He is only 47 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 953 career points which ranks 30th in program history, 22 points away from sole possession of 25th... Bob Smith ranks 25th with 974 points... Covington is also in WIU's career three-pointers 'Top 10' having made 145 career three-pointers which ranks sixth all-time at WIU… David Nurse 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 17 games dating back to last season, Fuller has averaged a team-high 18.0 points (306 total), 5.0 rebounds (85 total) and 2.5 assists (43 total) per game... During that same time frame he has made 50.4 percent (113-of-224) of his shots from the field, shot 48.0 (36-of-75) percent from the 3-point line, and 81.5 percent (44-of-54) 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 |
