MACOMB, Ill. -Â Western Illinois men's basketball (7-3) concludes nonconference play and action against in-state opponents on the road Monday evening (Dec. 21) against the Loyola Ramblers (6-5)... The two teams are slated to tipoff at 7 p.m. and fans can listen to the voice of the Leathernecks Scott Kornberg call the action live online at WRMSFM.com or watch the game live on ESPN3.
 OPENING TIP
- Western ranks #20 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll this week and has an NCAA.com RPI of 110... It marks the fifth straight week WIU ranks in the 'Top 25' of the mid-major poll.
-Â Earlier this season Western matched the program best undefeated start at 5-0... Only one other team started a season without a loss after five games in the program's DI era.
-Â The Leathernecks then kicked off the year with 7-2 after nine games, the program's best start in DI history through nine games.
-Â Junior guard Garret Covington became the 23rd member of WIU's program to join the 1,000-point club in the Leathernecks' game vs. EIU (Dec. 12).
-Â Covington ranks #23 in WIU's all-time scoring with 1,025 points... He also ranks #6 in career 3-pointers made with 159.
-Â Junior guard Jabari Sandifer ranks #9 in career assists at WIU with 267.
-Â Senior forward Tate Stensgaard has grabbed 10-plus rebounds (15 & 10) and scored nine points in back-to-back games.
-Â The two programs have two common opponents this season... Both WIU and Loyola beat UIC this season... WIU lost to Creighton while Loyola beat the Bluejays.SERIES HISTORY: Loyola leads the all-time series 2-1... Loyola won the first meeting between the two teams on Dec. 8, 1965 by a score of 116-57... The 59-point loss is Western's largest defeat in program history... The Leathernecks won the second meeting between the two teams in Macomb on Dec. 8, 2004 by a score of 65-51... The Ramblers won the most recent meeting, 73-63, in Chicago on Dec. 6, 2005. IN-STATE FOES: Western Illinois is 3-1 against other Division I Illinois programs so far this season... Western defeated UIC at home and had victories against the Eastern Illinois Panthers both at home and away from Macomb... In their most recent game against an in-state opponent, the Leathernecks lost to Chicago State on the road... WIU wraps up play against fellow Illinois teams at Loyola Monday night (Dec. 21). ROAD RAGE: Western is 2-3 so far this season on the road... Since the 2011-12 season, WIU is 16-45 (.267) 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. BEST START SINCE: Before its loss at Chicago State, Western Illinois was 7-2... The seven wins through nine games marked the program's best start during the Division I era... WIU is now 7-3 after its loss, and during the program's DI era, only five teams have started the year 7-3 through 10 games... Western will look to be the sixth team to kick-off a season 8-3 through 11 games... Through 12 games, only two teams have started a season with three losses in the 1986-87 squad and the 2012-13 team... The 2012-13 team, which won a share of The Summit League regular season title, started its season 14-3 overall.
UNDEFEATED START: This year WIU began the season 5-0, matching the program's best start during its DI 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 had 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.
MID-MAJOR TOP 25: For the fifth consecutive week, the Western Illinois men's basketball team has been ranked in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll. This week, WIU remains at 20th... Western started the year ranked #24 before jumping up to #17, which marked the program's best ever showing in the poll... The most appearances WIU made in the poll during a season was 10 during the 2012-13 regular season championship run... Those 10 showings occurred consecutively... A complete list of WIU's appearances in the poll this season is below:
Nov. 16 - #24
Nov. 23 - #17
Nov. 30 - #18
Dec. 7 - #18
Dec. 16 - #20 |
