| MACOMB, Ill. - Western Illinois returns home for a nonconference game with the Crown College Storm on Wednesday afternoon (Nov. 23). Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. inside Western Hall. Crown College is 0-2 on the season with losses to Macalester (79-71) and Concordia Moorhead (88-64). The Storm are an NCAA DIII athletics department, and are coached by Luke Herbert, who is in his seventh season.
OPENING TIP
- Western most recently dropped its road game at Eastern Illinois, 73-64. WIU grabbed an early lead but EIU used a 19-3 run during the first half to pull away and never surrender the lead again.
-Â WIU has dropped its last two games by single digits. In those two games, Western has been outscored in points off of turnovers (50-25) and second chance points (27-11).
- During the last two games, both WIU losses, the Leathernecks have shot better then their opponent from the field (44.7-42.1). During those same two games, though, they lost the turnover per game battle (18.5-12.5).
- Garret Covington leads WIU in scoring, averaging 18.3 points per game... He has scored 15-plus points in all four games this season, and tallied a season-high 22 at EIU (Nov. 19).
- Covington, who has only missed one career game (injury as a freshman), has scored 10-plus points in 13 straight games dating back to last season and in 33 of his last 34 games dating back to his sophomore year.
- Covington passed Garrick Vicks (1993-96) earlier this season to move into 12th all-time on the WIU career scoring list. Covington has 1,412 points, 19 points behind David Jackson (11th) with 1,431 career points.
- Covington also jumped into second in career 3-pointers this season, passing Bill Heisler (1997-2001). He heads into Wednesday's game with 225 triples.
- Dalan Ancrum, a junior, has started all  four games so far and is the only other Leatherneck averaging 10-plus points per game (10.8)... He has scored in double figures in three of the first four games... During his first two years, he never started a game and scored 10-plus points three times.
THE LAST TIME OUT: Western Illinois was unable to overcome its turnovers last Saturday evening (Nov. 19), as the Leathernecks fell to Eastern Illinois 73-64 on the road. The Panthers (2-2) used a 19-3 run early in the contest to capture the lead. WIU (1-3) was able to cut its deficit to four points a couple of times, but that was as close as they would get. The Leathernecks turned the ball over 21 times compared to EIU's 10, and the Panthers scored 33 points off of WIU's mistakes. Eastern also bettered WIU 15-7 in second chance points. Garret Covington scored a season-high 22 points, knocking down three triples and making all nine of his free throw attempts. He also pulled down six rebounds and dished out two assists.
AT HOME: Western is 45-24 (.652) inside Western Hall since the beginning of the 2011-12 season... The Leathernecks went 10-4 (.714) during their 2011-12 campaign, 12-2 (.857) during the 2012-13 league slate, 7-5 in 2013-14 (.583), 8-6 (.571) in 2014-15, 7-6 (.500) in 2015-16, and WIU is 1-1 on LeRoy A. Ufkes Court inside Western Hall so far this season.
ON THE ROAD: WIU is 17-55 (.236) on the road since the beginning of the 2011-12 season, and 3-35 (.079) since the beginning of the 2014-15 season... 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, went 0-13 (.000) in 2014-15, and finished the 2015-16 season 3-11 on the road... So far this season WIU is 0-2 on the road.
COVINGTON'S OFF THE COURT: Western Illinois men's basketball senior guard Garret Covington will be even busier than in years past this coming academic year as he is serving as The Summit League's representative on the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and be The Summit League's SAAC President. On top of his added responsibilities, the Edwardsville, Ill. native is also a member of WIU's SAAC and Student Government Association. Covington also represented The Summit League in the NCAA's Leadership Forum this last spring. Covington was elected as president at the Summit League's during the annual SAAC meetings on July 22-24, which was held at the league office in Elmhurst, Ill. The committee's responsibilities include leading the league SAAC meetings along with overseeing the execution of the year's SAAC agenda. |
