| MACOMB, Ill. -Â The Western Illinois men's basketball team (3-8) opens Summit League play on Dec. 29) at Fort Wayne (10-3)... The contest between the Leathernecks and Mastodons is slated to tipoff at 6 p.m. (CT).
OPENING TIP
- Western Illinois men's basketball concluded the non-league portion of its 2016-17 season with an 82-50 loss at No. 15 Purdue on Dec. 19.Â
- Western Illinois is 14-22 all-time in Summit League openers since joining the league prior to the 1981-82 season... The Leathernecks have won four of the last five league openers and are 4-2 in the last six years.
-Â Mike Miklusak is having a great senior season so far, averaging 15.2 points (2nd on team) and a team-high 9.5 rebounds per game... After recording the team's first double-double of the season at Miami (14 points, 11 rebounds) in his first game of the season before recording back-to-back double doubles at Milwaukee (14 points and 14 rebounds) and at Purdue (16 points and 11 rebounds) to conclude non-league play.
- Garret Covington, who leads the team with 19.1 points per game, has 1,549 career points and most recently moved from sixth to fifth place all-time at WIU in career scoring... Covington is the program's NCAA DI era scoring leader and is seven points away from sole possession of fourth place and 29 points away from third place all-time.
- Covington, who also ranks second all-time in career 3-pointers (245 3-pointers), is only three triples away from being the program's all-time leader.
- Senior guard Jabari Sandifer has 365 career assists and most recently passed Daryl Reed (361) for sole possession of third place all-time at WIU.
SERIES HISTORY:Â Fort Wayne leads the all-time series 15-7... The Leathernecks won the first-ever meeting 74-63 on January 11, 1988... WIU then lost 10 of the next 11 meetings to IPFW, and found themselves trailing 10-2 in the series... Western then won four consecutive games, and now WIU has lost five of the last six to Fort Wayne. Fort Wayne swept the season series last year, defeating WIU in Indiana 88-67 and dowing the Leathernecks 87-75 in Macomb.
A LOOK AT FORT WAYNE:Â The Fort Wayne Mastodons, fellow members of The Summit Leauge, enter Thursday's game with a 10-3 overall record after most recently beating Detroit, 93-86, on the road... The Mastodons ranks #6 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid Major Top 25 poll... Fort Wayne's losses have come at Arkansas, at Illinois State and at Notre Dame... Fort Wayne is led by Mo Evans who averages team bests in points (18.0), assists (6.1) and steals (2.2)... Three other players average more than 10 points a game: Bryson Scott (17.0), John Konchar (14.2) and Kason Harrell (10.3)... Fort Wayne is coached by Jon Coffman (Washington & Lee '96) who is in his sixth year at the helm... Entering Monday's contest, Coffman enter's Thursday's game with a 50-28 record as a head coach of the Mastodons.
WHAT'S NEXT?:Â After Western opens Summit League play on the road at Fort Wayne (Dec. 29) and at IUPUI (Dec. 31) the Leathernecks return home and welcome South Dakota State for a midweek contest on Jan. 4 and Oral Roberts on Saturday Jan. 7... Trips to Denver (Jan. 11) and Omaha (Jan. 14) follow in the month on January.Â
THE LAST TIME OUT:Â Western Illinois men's basketball concluded the non-league portion of its 2016-17 season with an 82-50 loss at No. 15 Purdue Monday evening (Dec. 19). The Leathernecks head into Summit League play with a 3-8 overall record, while Purdue improves to 10-2 on the season."Give our kids credit, they battled," said head coach Billy Wright. "I thought they did a really good job on both ends of the floor trying to execute, but we just didn't shoot the ball well. Give (Purdue) credit. They're big, physical, long and athletic, but we held them to 42 percent shooting on their home floor where they normally shoot 50 percent. The effort was there." The Boilermakers quickly jumped out to a 13-3 lead and eventually held an 11-point advantage, 27-16, with 8:40 to play in the first. WIU then had seniors Garret Covington and Mike Miklusak drain back-to-back unanswered 3-pointers to get the Leathernecks within five points at the 6:16 of the first, 27-22. Purdue, who outscored WIU 34-8 in the paint, would conclude the first by outscoring WIU 17-6, though, and take a 44- 28 lead into halftime. The second half was all Purdue as the Boilermakers, who were led by Caleb Swanigan who finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds, grabbed their 10th victory of the year.
TOP ALL-TIME: Garret Covington sits fifth all-time in Western Illinois career scoring with 1,549 points... He most recently passed Marshall Stoner (1,524) and took sole possession of fifth place all-time... Covington's 1,549 career points is the program's most during the program's NCAA Division I era... He is seven points away from passing Dwayne Banks (1,555) for fourth all-time and 29 points from passing Bob Anderson (1,577) for third all-time in program history.
1.    2,248 Joe Dykstra   1978-83
2.    2,128 Coleman Carrodine   1960-64
3.    1,577 Bob Anderson   1966-69
4.    1,555 Dwayne Banks   1977-81
5.   1,549 Garret Covington   2013-Pres. |
