MACOMB, Ill. -Â The Western Illinois men's basketball team (6-12, 3-4) continues its Summit League slate on the road this week when the Leathernecks journey to Vermillion, S.D. for a matchup with the Coyotes... The Leathernecks and Coyotes are slated to tipoff at 7 p.m.
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OPENING TIP
-Â After starting Summit League play out 3-1 with wins over Fort Wayne, South Dakota State and Oral Roberts and a loss at IUPUI, the Leathernecks have now lost three consecutive games against Denver, Omaha and league-leader North Dakota State.
-Â With the league schedule nearly half over, the standings include seven of the nine teams right around .500... NDSU leads the league at 6-1 and SDSU sits at the bottom with a 2-5 league mark... Every other team is either 4-3 or 3-4.
- Garret Covington, who has scored more points and made more 3-pointers than anyone else at WIU during the program's DI era, ranks second in the league and 29th nationally in 3-pointers made per game (3.06) and first in the league and 33rd nationally in free throw percentage (.879)... His 19.7 points per game ranks second in the league.
- Brandon Gilbeck, who ranks first in the league and 13th nationally with 2.67 blocks per game (48 total), has improved during WIU's league slate... He averaged 4.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game during non-league play and is averaging 8.9 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.
- Mike Miklusak has been productive all season long, averaging 15.5 points and 9.2 rebounds per game... He has scored in double figures in all but one contest he's played this season... He has five double-doubles on the season... His 9.2 rebounds per game leads The Summit League.
WHAT IS NEXT?: After Western concludes the first half of Summit League play at South Dakota the Leathernecks welcome the IUPUI Jaguars to Macomb to kick-off the second half of league action on Saturday night (Jan. 28) with tipoff slated for 7 p.m... WIU then hits the road again next week at South Dakota State on the first of February.
LEATHERNECKS VS. COYOTES SERIES HISTORY: Western Illinois and South Dakota have played each other 13 times and WIU leads the series 7-6... The Leathernecks dropped the first two meetings (both non-league games) between the two teams, first at home on Dec. 6, 1969, 82-74, and then again on December 12, 1970, when USD downed WIU in Vermillion, 83-82... The rest of the meetings between the two teams have been Summit League games... Western won the first five league meetings before losing four straight meetings... Western won last year's regular season finale against USD... Perhaps the most historic win over South Dakota came in WIU's 2013-14 regular season finale which gave the Leathernecks a share of the regular season title.
A LOOK AT THE SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES:Â The South Dakota Coyotes are 13-9 overall and 4-3 in Summit League heading into Wednesday's matchup... In league play, the Coyotes have defeated Omaha, Denver, IUPUI and Fort Wayne and have lost to South Dakota State, North Dakota State and Oral Roberts... Matt Mooney leads USD in points per game (16.5) and steals per game (2.1)... Tyler Flack (13.3), Trey Dickerson (10.6) and Trey Burch-Manning (10.3) also average more than 10 points per game... Flack also averages a team-high 7.7 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game... Dickerson averages a team-best 3.1 assists per game... South Dakota is coached by Craig Smith who is in his third year at USD and sixth year overall as a head coach... He owns a 44-43 record with the Coyotes and a 116-72 mark during his career.
GILBECK'S BLOCK PARTY:Â So far this season sophomore center Brandon Gilbeck has a Summit League-high 48 blocks (2.6 per game)... He is 11 blocks away from moving into sole possession of fifth place on Western's blocks in a season top 10, and 18 away from fourth place.
1. 83 - Shelby Thurmond (1992-93)
2. 75 - James Granstra (2009-10)
3. 66 - Shelby Thurmond (1994-95)
4. 65 - Terell Parks (2012-13)
5. 58 - Janthony Joseph (1996-97)
7. 48 - Brandon Gilbeck (2016-17)
6. 46 - Terell Parks (2011-12)
8. 44 Janthony Joseph (1995-96)
#1 IN CAREER POINTS: Garret Covington ranks first in points at Western Illinois during the program's NCAA Division I era... Covington enters the weekend with 1,694 career points (3rd in all of the program's history)... Covington scored 422 (14.6 PPG) as a freshman, 434 (15.5 PPG) as a sophomore, 483 (17.9 PPG) as a junior and has 355 (19.7 PPG) so far this season... He has scored 30-plus points four times during his career with 34 vs. Oral Roberts at home this season being his career best.
#1 IN 3-POINTERS: Garret Covington also ranks first in 3-pointers at Western Illinois during the program's NCAA Division I era... Covington enters the weekend with 265 career 3-pointers... He made 70 triples (2.5 per game | 38.7%) as a freshman, 63 (2.3 per game | 35.6%) as a sophomore, 77 (2.9 per game | 42.3%) as a junior, and 55 (3.1 per game | 39%) so far as a senior... He has made a career-high six 3-pointers three times, including twice this season (vs. SDSU and vs. ORU)... The first time he his six in a game was during his sophomore season vs. Idaho at home when he made them consecutively (tied WIU's record for consecutive threes in a game). |
