| MACOMB, Ill. -Â The Western Illinois men's basketball team (5-9, 2-1) continues Summit League play on Saturday (Jan. 4) when Oral Roberts (4-12, 0-2) comes to Macomb for a men's and women's basketball doubleheader... The contest between the Leathernecks and Golden Eagles is slated to tipoff at 2 p.m.
OPENING TIP
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- Western Illinois is 2-1 in Summit League play for the second time in head coach Billy Wright's time as head coach after winning at league-favorite Fort Wayne, falling at IUPUI, and then defeating South Dakota State for the first time since the 2008-09 season... WIU also started 2-1 in 2014-15.
- Heading into the 2016-17 season the Western Illinois program record for 3-pointers in a game was 15 which happened twice... WIU set a new record at Fort Wayne with 18 triples (Dec. 29) and then made 16 two games later in their win at home over South Dakota State (Jan. 4).
- Garret Covington has 1,618 career points and 557 career 3-pointers, both best in the program's NCAA DI era... His 1,618 career points ranks third place all-time... Covington leads the Summit League in scoring and 3-pointers during league play this season, averaging 23.0 points and 4.0 threes per game.
- Mike Miklusak is having a great senior season so far, averaging 15.9 points (2nd on team) and a team-high 9.3 rebounds per game... He has four double-doubles on the season and scored a career-high 23 points in WIU's loss at IUPUI (Dec. 31)... Miklusak leads the league in rebounds per game for the season.
- Brandon Gilbeck, who ranks first in the league and top 25 nationally with 2.5 blocks per game, recorded his first career double-double vs. South Dakota State (Jan. 4) with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
LEATHERNECKS VS. GOLDEN EAGLES SERIES HISTORY: Oral Roberts leads the all-time series 31- 7... The first meeting between the two programs, and the only meeting that was a nonconference contest came during the 1968-69, a game Oral Roberts won 82-69... The Golden Eagles have won eight of the last nine meetings and 16 of the last 18 games... The one game of the last seven in which WIU came out on top was when the Leathernecks upset first-seed ORU in the semifinals of the 2012 Summit League Tournament, 54-53.
A LOOK AT THE ORU GOLDEN EAGLES:Â The Oral Roberts enter Saturday's game with a 4-12 overall record and are 0-2 in Summit League play... ORU opened league play with a 77-73 loss at Denver and then a 102-91 loss at Fort Wayne... The Golden Eagles have three players averaging more than 10 points per game in Albert Owens (14.9), Jalen Bradley (14.4) and Kris Martin (13.4)... Bradley also leads ORU in assists (4.3) and steals (1.5) per game, while Owens also leads the Golden Eagles in blocks (1.0) per game... Emmanuel Nzekwesi (7.2) leads ORU in rebounds per game (7.2)... Oral Roberts is coached by Scott Sutton (Okla. St. '92) who is in his 18th year at the helm and has a 324-237 record while a head coach.
WHAT'S NEXT?:Â After Western continues Summit League play at home against Oral Roberts (Jan. 7), the Leathernecks return to the road for games at Denver (Jan. 11) and at Omaha (Jan. 14)... WIU then returns home and plays host to the North Dakota State Bison on Jan. 21.
AT HOME: Western is 47-26 (.644) 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 3-3 on LeRoy A. Ufkes Court inside Western Hall so far this season.
TOP ALL-TIME: Garret Covington sits third all-time in Western Illinois career scoring with 1,618 points... He most recently passed Dwayne Banks (1,555) and Bob Anderson (1,577) to move into third place all-time... Covington's 1,618 career points is the program's most during WIU's NCAA Division I era.
1.    2,248 Joe Dykstra   1978-83
2.    2,128 Coleman Carrodine   1960-64
3.   1,618 Garret Covington   2013-Pres.
4.    1,577 Bob Anderson   1966-69
5.    1,555 Dwayne Banks   1977-81
COVINGTON FOR THREE: Garret Covington has 257 career 3-pointers, more than any other Leatherneck during the program's DI era… Covington recently passed Ceola Clark III who finished his career with 247 triples... Covington has played in 98 career games, and has had only seven games without making a 3-pointer, meaning he has made at least one triple in 91 games... He has 70 games with multiple 3-pointers... 21 games with one trey, 20 games with two triples, 20 games with three makes from long range, 19 games with four 3-pointers, nine games with five connections from beyond the arc, and a career-high six 3-pointers twice... He made his six triples consecutively in WIU's win over Idaho last season (Dec. 11, 2014) which tied Western's record for consecutive threes made in a game... He then connected on three made from deep at home in WIU's victory over South Dakota State.
1. 257 Garret Covington (2013-Pres.)
2. 247 Ceola Clark III (2008-13)
3. 216 Bill Heisler (1997-01)
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