| MACOMB, Ill. -Â Â Western Illinois (8-15, 5-7) continues its Summit League slate at home on Tuesday (Feb. 14) when Denver comes to town... The Leathernecks and Pioneers are slated to tipoff at 7 p.m. on ESPN3.
- OPENING TIPÂ -
-Â Western Illinois topped Oral Roberts in Tulsa, 63-60, last Wednesday (Feb. 8) and improved to 5-7 in league play.
- With only two weeks left in The Summit League's regular season schedule remaining, here is a look at the standings: NDSU leads the league at 9-3 with South Dakota right behind NDSU at 9-4... Denver (7-5), Fort Wayne (6-6), Omaha (6-7), WIU (5-7) and IUPUI (5-7) all sit in the middle of the pack... South Dakota State (5-8) and Oral Roberts (4-9) rank 8th and 9th.
-Â Recording the first double-double of his career at Oral Roberts last Wednesday (Feb. 8) was sophomore guard Jeremiah Usiosefe who scored 10 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. He also led WIU with two steals.
- After scoring 20-plus points in nine of WIU's first 15 games, senior guard Garret Covington had a streak of seven straight games without reaching 20 points in a game... WIU went 1-6 during that stretch... He snapped that streak at ORU with 20 points and looks to stay on track during the final four games of the regular season.
- Sophomore center Brandon Gilbeck averages 2.9 blocks per game which ranks first in The Summit League and 9th nationally.
- Sophomore guard Delo Bruster has missed the last five games and is questionable for Western's game Tuesday's game versus Denver.
WHAT IS NEXT?: After the Leathernecks return to Macomb to play host to Denver on Feb. 14 WIU travels to Fargo, N.D. to face the first-place North Dakota State Bison on Feb. 18... Western then concludes the regular season with two games at home, first against South Dakota on Feb. 23 and then the regular season finale against Fort Wayne on Feb. 25.
LEATHERNECKS VS. PIONEERS SERIES HISTORY: Denver leads the all-time series 7-2... The Leathernecks won the first meeting between the two programs on January 30, 1978, by a score of 84-78... Denver then won the next six meetings... DU won the second-ever meeting, a non-league game, on December 7, 2002, by a score of 75-48... The remaining six meetings have come in Summit League action... DU won the first five league matchups before Western ended it's losing streak to the Pioneers last season in Denver, 63-60, on Feb. 11, 2016... Denver won the meeting between the two teams in Denver earlier this season, 84-70... Below is a look at all of the meetings between the two teams:
• vs. Denver • 9 Total Meetings • Western trails 2-7 •
Jan 30, 1978 • W • 84-78 • A
Dec 7, 2002 • L • 48-75 • N
Jan 25, 2014 • L • 55-67 • H
Feb 20, 2014 • L • 67-75 • A
Jan 14, 2015 • L • 54-68 • A
Feb 21, 2015 • L • 46-59 • H
Jan 14, 2016 • L • 69-76 • H
Feb 11, 2016 • W, 63-60 • A
Jan 11, 2017 • L, 70-84 • H
A LOOK AT THE DENVER PIONEERS:Â The Denver Pioneers enter Wednesday's game with a 15-10 overall record and are 7-5 in Summit League mark... DU's league victories have come at home against Oral Roberts, WIU, North Dakota State, South Dakota State and Fort Wayne, and on the road against IUPUI and Oral Roberts... The Pioneers are led by Joe Rosga (15.8 PPG), Daniel Amigo (15.3 PPG) and C.J. Bobbitt (10.1) who each average 10-plus points per game... Amigo also averages a team-high 7.1 rebounds and 0.7 blocks per game... Jake Pemberton leads DU in assists (4.4) and steals per game (1.5)... Denver is coached by Rodney Billups (Denver '05) who is in his 1st year at the helm and has a 15-10 record while coach of the Pioneers.
GILBECK'S BLOCK PARTY:Â Sophomore center Brandon Gilbeck has a Summit League-high 66 blocks (2.9 per game)... His 66 blocks also ranks 13th nationally and his 2.9 per game ranks 9th in the country... His 66 blocks is tied for the third most ever in a season at WIU... He is one block away from moving into sole possession of third place and 10 away from second place.
1. 83 - Shelby Thurmond (92-93)
2. 75 - James Granstra (09-10)
3. 66 - Brandon Gilbeck (16-17)Â
  66 - Shelby Thurmond (94-95)
#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 1,761 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 422 (18.3 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 all-time in 3-pointers at Western Illinois... Covington enters the weekend with 272 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 62 (2.7 per game | 35.8%) 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).
AT HOME: Western is 49-28 (.636) 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 5-5 on LeRoy A. Ufkes Court inside Western Hall so far this season.
ON THE ROAD: WIU is 20-63 (.241) on the road since the beginning of the 2011-12 season, and 7-47 (.129) since the beginning of the 2013-14 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 3-10 on the road.
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