MACOMB, Ill. -Â Â Western Illinois (8-17, 5-9) wraps up its Summit League slate at home this week when the Leathernecks play host to South Dakota on Thursday (Feb. 23) and Fort Wayne on Saturday (Feb. 25)... Both of WIU's contests are scheduled to tipoff at 7 p.m. and will air live on ESPN3.
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-Western Illinois men's basketball dropped a hard-fought Summit League contest that required double overtime in Fargo Saturday night (Feb. 18) to North Dakota State, 100-91.
- With only one week left in The Summit League's regular season schedule remaining, here is a look at the standings: NDSU and South Dakota are tied for first place in the league at 10-4... Denver sits third at 8-6... Fort Wayne and Omaha are both 7-7 and tied for fourth... South Dakota State (7-8) ranks sixth, IUPUI (6-8) ranks seventh and WIU (5-9) ranks eighth... Oral Roberts ranks ninth in the league standings with a 4-11 mark.
-Â Sophomore center Brandon Gilbeck averages 2.96 blocks per game which ranks first in The Summit League and 5th nationally... He averages 3.57 blocks per game during league play... He has recorded three or more blocks in 17 of WIU's 25 games this season and four blocks in the last four games.
- 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 (Feb. 8) with 20 points and has scored 20-plus points in each of the last four games including 32 at NDSU (Feb. 18).
- After missing five games, Delo Bruster played briefly against Denver (Feb. 14) before aggravating his leg injury and sat out at NDSU (Feb. 18)... He is questionable for Thursday's game.
WHAT IS NEXT?: After Western 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, the Leathernecks will head to Sioux Falls, S.D. for The Summit League Championship March 4-7.
LEATHERNECKS VS. COYOTES SERIES HISTORY: Western Illinois and South Dakota have played each other 14 times and the series is tied 7-7... 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 six league meetings before losing four straight meetings... Western won last year's regular season finale against USD to break its losing streak... 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: The South Dakota Coyotes are 19-10 overall and 10-4 in Summit League heading into Thursday's matchup... Matt Mooney leads USD in points per game (17.7) and steals per game (2.1)... Tyler Flack (15.5) and Trey Dickerson (10.2) also average more than 10 points per game... Flack also averages a team-high 7.1 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game... Dickerson averages a team-best 2.9 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 50-44 record with the Coyotes and a 122-73 mark during his career.
GILBECK'S BLOCK PARTY:Â Sophomore center Brandon Gilbeck has a Summit League-high 74 blocks (2.96 per game)... His 74 total blocks also ranks 8th nationally and his 2.96 blocks per game ranks 5th in the country... His 74 blocks rank third most ever in a season at WIU... He is two blocks away from moving into sole possession of second place and 10 away from recording more blocks in a season than anyone in program history... The sophomore also already has 96 blocks during his two years which ranks sixth all-time at Western Illinois... He is four blocks from moving into fifth place and seven away from fourth place.
#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 1,815 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 466 (19.0 PPG) so far this season... He has scored 30-plus points five 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 281 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 71 (2.8 per game | 36.8%) 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 49-29 (.628) 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 5-6 on LeRoy A. Ufkes Court inside Western Hall so far this season.
ON THE ROAD: WIU is 20-64 (.238) on the road since the beginning of the 2011-12 season, and 7-48 (.127) 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 3-11 on the road.
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