| MACOMB, Ill. -Â Western Illinois (7-15, 4-7) continues its Summit League slate on the road Wednesday (Feb. 8) at Oral Roberts... The Leathernecks and Golden Eagles are slated to tipoff at 7 p.m. on ESPN3.
- OPENING TIPÂ -
-Â Western Illinois dropped to 4-7 in league play last Saturday evening after falling to Omaha inside Western Hall, 79-67.
- WIU started league play 3-1... During the Leathernecks first four games they averaged 16.5 assists and 10.3 turnovers per game... During the last seven games WIU is 1-6 and the Leathernecks have averaged 9.9 assists and 14.3 turnovers.
-Â With the second portion of The Summit League schedule underway, the standings look like this: NDSU leads the league at 7-3... Denver and South Dakota are both 7-4... Omaha (6-5), Fort Wayne (5-5) and South Dakota State (5-6) all sit around .500... IUPUI is 4-6... WIU is 4-7... Oral Roberts 3-8.
-Â Senior Mike Miklusak scored a career-best 26 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field and 5-of-8 from long range. The Dyer, Ind. native also grabbed six rebounds, dished out two assists and recorded two steals.
- Sophomore center Brandon Gilbeck averages 2.8 blocks per game which ranks first in The Summit League and 10th nationally.
Sophomore guard Delo Bruster has missed the last four games and is questionable for Western's game Wednesday at Oral Roberts.
WHAT IS NEXT?: After the Leathernecks head to Tulsa to face Oral Roberts on Wednesday, Western returns to Macomb again and plays host to Denver on Feb. 14... WIU then travels to Fargo, N.D. to face the first-place North Dakota State Bison on Feb. 18.
LEATHERNECKS VS. GOLDEN EAGLESÂ SERIES HISTORY: Oral Roberts leads the all-time series 31-8... The two teams faced off earlier this season in Macomb with Western coming out on top, 86-71... The first ever meeting between the two programs, and the only meeting that was a nonconference contest came during the 1968-69 season, a game Oral Roberts won 82-69... The Golden Eagles have won eight of the last 10 meetings and 16 of the last 19 games... WIU's biggest win over Oral Roberts was when the Leathernecks upset first-seed ORU in the semifinals of the 2012 Summit League Tournament, 54-53.
A LOOK AT THE ORAL ROBERTS GOLDEN EAGLES:Â The Oral Roberts Eagles enter Wednesday's game with a 7-18 overall record and are 3-8 in Summit League play... ORU's victories in league play have come against South Dakota State, South Dakota and Fort Wayne... The Golden Eagles have three players averaging more than 10 points per game in Albert Owens (17.1), Jalen Bradley (14.3) and Kris Martin (14.0)... Bradley also leads ORU in assists (4.1) and steals (1.4) per game, while Owens also leads the Golden Eagles in blocks (1.1) per game... Emmanuel Nzekwesi (6.8) leads ORU in rebounds per game... Oral Roberts is coached by Scott Sutton (Okla. St. '92) who is in his 18th year at the helm and has a 327-243 record while a head coach.
GILBECK'S BLOCK PARTY:Â Sophomore center Brandon Gilbeck has a Summit League-high 62 blocks (2.8 per game)... His 62 blocks also ranks 11th nationally and his 2.8 per game ranks 10th nationally... His 62 blocks is the fifth most ever in a season at WIU... He is four blocks away from moving into sole possession of fourth place and five away from third 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 1,741 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 402 (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 270 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 60 (2.5 per game | 38.3%) 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 19-63 (.241) on the road since the beginning of the 2011-12 season, and 6-47 (.113) 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 2-10 on the road.
 |
