MACOMB, Ill. -Â Western Illinois (8-19) finished its Summit League slate with a 5-11 record and earned the eighth seed in the first round of the 2017 Summit League Championship... The Leathernecks will open action against the South Dakota Coyotes who are the first seed after finishing league play 12-4 and winning the regular season title... The opening round contest between WIU and USD is slated to tipoff at 6 p.m. in the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center.
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- OPENING TIP -
- Western Illinois men's basketball student-athlete Garret Covington (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville) was named All-Summit League Second Team... The senior guard has earned Second Team All-League honors in each of his four seasons as a Leatherneck.
- WIU erased an 11-point deficit with less than four minutes to play in regulation to send last Saturday's game into OT, but Fort Wayne was able to best the Leathernecks, 96-92.
- Prior to the last Saturday's game seniors Jabari Sandifer, Mike Miklusak and Garret Covington were recognized for their contributions to the program during their four years at WIU... Sandifer has missed all of the league schedule due to a season-ending injury, but both of seniors that played, Covington (35) and Miklusak (31), each finished with a career high in points.
- Sophomore Brandon Gilbeck ranks 5th nationally in blocks per game, averaging 2.96... He is also only four blocks from setting a new WIU record for blocks in a season... He's recorded a career-high five blocks twice this season, both against Fort Wayne.
- Senior Mike Miklusak ranks first in The Summit League and 8th nationally in defensive rebounds per game (8.18)... He also ranks 2nd in the league and 56th nationally in rebounds per game (8.8)... He also ranks 2nd in the league and 26th nationally in 3FG%.
- The Leathernecks are 14-27 all-time in The Summit League tournament and won their lone tournament title in 1984, the first league tournament ever.
WIU'S LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY: Western Illinois is 14-27 all-time in The Summit League postseason tournament... The Leathernecks have been the eighth seed six times and are 0-6 in those games... WIU has faced South Dakota once, in the opening round of the 2013 tournament, and beat the Coyotes 54-53... Western's most recent tournament contest came two years ago when they were the eighth seed and lost to South Dakota State, 87-50... The Leathernecks won the first-ever Summit League Tournament in 1984 with wins over Eastern Illinois, UIC and Cleveland State, however the league did not have an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament that year...WIU's most recent trip to the league championship game came in 2012 as the fourth seed when Western beat North Dakota State in the opening round, top-seeded Oral Roberts in the semifinals, and lost to South Dakota State in overtime in the title game.
LEATHERNECKS VS. COYOTES SERIES HISTORY: Western Illinois and South Dakota have played each other 15 times and the Coyotes lead the series 8-7... This season USD won both meetings, first in South Dakota 62-55, and then in Macomb 92-81... The Leathernecks dropped the first-ever 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 regular season or tournament 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 SOUTH DAKOTA: The South Dakota Coyotes are 21-10 overall and 12-4 in Summit League heading into The Summit League Championship... Matt Mooney leads USD in points per game (18.0) and steals per game (2.1)... Tyler Flack (15.3) and Trey Dickerson (10.4) also average more than 10 points per game... Flack also averages a team-high 7.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game... Dickerson averages a team-best 3.0 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 52-44 record with the Coyotes and a 124-73 mark during his career.
GILBECK'S BLOCK PARTY:Â Sophomore center Brandon Gilbeck has a Summit League-high 80 blocks (2.96 per game)... His 80 total blocks also ranks 8th nationally and his 2.96 blocks per game ranks 5th in the country... His 80 blocks rank second most ever in a season at WIU... He is three blocks away from tying the program record and four away from recording more blocks in a season than anyone in program history... The sophomore also already has 102 blocks during his two years which ranks tied for fourth all-time at WIU... He is one block from moving into sole possession of fourth place and nine 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 1,871 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 532 (19.1 PPG) so far this season... He has scored 30-plus points six times during his career with 35 vs. Fort Wayne (Feb. 25) 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 292 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 76 (2.9 per game | 37.3 %) so far as a senior... He has made a career-high six 3-pointers four times, including three times this season (vs. SDSU, vs. ORU, vs. Fort Wayne)... The first time he his six in a game was as a sophomore vs. Idaho at home when he made them consecutively (tied WIU's record for consecutive threes in a game).
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