GAME EIGHTEEN 
MEN'S BASKETBALL: WESTERN ILLINOIS LEATHERNECKS VS SOUTH DAKOTA STATE JACKRABBITS
Jan. 20, 2018  •  7:00 p.m. (CT)  •  Macomb, Ill.  •  Western Hall
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MACOMB, Ill.- WIU men's basketball takes Leroy A. Ufkes court night for its final contest of the four-game home stand on Saturday against South Dakota State. After the victory against Fort Wayne, the Leathernecks aim to win back-to-back league games for the first time since Jan. 4 (82-74 win over South Dakota State) and Jan. 7, 2017 (86-71 win over Oral Roberts).
 
LAST TIME OUT: Down by one with the game on the line Wednesday (January 17), the Western Illinois University men's basketball team looked no further than its freshman point guard Kobe Webster to earn its first Summit League victory of the season. Western trailed by 13 points at the start of the second quarter (17:40), before tying things at 68-all at the end of regulation. Webster ended with 24 points including the game-winner with 1.1 seconds in overtime.
 
IMPRESSIVE RUN, YOUNGIN': Kobe Webster ranks among one of the best freshman in the country and best in many statistical categories. Webster is only one of 13 players, including only three freshman, in the country to average 15.8 points, 4.5 assists and 3.6 rebounds while shooting above 40 percent from 3-point land. If continued the entire season, he will end as the only freshman (seventh player, regardless of class) to post these numbers in The Summit League since 1992-93. According to College Basketball Reference, he has 2.3 wins shares this season, which ranks 12th in The Summit League.
 
THE LONE WOLF: Brandon Gilbeck is the only player in the NCAA who averages 13.2 points, 8.1 and 2.9 blocks while shooting 68 percent from the field.
 
ASSISTS O'PLENTY: Kobe Webster ranks second in The Summit League in assists per game this season, dishing out 4.5 assists per contest. This figure ranks 10th around the country among freshman players.
 
A "NUGGET": Lynrick Moxey, nicknamed "nuggy" because of his obsession with eating chicken nuggets, recorded his first career double-double against Oak Hills Christian by adding 17 points and 10 rebounds. He also celebrated his 22nd birthday on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
 
BUCKETS: Junior center Brandon Gilbeck is shooting 68.3 percent this seaon, which leads the Summit League and ranks fifth in the country.
 
HUFFIN' AND PUFFIN': After seeing Jeremiah Usiosefe go down with a injury, Delo Bruster saw 31 minutes of playing time against Fort Wayne on Wednesday, Bruster's career high in minutes played. In the contest, Bruster led the team with five assists.
 
BRINGING 'EM DOWN: The Leathernecks crash the boards on defense, averaging 29.47 defensive rebounds per contest, a figure that ranks seventh in country. On the offensive glass, the Leathernecks rank 321st with only 7.94 per game.
 
BOTH ENDS OF THE COURT: Western Illinois is in the Top-35 nationally in both field goal percentage (31st, 48.7) and field goal percentage defense (27th, 39.9). The Leathernecks are one of nine teams in the land, and the only Summit League program, to shoot above 48.5 percent and hold opponents below 40 percent.
 
GET IT OUT OF HERE: The Leathernecks lead The Summit League in blocks per contest by swatting 4.3 blocks per games. Individually, Brandon Gilbeck is leading the way with 2.9 blocks per game (13th nationally, first in The Summit League) blocks per game and is rejecting 11.0 percent of opponents' attempts. Out of 2,167 ranked players in the country, Gilbeck is 20th in the NCAA in defensive block percentage.
 
KEEPIN' IT QUIET: Out of all 351 teams in D-I, WIU has committed the fourth-fewest personal fouls of any team in the land. The Leathernecks have only fouled opponents 246 times through 17 games this season. On the offensive end, WIU does not get many of its points from the free throw line, as only 15.6 percent of its points are from the stripe.
 
SCOUTING THE JACKRABBITS: South Dakota State comes into Western Hall in first place in The Summit League, boasting a perfect 4-0 league record. The Jackrabbits are led by 2017-18 'Preseason Player of the Year' Mike Daum, who leads the league in scoring (23.5 ppg) and pulls down over eight rebounds per game.
 
USIOSEFE OUT: Sophomore guard Jeremiah Usiosefe suffered a season-ending injury so the Leathernecks will have to look to freshman Isaac Johnson and junior Delo Bruster to fill his 23.7 minutes per contest. Before going down, Usiosefe started all fifteen games and averaged 6.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists.
 
LOOKING AHEAD: The Leathernecks hit the road next week for two league games against Denver (Jan. 25) and North Dakota State (Jan. 27)

Tip-Ins
- This will be the 26th meeting meeting between Western Illinois and South Dakota State, with the Jackrabbits claiming a 21-4 advantage in the all-time series.

- Last season, the Leathernecks beat South Dakota State 82-74 inside of Western Hall in the Leathernecks' third league game. The Jackrabbits took the contest in Brookings, 98-65, on Feb 1.

- Against Fort Wayne, the Leathernecks shot 45.0 percent from the field, the highest percentage against a Summit League opponent so far.

- With the win against Fort Wayne, WIU won its 1,250th game as a program.

- WIU has shot at least 20 3-pointers against each Summit League opponent this far. Against non-league D-I opponents, the Leathernecks failed to reach the mark four times.

- The Leathernecks have already scored at least 90 points six times this season through seventeen games. The last time WIU surpassed that mark was 1995-96, a season that saw seven 90+ performances.