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Rachael Keating

WIU Welcomes Oral Roberts

| By: WIU Athletic Communications

Leatherneck men's basketball faces the Golden Eagles at 2 p.m. on Saturday (Jan. 8).

Who | Western Illinois (10-5, 1-2) vs Oral Roberts (10-6, 4-1)
When | Saturday (Jan. 8), 2 p.m.
Where | Western Hall – Macomb, Ill.
Social media | Instagram + Twitter + Facebook + #TRADITIONofTOUGH

Matchup history: Saturday's matchup is the 49th time in program history that these teams have played, a matchup dating back to the 1968-69 season. The Leathernecks and Golden Eagles have played almost every season since the late 1990s, and the last time ORU visited Western Hall was in January of 2020. Last season, Colton Sandage set what was then a career-high with 32 points against Oral Roberts, tying a single-game program record with nine made three-pointers on Feb. 27.

Scouting the opponent: The Golden Eagles are 10-6 this season and coming off an 81-66 victory at St. Thomas. As a team, ORU is scoring 82.5 points per game and the scoring margin of +14.9 leads the Summit League. Max Abmas leads the team in scoring at 22.3 points per game and is coming off a 38-point, six rebound, six assist outburst against St. Thomas on Thursday (Jan. 6). How Abmas matches up with the Leatherneck backcourt will be one thing to watch in Saturday's game.

Players to watch: A junior from Wapello, Iowa, Trenton Massner was named the Summit League Male Athlete of the Month for December, announced on Thursday (Jan. 6). Massner was named Summit League Player of the Week on Dec. 27 and is the first Leatherneck men's basketball player to win the award since Terell Parks won it for the month of December in 2012.
 
Massner played in and started each of the team's eight games, playing 35.5 minutes per appearance and holding averages of 18.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.0 steals while shooting 47.2% from the field, 37.8% from deep, and 70.4% from the free-throw line. The junior from Wapello, Iowa, poured in a career-best 31 points against Denver on Dec. 20, grabbing nine rebounds to go with four assists, three steals and a block, and scored 20+ in three-straight games from Dec. 20-29, while finishing in double digits in each of his appearances. 
 
Colton Sandage had a career performance against Oral Roberts last season, tying a single-game program record with nine makes from behind-the-arc in last season's 81-85 road loss. This season, Sandage has stepped up across the board for Western Illinois, improving his scoring average by five points per game (9.5 to 14.6), rebounding (2.1 to 3.3), assist average (2.0 to 2.7), and shooting from both the field (39.6% to 43.7%) and three-point range (30.3% to 43.7%). Defensively, Sandage, along with the aforementioned Massner, will have an important role to play in containing ORU's Max Abmas.

What's next: Western Illinois men's basketball will head back on the road for its next game, facing North Dakota in Grand Forks, N.D. on Thursday (Jan. 13). Tip-off against the Fighting Hawks is scheduled for 7 p.m.
 
 
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