Western Illinois (2-5) vs. North Dakota State (2-6) Saturday, Jan. 2 & Sunday, Jan. 3 | 3:30 p.m. Macomb, Ill. | Western Hall BREAKDOwN 2020-21 SCHEDULE Western Illinois Date Opponent Time/Result Series History Record (Summit League) 2-5 D.3 at No. 3 Iowa L, 58-99 Iowa leads, 10-0 Last Game L, at DePaul, 72-91 D. 6 vs. Central Michigan L, 73-79 CM leads, 25-27 D. 9 at Miami (OH) L, 57-67 Miami leads, 2-1 Head Coach Robert Jeter III D. 10 vs. Mt. St. Joseph W, 80-55 WIU leads, 1-0 WIU Record 2-5 (First Season) D. 12 at Eastern Illinois L, 88-92 EIU leads, 84-78 Career Record 186-175 (11 Seasons) D. 20 at UT Martin W, 81-83 UT Martin leads, 3-1 D. 23 at DePaul L, 72-91 Series tied, 1-1 North Dakota State J. 2 vs. North Dakota State^ 7 p.m. NDSU leads, 21-8 Record (Summit League) 2-6 J. 3 vs. North Dakota State^ 7 p.m. Last Game L, at TCU, 82-89 J. 8 at South Dakota State^ 7:30 p.m. SDSU leads, 27-5 J. 9 at South Dakota State^ 7:30 p.m. Head Coach David Richman J. 15 vs. Kansas City^ 7 p.m. KC leads, 27-17 NDSU Record 123-81 (Seventh Season) J. 16 vs. Kansas City^ 7 p.m. Career Record Same J. 22 vs. South Dakota^ 7 p.m. USD leads, 13-9 J. 23 vs. South Dakota^ 7 p.m. J. 29 at North Dakota^ 7:30 p.m. UND leads, 6-3 J. 30 at North Dakota^ 7:30 p.m. F. 6 at Omaha^ 8 p.m. Omaha leads, 14-10 F. 7 at Omaha^ 8 p.m. F. 12 vs. Denver^ 7 p.m. Denver leads, 12-4 SUMMIT STANDINGS F. 13 vs. Denver^ 7 p.m. League Overall F. 27 at Oral Roberts^ 7 p.m. ORU leads, 35-11 South Dakota State 0-0 5-3 F. 28 at Oral Roberts^ 7 p.m. Kansas City 0-0 4-5 Oral Roberts 0-0 3-5 ^ The Summit League Western Illinois 0-0 2-5 Home Game North Dakota State 0-0 2-6 South Dakota 0-0 2-6 Omaha 0-0 2-8 QUICK HITS Denver 0-0 1-6 North Dakota 0-0 1-8 - Western wrapped its non-league schedule in a 91-72 loss to DePaul; the team enters this weekend’s games with a 2-5 record - In all but two games this season, either Will Carius or Tamell Pearson led the Leathernecks in scoring; at DePaul, they both recorded a team-high 15 points STAy CONNECTED - The series between WIU and NDSU dates back to 2007-08; the Bison lead the set 21-8 Twitter - @WIU_MensHoops Television - Leatherneck All-Access - WIU and NDSU faced each other as the No. 8 and No. 4 seeds, respectively, Live Stats - GoLeathernecks.com in the semifinal round of the 2019 Summit League Tournament; where West- Radio - Mixlr (Cam Thomas) ern fell 76-73; the game marked the Leathernecks’ first trip to the Summit League semifinals since the 2012-13 season western illinois basketball (2020-21) On the Board Burrell (Chicago, Ill. / Highland); Rod Johnson Jr. (Sun The Leathernecks lead the Summit League and rank Prairie, Wis. / Chattanooga); Adam Anhold (Janesville, 10th in the NCAA in offensive rebounds per game Wis. / Highland); J.J. Flores (Lake in the Hills, Ill. / (14.86). Will Carius manages a team-best 3.29 boards Highland); Colton Sandage (Bloomington, Ill. / Vin- per game, while Tamell Pearson and Cameron Burell cennes), Will Carius (Bettendorf, Iowa / Monmouth), add 3.14 and 2.43, respectively. and Erik Talton (DeSota, Texas / Weatherford). Offensive Production Basketball Background Western Illinois is one of three programs in the Summit Basketball is in Rod Johnson Jr.’s DNA. His parents, League with at least three players averaging dou- Roderick Sr. and Stacy, played collegiately ble-figures. Tamell Pearson guides the Leathernecks’ -- Stacy was a two-year letter-winner in 51 games at offense with 12.7 PPG, Justin Brookens adds 12.0 and Wisconsin-Milwaukee where Roderick Sr. also suited up Will Carius 11.9. before transferring to Southeast Missouri. He averaged 12.8 points and 6.7 rebounds in 103 collegiate games Double-figures in the Summit League (through Dec. 30) and also played professionally overseas in Poland. Denver - 1 Kansas City - 1 Rod Jr.’s brother Jalen is enjoying his freshman season North Dakota - 2 at Duke and his brother Kobe recently committed to North Dakota State - 3 play for USC. Omaha - 1 Oral Roberts - 2 The Connections South Dakota - 2 Rob Jeter & Chad Boudreau - coached together at the South Dakota State - 3 University of Milwaukee from 2005-16, where Boudreau served as an assistant on Jeter’s staff … the Panthers History Made won the Horizon League Championships in 2006, 2011, Welcome to the WIU record book, Justin Brookens. It and 2014, and qualified for six postseason tournaments didn’t take long for the junior transfer to cement his during the 11-year stretch spot in Leatherneck history -- just five games to be exact -- as a 37-point performance at Eastern Illinois Highland Community College - Boudreau spent three tied for second-most in Western’s single-game Division seasons as the head coach at Highland and Kyle Heik- I history. kinen was his assistant … together, they led the Cou- gars to three consecutive Arrowhead Conference titles Coincidentally, the program’s all-time leading scorer with undefeated conference records in 2019 and 2020 Joe Dykstra previously recorded the mark against EIU … Cameron Burrell, Adam Anhold, and J.J. Flores are in 1983. Highland alums who played under Boudreau (Fourteen) New Kids on the Block Morgan Park - Nick Irvin headed to WIU after coaching In addition to a new coaching staff, Western Illinois also one of the most successful boys’ basketball programs welcomed 14 to its 2020-21 roster. in Illinois history … Morgan Park was also home to Leathernecks’ Tamell Pearson, Cameron Burrell, and Freshmen: Braden Lamar (Las Vegas, Nev. / Bish- Marcus Watson Jr. … Irvin won at least 20 games in op Gorman), Robert Jeter IV (Woodbury, Minn. / East all 12 seasons at the helm of the program, with two Ridge), Marcus Watson (Chicago, Ill. / Morgan Park), separate, back-to-back IHSA Class 3A state title runs Ramean Hinton (Chicago, Ill. / Curie) and Matthew in 2013-2014 and 2017-18 … Burrell and Pearson were Wade (Milwaukee, Wis. / Golda Meir) members of the 2017 and 2018 Morgan Park state championship teams Transfers: Tamell Pearson (Chicago, Ill. / UAB); Justin Father / Son - In Rob Jeter’s 20-plus year career, he Brookens (Milwaukee, Wis. / Iowa Lakes); Cameron has never competitively coached his son, Robert Jeter IV, until now; the two begin their Leatherneck journey together, and the 2020-21 season also marks the be- ginning of Jeter IV’s collegiate journey. MEDIA REQUESTS One Last Ride Seniors Anthony Jones and Jake Weyhrich are the lone To request an interview with head coach Rob Jeter, returners from Western’s 2019-20 roster. Last year, in or any WIU student-athlete, please contact Monyae his first season with the team, Jones led the Leather- Williamson at 309-298-1133. Please make all requests 24 hours in advance. The Athletic Communications neck bench with 5.0 points per game in 24 appearanc- department at Western Illinois will make every effort to es, while Wehyrich played limited minutes in six. arrange interviews with coaches and student-athletes. All interviews for the 2020-21 season will be conducted virtually. Thank you in advance. western illinois basketball (2020-21) The Third and The Fourth There are 16 father/son duos in NCAA Division I basket- TEAM COMPARISONS ball. The Jeters joined the list ahead of the 2020-21 season -- their first at WIU. WIU STATS NDSU 72.7 PPG 63.5 School Head Coach Son 78.0 OPP. PPG 70.0 Boise State Leon Rice Max Rice 40.5 FG% 40.2 UConn Dan Hurley Andrew Hurley 45.8 OPP. FG% 45.0 Detroit Mercy Mike Davis Antoine Davis 30.7 3-FG% 32.3 Illinois Brad Underwood Tyler Underwood 36.8 OPP. 3-FG% 32.8 Iowa Fran McCaffery Connor/Patrick 58.5 FT% 77.8 Liberty Ritchie McCay Luke McCay 40.9 RPG 36.2 Memphis Penny Hardaway Jayden Hardaway 13.4 APG 9.6 Michigan State Tom Izzo Stephen Izzo 14.4 TPG 13.9 USC Upstate Dave Dickerson Dave Dickerson III 5.9 SPG 3.8 Southern Sean Woods DeSean Woods 3.7 BPG 2.4 Syracuse Jim Boeheim Buddy Boeheim Texas SouthernJohnny Jones John Jones Utah Larry Krystkowiak Luc Krystkowiak Western Illinois Rob Jeter III Rob Jeter IV W. Kentucky Rick Stansbury Noah Stansbury Wright State Scott Nagy TJ Nagy A Scorer WIU grad transfer Will Carius has covered all three divi- sions the NCAA has to offer and arrived in Macomb with 1,277 career points after stops at Northern Michigan (DII) and Monmouth College (DIII). 2016-17 | Northern Mich. | 33 FGM | 16 3FG | 106 PTS 2017-18 | Northern Mich. | 108 FGM | 34 3FG| 344 PTS 2017-18 | Monmouth | 226 FGM | 27 3FG | 664 2018-19 | Monmouth | 49 FGM | 7 3FG | 163 PTS Carius also brought with him 566 career rebounds, 85 assists, and 59 steals. what is a LEATHERNECK Western Illinois holds the distinction of being the only non-military institution to officially have its nickname de- rived from a branch of the military service.