Eagles set to play Leathernecks on the road Wednesday USI starts second half of 4-game road swing​​​​​​​

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    EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball will visit Western Illinois University for the first time since the 1980-81 season Wednesday in Macomb, Illinois. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. (CST) Wednesday.
     
    The games will be streaming on Fighting Leathernecks All-Access in addition to being heard on ESPN 97.7FM (http://listentotheref.com) and 95.7FM The Spin (http://957thespin.com).
     
    USI hopes to continue building momentum after evening its record at 3-3 with the 69-57 victory over Bowling Green State University Saturday and salvaging a win out of the three-game Gotham Classic. USI senior guard Jelani Simmons (Columbus, Ohio) and junior guard Gary Solomon (Detroit, Michigan) paced the Eagles with 23 points and 21 points, respectively, in the win.
     
    Simmons leads the Eagles through six games with 14.4 points per contest, followed graduate forward Trevor Lakes (Lebanon, Indiana) with 11.2 points per outing. Senior forward Jacob Polakovich (Grand Rapids, Michigan) is third on the team with 10.8 points per game and is posting a team-best 9.3 rebounds per contest.
     
    The WIU Leathernecks are 2-4 after falling to Youngstown State University, 88-64, Saturday at Western Hall. WIU was led by guard Alec Rosner, who had 16 points in the loss. Rosner also leads the Leathernecks for the season with 15.5 points per appearance.
     
    USI trails in the all-time series with Western Illinois, 2-1, and this will be the first meeting since 1981 when the Leathernecks defeated the Eagles in the first round of the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional, 80-73. The first meeting was won by Western Illinois, 82-76, in Macomb during the 1976-77 campaign, while USI took the second game at the Evansville Central Arena, 82-65, that same season.
     
    The final game of the four-game road swing takes the Eagles to Chicago, Illinois, to visit Chicago State University, December 4. USI returns the friendly surroundings of Screaming Eagles Arena December 7 to play Anderson University (Indiana) and December 11 versus Indiana State University.
     
     

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