Weekend preview: Western Illinois and IUPUI
I’ll have live coverage from Brookings on Thursday and Saturday:
Men (13-6, 4-2)
Thursday at Western Illinois (14-3, 6-0), 7 p.m.
Sagarin says: Leathernecks by 4
Streaks and such: SDSU has won seven in a row in the series; WIU has won 11 in a row this season and is 8-0 at home
Of note: This is a rematch of last year’s Summit League tournament championship game won by SDSU 52-50 in overtime. While Jacks coach Scott Nagy said that has nothing to with this game, WIU is calling this “The Rematch” and has made a video about it. … Leathernecks standout center Terell Parks underwent an MRI on his left wrist Wednesday and is questionable, according to a gambling site. … WIU’s strength of schedule is 345th. It has has not played a major-conference school this season. … The Necks are fourth in D-I in scoring defense and 273rd in scoring offense. … WIU is No. 18 in the mid-major rankings, SDSU No. 19.
Saturday at IUPUI (6-14, 1-5), 2 p.m.
Sagarin says: Jacks by 9
Streaks and such: SDSU has won four in a row in the series, including a first-round tournament game last season
Of note: The Jaguars are led in the post-Alex Young era by John Hart, a senior transfer from Purdue. He’s putting up 14.2 points per game. … IUPUI has lost four in a row, the longest active slide in the Summit. … The Jags are giving up 75.9 points per game, second-to-last in the Summit. They’re also second-to-last in rebound margin (minus-6.4). … SDSU senior guard Nate Wolters needs 12 points to reach 2,000 for his career.
Women (13-5, 5-0)
Thursday vs. Western Illinois (9-7, 2-2), 7 p.m.
Sagarin says: Jacks by 15
Streaks and such: SDSU has won seven in a row this season
Of note: The Jacks are 10-1 in the series with the only loss coming on the road. … The Necks are 7-3 in their last 10 games after a 2-4 start. … SDSU sophomore Megan Waytashek scored a career high 30 points the last time out, becoming the third Summit player to hit that mark this season. … WIU leads the Summit in 3-pointers per game at 8.1. … Senior guard Saule Kontautaite is the Necks’ top scorer at 13.9 points per game. That’s sixth in the league. The Jacks have two of the top five in Ashley Eide (14.9) and Waytashek (14.1).
Saturday vs. IUPUI (9-7, 3-1), 4 p.m.
Sagarin says: Jacks by 13
Streaks and such: SDSU is 12-0 all-time against the Jaguars
Of note: The Jags are off to their best conference start since 2005-06. … These teams met in the conference semifinals last year. … IUPUI is the only team within 1.5 games of SDSU in the league standings. … Jags senior Kerah Nelson has more than 1,300 career points and is averaging 13.3 per game this season, helping her team lead the Summit in scoring (67.3). However, junior DeAirra Goss paces the club at 13.6 per game. … The Jacks are outscoring conference foes by 16.8 points per game in league play.
Terry Vandrovec also posts regular updates on his Twitter page.
