ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's men's basketball team looks to bounce back after having its six-game winning streak last Saturday at Southern Indiana when it visits Illinois Springfield on Thursday evening at 7:30 p.m.
Last Time Out – The Flyers went 2-1 last week picking up a 78-68 win over Lindenwood last Monday, then rallied from a 13-point deficit to defeat Indianapolis 70-69 before falling at Southern Indiana last Saturday 67-57.
Flying High – During its six-game winning streak Lewis averaged 80.2 points per game while yielding just 66.7 points per contest. It shot 51 percent from both the field and the three-point line while averaging nearly 15 assists per outing.
The Flyers had four players averaging double figures in those six contests led by
Connor Niego (Western Springs, Ill./Lyons Township) at 16.7 points per game while
Bruno Williams (Milwaukee, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran),
Atakan Sahinkaya (Istanbul, Turkey/Perkiomen School) and
Anthony Sayles Jr. (Evanston, Ill./Notre Dame College Prep), averaged 13.3, 11.0 and 10.8 points per contest respectively. Niego and Sahinkaya also led the way on the boards with 8.7 and 6.6 rebounds per outing.
Marquise Jackson (Macon, Ga./Windsor Academy) averaged over three assists per game while
Dre Bell (Detroit, Mich./River Rouge) was at 2.7 assists per contest.
Make Up Announcement – Lewis will have a pair of makeup games coming as it will travel to Kirksville, Mo., next Monday (Jan. 31) to take on Truman State at 6 p.m. and then will play Illinois Springfield on Monday (Feb. 7) at 7:30 p.m. at Neil Carey Arena.
From Downtown – The Flyers rank as one of the top three-point shooting teams in the GLVC this season connecting at nearly a 41 percent clip behind only Truman State whose shooting 42 percent from three. However, Lewis is tied with Missouri-St. Louis for second fewest three's made this season with 88 behind Southern Indiana whose made 78 three's.
Protecting the Rock – Lewis is ranked fourth in the conference with an assist to turnover ratio of 1.20 this season. It has recorded 161 assists good for an average of 13.4 per game and has only turned it over 134 times for an average of 11.2 per outing.
The Flyers have the third best turnover in the margin in the GLVC at +2.00 and are forcing 13.2 turnovers per game.
About Illinois Springfield – The Prairie Stars enter Thursday's contest with a record of 9-8 and are 4-5 in the GLVC. They had won seven straight before suffering back-to-back road losses last week at Southern Indiana 66-39 last Thursday and 77-69 at McKendree last Saturday.
UIS has been very tough at home this season winning seven of their nine contests which includes a 68-64 win over Missouri-St. Louis on Jan. 15.
Chase Robinson leads the team in scoring at 13.8 points per contest and he is joined in double figures by James Kelley with 12.8 points per game, Chris Hamil is contributing 11.5 per outing and Jack Weber is at 10.5 per game. Kelley leads the team in rebounding at 5.8 per game while Robinson has dished out a team-high 34 assists.
Series History – Thursday's contest marks the 23rd meeting all-time between Lewis and Illinois Springfield with the Flyers holding a 17-5 advantage in the series. The Prairie Stars swept the season series a year ago snapping Lewis' 14-game winning streak in the series. The Flyers are 6-3 all-time against UIS in Springfield.
