The South Dakota men's basketball team continues its three-game road trip Thursday with a contest at Western Illinois. The game in Macomb, Illinois, is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip-off and will have a video steam on ESPN3.
 
The Game
South Dakota is coming off just its second Summit League loss, and first loss away from the Sanford Coyote Sports Center, with an 84-68 setback at Denver. The Coyotes are 18-6 on the year and 6-2 in Summit League action.
 
After falling in its last three contests, Western Illinois is 10-10 overall and 1-6 in league action. On Saturday, the Leathernecks fell 80-69 at North Dakota State.
 
The two squads met on Jan. 3 with South Dakota prevailing 62-50 behind 14 points from Matt Mooney and a double-double of 11 rebounds and 10 points from Trey Burch-Manning. The USD defense held WIU to just 32.7 percent shooting and 16.7 percent from long range.

The Leathernecks
Kobe Webster leads Western Illinois with 16.6 points per game, a mark that increases to 20.3 points in Summit League contests. Dalan Ancrum is second on the team with 14.1 points with Brandon Gilbeck tallying 12.2 points and a team-best 7.8 rebounds per game.
 
The Coyotes
Mooney leads the Coyotes with 17.7 points per game as Tyler Hagedorn continues to enjoy his breakout season with 13.7 points per game. Trey Burch-Manning leads the team with 7.1 rebounds per game, which ranks second in the Summit League. South Dakota owns a +4.7 rebound margin, ranking second in the conference.
 
The Series
South Dakota leads the series 10-7, which dates back to the 1969-70 season. South Dakota has won eight of the last nine meetings between the two schools including four-straight.
 
One Last Thing
Mooney has gained a reputation for swiping the ball from opponents, ranking ninth in the nation with 52 steals. His 2.2 steals per game ranks him 23^rd in the nation. He has eight games of four-plus staels and owns a season best six takeaways against Denver on Dec. 30.