SPRINGFIELD, IL --- The University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) is coming off tough defeats to the hands of Quincy and Truman State but will look to avenge those losses against Rockhurst and William Jewell on Thursday and Saturday. Part of a three game GLVC home stand, the Prairie Stars will look for their first conference win of the season as they welcome in Rockhurst and William Jewell of the western division.

SETTING THE SCENE
Overall Records (GLVC):

• UIS // 6-8 (0-4) // 8^th in East
• Rockhurst // 6-6 (1-3) // 5^th in West
• William Jewell // 5-7 (0-4) // 7^th in West

In their conference home opener, the Prairie Stars will look for their first GLVC win of the season after a tough road stretch of conference action. The Prairie Stars have played the top-four teams in the league, two from the east and two from the west, all on the road so far this season.

KEY STATS AND RANKINGS (GLVC)
Scoring Offense:

• William Jewell - 79.4 (9^th)
• UIS - 78.4 (13^th)
• Rockhurst - 75.9 (14^th)

Scoring Defense:

• Rockhurst - 69.7 (2^nd)
• UIS - 76.1 (11^th)
• William Jewell - 82.5 (15^th)

Steals:

• UIS -- 12.8/ 2.14 (5^th)
• Rockhurst -- 12.4/ 0.83 (8^th)
• William Jewell - 12.5/-2.58 (16^th)

3-Point FG Made

• William Jewell - 108/9.0 (2^nd)
• UIS - 109/7.79 (10^th)
• Rockhurst - 90/7.5 (13^th)

SPREADING THE WEALTH
The Prairie Stars currently have ten players averaging over 5.5 points per game, led by Jamall Millison's 13.3. Davi Austin has come on strong in the last few games, pushing his scoring average to 10.8 as they are the only two players averaging in double-figures. Freshman Bahari Amaya and Zach Steinberg are averaging 8.2 and 8.1 points per game.


USE OF THE THREE
UIS has six players who have made over ten three's this season, led by Millison's 24 makes. Amaya has connectd with 21 shots from deep while senior guard JJ Cravatta hits over 40 percent of his three's. The Prairie Stars are 10^th in the GLVC in 3-point field goal percentage hitting 36 percent of their attempts.


BALL CONTROL
The Prairie Stars currently own a 2.14 turnover margin, ranking 5^th in the GLVC. UIS turns the ball over just under 13 times a game but forces nearly 15 turnovers per contest. With that, they rank 10^th in assist/turnover ratio, dishing out 1.06 assists to every turnover.

Davi Austin is 10^th in the GLVC in assists with 55, averaging 3.93 per game will sitting 4^th in the conference in steals with 29 on the season.


SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Rockhurst:

The Hawks are 6-6 on the season and are coming off back-to-back losses at Southern Indiana and Bellarmine University by eight and seven points, respectively. 2-4 away from their home court, the Hawks are 1-3 in the GLVC with their lone win coming at Truman State University, where the Prairie Stars just fell.

• Leading Scorer: LeVan Austin (14.8)
• Leading Rebounder: Alex Hagan (5.7)
• Leading Assists: Malachi Nix (5.75) - 1^st in GLVC

William Jewell:

The Cardinals are 5-7 on the season and 0-4 in the GLVC. Much like the Prairie Stars, they are 5-5 at home and 0-2 on the road and are coming off an eight game home stand where they most recently fell to Bellarmine and Southern Indiana.

• Leading Scorer: Darius Tomlin (17.4)
• Leading Rebounder: Austin Regier (9.0) -- 1^st in GLVC
• Leading Assists: Patrick Whelan (2.7)

SERIES HISTORY
The Prairie Stars own a 5-3 all-time record over Rockhurst, winning the last three games and last four out of five. Last season, the Prairie Stars won 81-67 in Springfield.

The Prairie Stars own a 3-3 all-time record against William Jewell. The Prairie Stars won the first three match-ups and then fell in the next three. UIS is 2-1 at home against the Cardinals and fell 72-71 last season in Springfield.


COMING UP NEXT
The Prairie Stars will host McKendree University on Monday at 7:30 pm before heading on a two-game road trip to the University of Indianapolis and St. Joseph's on Thursday and Saturday.


STARS CLUB UPDATE
A hospitality room will be open to Stars Club members in between games on both Thursday and Saturday. On Thursday, the hospitality room will be provided by Noodles and Co. and on Saturday will be sponsored by Qdoba. Thank you for all your support.