SPRINGFIELD, IL --- The Prairie Stars (11-16, 5-12) will travel to McKendree (12-13, 5-12) with aspirations of reaching their fifth straight GLVC tournament. If the Prairie Stars win in Lebanon, they would reach the tournament and could garner as high as a ten-seed. A loss would mean they would need help from across the league but could still get in via tie-breakers.

SETTING THE SCENE
UIS currently sits in a virtual tie with McKendree in the 6^th spot in the GLVC east, as both teams have a 5-12 mark in conference and 2-7 mark within the eastern division. The winner of this game will automatically earn one of the final three spots into the GLVC tournament, a spot which six teams can still get.

The Prairie Stars are coming off a weekend in which they beat Southern Indiana on Thursday 86-81 and then fell to #11 Bellarmine 78-50 on senior day. McKendree has lost three straight games, all by double-figures and are closing out the season with a five-game home stand.

DIALING LONG DISTANCE
The two teams are very comparable three point shooting teams as they both make over eight three's a game, each landing in the top-half of the conference in that regard. McKendree has made 204 three's on the season, five shy of the Prairie Stars mark of 209. On the defensive side of the ball, UIS ranks seventh in the conference in three-point defense while McKendree shots just 34 percent from deep, ranking them 15^th in the GLVC.

In the previous game, McKendree hit 12 three's on the game, firing 31 attempts --- which was over half of their total shot attempts.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
The Prairie Stars will take on the league's leading scorer in David Franklin, who is averaging 20.8 points per game. In the first match-up, Franklin scored 21 points, shooting 6-of-11 from the field. McKendree is currently on a three game losing streak, their longest of the season and is closing the regular season with four straight home games.

Leading Scorer: David Franklin – 20.9 (1^st in GLVC)
Leading Rebounder: David Franklin – 8.0 (4^th in GLVC)
Leading Assists: David Franklin – 3.71 (12^th in GLVC)

SERIES HISTORY
UIS is 10-13 against McKendree all-time but have won three of the last four match-ups. The last three games have been decided by a total of eight points, a four point win for UIS in 2015 followed by a two-point win for each team in the last two games.

The 23 games is the most against any opponent for UIS, as is the ten wins.

WHATS AT STAKE

Each team sits in identical situations, whereas a win would solidify their spot in the GLVC tournament. Both teams own their own destiny, with a win putting them in the tournament and with the ability to gain as high as a ten seed. A loss for the Prairie Stars would mean they would need help, most notably from an UMSL win against Maryville.

The Prairie Stars are looking for a replay of last season when Davi Austin hit a shot at the buzzer to beat the Bearcats and push their way into the tournament.

COMING UP NEXT
If the Prairie Stars were to make the conference tournament, that game would be played at a host-site on Sunday, starting no later than 3:30 pm. The top four seeds receive a bye to St. Charles while the 5-8 seeds host 9-12.