LIBERTY, Mo. – The William Jewell men's basketball team is looking to bounce back after a tough road loss at Drury and close out the home portion of the schedule this week, hosting Illinois Springfield and Lewis.  

ADMISSION 🎟
😷 Spectators are permitted. Masks required inside the Mabee Center. 

BROADCAST 🎥 
• vs. Illinois Springfield
• vs. Lewis

LIVE STATS 📊
• vs. Illinois Springfield
• vs. Lewis

CARDINAL NOTES

• The Cardinals are looking to get back on track this week after dropping both games last weekend and four of the last five. Jewell will be at full strength for the first time in nearly three weeks as the Cards have played without at least one regular rotation player in each of the last six games. 
• On Monday Kobe McKinley became the first Cardinal in more than three years to earn GLVC Player of the Week honors. The junior put up a double-double, his second of the season, on Saturday with 20 points and a career high 12 rebounds, including four on the offensive end. The Cardinals defeated the Screaming Eagles 64-60 for their first-ever road win over USI. The most recent Jewell player to earn the weekly award was Keith Hayes in January 2019. 
• Jordan Jermain has been tough to stop recently, averaging 19 points over the last three games while shooting 44% from the floor and an impressive 46% (11-of-24) from three. The sophomore is up to 13th in the conference with an average of 14.2 points per game on the season and is fifth with 54 triples made, an average over 2.45 per contest. 
• Mason Alexander recently moved into the top-five in program history with more than 180 three-point field goals. The senior is now chasing another milestone, sitting 44 points from 1,000 for his career, which would make him the 44th Cardinal to reach the plateau. 
• Heri Tshiyoyo has been a big presence in the paint as of late, averaging a double-double over the last three games with 12.3 points and 11 rebounds. The junior pulled down a career high 13 boards in two of the last three games while shooting better than 53% from the floor and handing out five assists. 
• Jewell has been on a mission on the glass over the last week, putting together back-to-back games with more than 40 rebounds for the first time this season. After a four straight contests with less than 32 boards, the Cardinals bested the conference's top rebounding team (Southern Indiana) over the weekend 46-35 before pulling down 42 against Drury. 
• Saturday is Senior Day for the Cardinals as Jewell will recognize two players, Mason Alexander and John Zimmerman. Alexander has appeared in nearly 100 games with more than 70 starts as a Cardinal. The southpaw from Kansas is closing in on the 1,000-point mark and will graduate ranked in the top-five in program history in three pointers made. Meanwhile, Zimmerman joined the Cardinals after spending his first year of college at Northwest Missouri State where he did not play basketball. Since coming to Jewell he has appeared in more than 80 games with his best season coming this winter, as he is averaging 4.5 points and two rebounds per game while shooting better than 38% from the field over 22 games and 15 starts. Robbie Hanson and Macaleb Hughes, who are listed as seniors, plan to utilize the additional season of eligibility, granted by the NCAA due to COVID-19, and return next season.
• The Cardinals have not been to the conference tournament since 2018 but are now guaranteed an appearance with the recent adjustment of GLVC policy. Due to COVID-19 cancelations and the inequities of the number of games played across the league, the conference tournament will now feature all 15 teams, with the regular season champion receiving a first round by while seeds 2-8 will host first round games on February 28. This policy is in place for the 2022 tournament only. 
• Chris McCabe is now in his third season at the helm of the Cardinal program and has matched his highest win total with the team's tenth win last week. Under McCabe, the Cardinals have defeated two nationally ranked teams, No. 12 Bellarmine (2020) and No. 11 Washburn (2021) along with Indianapolis (2020) who was receiving votes in the polls at the time. 
• Jewell is in its 123rd season of men's basketball on The Hill and are chasing win No. 1,700. The Cardinals entered the season with 1,668 victories, winning nearly 60% of the time over the last century-plus.

 
ABOUT ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD

• After a mid-season seven game winning streak, Illinois Springfield comes into Thursday's game on a seven-game skid and sitting at 9-13 on the season, 4-10 in the GLVC. 
• The Prairie Stars are led by one of the league's best guards in Chase Robinson, who averages 13.7 points per game and recently joined the UIS 1,000-point club in just his third season. 
• Chris Hamil, a transfer from Rockhurst, adds 11.7 points per game while James Kelley (11.1) and Jack Weber (10.5) are also in double-figures, giving UIS a balanced attack offensively. 
• UIS likes to shoot the long ball, putting up 488 attempts from three on the season, fifth most in the conference. The Stars connect on an average of 32% but can hit them in bunches at times, with eight games with at least nine triples, including four wins. 
• Matt Brock is now in his third season with UIS after coming across the state line from Missouri Baptist where he was the Conference Coach of the Year in his final season in the American Midwest Conference. 

 
ABOUT LEWIS

• Lewis has been one of the hottest teams in the GLVC since the start of conference play, coming in at just 10-7 overall but 8-2 in league action. The Flyers dropped their first five games but have since gone 10-2. 
• Connor Niego leads the Flyers with 15.6 points per game, eight best in the GLVC, while Bruno Williams adds 12.4. In conference, play those totals go up to 16.0 and 14.0, respectively while Beau Frericks adds 10.2 points per game within the league. 
• As a team, the Flyers lead the conference in three-point field goal percentage, shooting nearly 43%, just 0.3% off the national leader, Augusta, although they are last in the GLVC in total attempts.
• Scott Trost is one of the most veteran coaches in the league, now in his 16th season with the Flyers. He is the all-time winningest coach in Lewis history and has led them to six NCAA Tournament appearances.