Men's Basketball Opens League Play On Thursday With WIU

Who: Western Illinois Leathernecks
When: Thursday, Dec 29 | 7:00 PM
Where: Gates Center (1,800) | Fort Wayne, Ind.
All-Time Series: Fort Wayne leads 15-7
Last Meeting: Fort Wayne 87, Western Illinois 75 - Feb. 25, 2016 - at Macomb, Ill.
Radio: ESPN 1380 AM/100.9 FM | PBP: Brett Rump Link
TV: WANE 15.2 | PBP: John Nolan Color: Jeff Parrish
Live Stats: Link
Live Video: Link
Game Notes (PDF): Fort Wayne | Western Illinois

QUICK HITS
• Fort Wayne has scored 50 or more points in a half eight times this season. They have done it in each of the last three games, scoring 53 in the first at Detroit Mercy, 50 in the first at Stetson and 50 in the second vs. Austin Peay. This is after scoring 49 points in the second half at Notre Dame in the previous game.
• John Konchar earned the latest Summit League Player of the Week honor after a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds at Detroit Mercy. He is the third 'Don to earn a Summit League Player of the Week honor this year, joining Mo Evans and Bryson Scott. No other team in the league has two players who have won the honor.
• John Konchar is shooting 69.6 percent on the season, fifth best in the nation. Over the last four games, he is 27-of-32 from the floor. All while averaging 10.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.3 steals per game in the four contests.
• This is the fastest the 'Dons have reached 10 wins in a season (13 games) as an NCAA Division I member. Last year's squad took 14 games to reach 10 wins.

SCOUTING THE LEATHERNECKS
Western Illinois (3-8, 0-0 Summit) is led by Garrett Covington. The senior leads the team with 19.1 points per game. He is the program's NCAA DI era scoring leader and is seven points away from sole possession of fourth place and 29 points away from third place all-time. The Leathernecks head to IUPUI on Saturday.

SCOUTING THE MASTODONS
Fort Wayne (10-3, 0-0 Summit) opens league play on Thursday against the Leathernecks. The Mastodons are 1-1 in Summit League openers under head coach Jon Coffman. The 'Dons won last season over Oral Roberts 90-84 to open league play but in 2014-15 fell in the opener at Western Illinois 73-67 on Jan. 2. All-time, the 'Dons are 4-5 in Summit League openers.

LAST TIME OUT
Fort Wayne shot 54.2 percent from the floor in a 93-86 victory at Detroit Mercy. The 'Dons have won nine of their last 10 games.

UP NEXT
Fort Wayne continues conference play on Saturday (Dec. 31) when Oral Roberts comes to the Gates Center. Tip is set for 2:30 p.m.

MAKE YOUR PLANS NOW!
Last season's Summit League Player of the Year Max Landis will be back in town on Thursday for the game vs. Western Illinois. Landis, now playing professionally in Belgium, will be signing autographs after the game. Kids Club members can receive a photo of Landis after the game.

RANKING THE 'DONS
Fort Wayne is No. 6 in the latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll. In addition, earlier this season the 'Dons received a vote in two USA Today Coaches Polls and an Associated Press Top 25 Poll. It was the first time in program history the 'Dons have received a vote in the USA Today and AP Polls.

IN NATIONAL RANKINGS...
Fort Wayne ranks 11th in scoring (88.8), 11th in field goal percentage (50.5 percent), 13th in 3-point field goal percentage (41.3 percent) and 21st in total made 3-pointers (126).

1,000 FOR MO
Mo Evans picked up his 1,000th career point vs. Kenyon. He is the 13th player in program history to reach the plateau. He now owns 1,199 career points and ranks seventh all-time in scoring at Fort Wayne.

MO RANKINGS, NO PROBLEMS
Mo Evans is 13th in the nation in total assists (79) and 11th in the country in total steals (29). His 50.6 percent mark from beyond the arc ranks 12th in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage.

DIMES FOR DAYS
Mo Evans recorded 11 assists against Austin Peay (Nov. 30) and 10 against Miami (Ohio) (Dec. 3). The last Mastodon to reach 10 or more assists in back-to-back games was Demetrius Johnson who had 10 against both North Dakota State and South Dakota State in 2008.

YOU GET AN ASSIST, AND YOU GET AN ASSIST!
The Mastodons have recorded 24 assists twice in a game this season. First at Austin Peay (Nov. 30) and then again at Stetson (Dec. 18). Previously the last time the 'Dons recorded 24 assists against a NCAA Division I opponent was Feb. 8, 2011 when they had 24 against Chicago State. They also had 27 against IUPUI the same season.

KASON, KEEPIN' ON
Kason Harrell is averaging 10.3 points per game this season for the 'Dons after playing only 73 minutes last season. The sophomore has made a 3-pointer in all but one game this year. He had 21 points at Austin Peay on Nov. 30.

DOUBLE TROUBLE
John Konchar has seven double-doubles this season, the most in the Summit League. After last year's 14 he now owns 21 in his career.

GETTING DIGITS
Fort Wayne has had seven games with five or more 'Dons in double-digits this year.

40-MINUTE MAN
John Konchar has played in every minute of a game five times in his career. This season he has done it twice. He played 45 minutes in an overtime effort against Indiana and 40 minutes at Notre Dame.

~ Feel the Rumble ~

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Players Mentioned

Mo Evans

Kason Harrell

John Konchar

Max Landis

Bryson Scott