BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - A four-game road trip comes to a close for the Illinois Wesleyan University men's basketball team with a trip to R.A. Faganel Hall Wednesday evening, Jan. 26. IWU will battle No. 19 Elmhurst University for the second time in nine days. Game time is slated for 7 p.m.
    The Titans are coming off their seventh straight win, an 89-72 victory at Carthage College, Jan 24. IWU enters the midweek matchup with a 15-2 overall record and currently sits in first place in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin at 8-1. Since suffering a loss to IWU back on Jan. 17, Elmhurst has gone on to lose two of its past three games. The Bluejays, who now sit at 12-5 on the season and 4-4 in the league, are coming off road setbacks at Wheaton College (84-83) and North Central College (79-70).
    A live stream of the game will be available, along with live stats, while Eric Stock will also provide an IWU audio only broadcast. Links on how to follow along can be found on the men's basketball schedule page of IWUsports.com.

THAT STARTING FIVE THOUGH: Illinois Wesleyan saw all five starters hit double-digit points in its win at Tarble Arena Monday night, Jan. 24. Matthew Leritz led all players with 28 points, while Cory Noe added 15 points. Cody Mitchell tallied 12, Luke Yoder 11, and Peter Lambesis 10 in the victory.
It is the second time this season each member of IWU's starting lineup has scored 10-or-more points, with the other occurrence coming at Yeshiva, Dec. 30.

LERITZ ADDS ANOTHER ACCOLADE: Senior Matthew Leritz was named to the D3hoops.com Team of the Week Tuesday, Jan. 25. Reeling in the honor for the third time in his career, he and Korey Coon are the only players in program history to earn the award multiple times, with Coon's selections coming in 1999 and 2000.
Additionally, Leritz is tied with Kendall Sosa for the most honors in both IWU men's and women's basketball history, and joins Sosa as the only Titan basketball player to reel in the award multiple times in a season.

BATTLES WITH THE BLUEJAYS: Illinois Wesleyan holds a 115-25 advantage in the 140 all-time meetings between the Titans and Bluejays, and have won 10 of the past 12 contests between the two.
    Most recently, IWU rode a pair of 27-point performances from Matthew Leritz and Luke Yoder to an 80-76 triumph at the Shirk Center, Jan. 17.

ABOUT THE BLUEJAYS: While Elmhurst has dropped some tight games recently, losing three of its last four, all three setbacks have come on the road. In fact, the Bluejays are 6-0 on their home court and have not lost a game at R.A. Faganel Hall since Feb. 11, 2021, when EU opened the 2020-21 season with a 72-70 loss to Carroll.

FAMILIAR FACE: When the Titans take on the Bluejays Wednesday night, IWU fans may recognize a familiar face in Elmhurst bench boss John Baines. A 1998 Illinois Wesleyan graduate, he was a part of teams that compiled a 103-14 record, played in the NCAA Tournament four times, reached the Final Four twice, and won a national championship in 1997.

LUCKY NO. 7: Illinois Wesleyan secured its seventh straight win over Carroll with a  72-54 win in Waukesha, Jan. 22. IWU has topped CU by an average of 16.1 points over the seven-game stretch.
    IWU followed that up with its seventh consecutive win against Carthage, Jan. 24. Additionally, the Titans snatched their seventh straight win at Tarble Arena, a venue IWU is 21-5 at all-time.

NO NIGHTS OFF: The CCIW has proven to be one of the toughest conferences from top-to-bottom across all of Division III. As noted by Bob Quillman (@IWUHoopscom on Twitter), the conference has not seen a team survive the conference season unscathed since 1973. The league currently features three top-25 teams in No. 2 IWU, No. 18 Wheaton, and No. 19 Elmhurst.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Although the Shirk Center is one of the best home court advantages across all of Division III, the Titans have impressed on the road as well. In the past 10 seasons, the Titans have a 74-45 record away from Shirk. In the past five seasons specifically, IWU boasts a 41-17 record on the road.

RANKINGS ON REPEAT: Illinois Wesleyan is one of 20 programs that have appeared in at least 100 D3Hoops.com Top-25 rankings. In fact, the Titans 179 appearances in the weekly poll are ninth-most all-time. The Titans are currently ranked No. 2 in the poll.

DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK: Late in games this season, it is unusual for the Titans to look up at the scoreboard and see themselves behind their opponent, but in their Monday afternoon victory at the Shirk Center, Jan. 17, the Titans were forced to come from behind against the Bluejays. Elmhurst held the lead for 24 out of 40 minutes while the Titans led for just over 11 minutes. With 10 minutes left, the Bluejays were ahead 10 points, their largest lead of the game, but the Titans battled back for a hard-nosed four point victory. It marked IWU's first double-digit comeback since overcoming a 10-point deficit to upend Carthage, 91-81, at Tarble Arena Feb. 22, 2019.

HOT SHOTS: In its defeat of Elmhurst, Illinois Wesleyan put together the seventh-best field goal percentage in program history, as the Titans finished 29-for-45 from the field (64.4 percent) in its win over Elmhurst. It was the most efficient team shooting percentage since IWU posted a 68.9 clip against Greenville, Nov. 17, 2015. The Green and White connected on 7-of-16 three-point tries, six of which came in the first half.
    Additionally, the Titan's trio of leading scorers Matthew Leritz (10-of-12), Luke Yoder (9-of-11), and Ryan Sroka (7-of-10) missed a combined seven shots and went 26-of-33 from the field (78.8 percent). Leritz, Yoder, and Sroka each recorded individual career-highs in field goal percentage (minimum 10 attempts) while Yoder, who finished with 27 points, and Sroka, who finished with 16 points, recorded career highs in points.

ON THE HORIZON: Illinois Wesleyan returns home Saturday, Jan. 29, to complete its stretch of six games in 13 days with a non-conference contest against Concordia Chicago. The game, which replaces IWU's canceled game at Mount St. Vincent, will tipoff at 7 p.m. inside the Shirk Center.