BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University men's basketball team returns to the friendly confines of the Shirk Center on Wednesday, Jan. 24 for a weekday College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin matchup against Wheaton College. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. inside the Shirk Center.
    The Titans enter the contest alone atop the CCIW standings. IWU is 12-6 on the season and 8-1 in the CCIW after a, 86-72, win at Carroll University, Jan. 20. Wheaton holds a 4-14 record with a 3-6 mark in league play. Wheaton most recently dropped a CCIW contest at North Central College, 61-47, on Saturday, January 20.
    A live stream and live stats of the game will be available through links on the men's basketball schedule page of iwusports.com. Eric Stock and Joel Swanson will have the call.

AGAINST THE THUNDER ALL-TIME: Illinois Wesleyan and Wheaton will battle for the 139th time Wednesday night. IWU holds a 86-53 lead in the all-time series, which dates back to the 1946-47 season. Despite the Titans' stronghold on the all-time series, the Thunder have come out victorious in eight of the past 12 meetings.
    The Titans picked up a tight win against the Thunder exactly a week ago, January 17, inside King Arena, 78-77. A wild shot from Luke Yoder with three seconds left on clock put the Titans up by one and ultimately secured the Green and White victory.

LET HIM WORK: Harrison Wilmsen put together a career-day to help IWU hold off Wheaton, Jan. 17. The St. Louis, Mo. native scored a career-high 21 points on 10-of-15 shooting with six rebounds and a pair of assists. Illinois Wesleyan holds a 6-1 record this season when Wilmsen scores 15+ points, while the Titans are 9-1 when he meets that mark over his career.
The 6-foot-10 junior enters Wednesday off a two-game stretch that saw him average 20 points per game on a 64.0 field goal percentage. He hit 40 percent of his three-point attempts in IWU's wins at Wheaton and Carroll, Jan. 17-20, and added nine rebounds and two assists.

HOME SWEET HOME: The Titans enjoy one of the greatest athletic venues in NCAA Division III. The Shirk Center has been home to more than 650 Titan basketball games between both the men and women. The men hold a 303-66 record on their home floor, good for a .821 win percentage.

DIALED IN ON DEFENSE: The Titans have been one of the top defensive teams in all of Division III this season. In fact, IWU is limiting opponents to a field goal percentage of 38.9, the 25th-best in the country. The Green and White is giving up just 65.0 points per game (34th nationally).

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN W AND L: Illinois Wesleyan's record can be boiled down to its ability to take care of the ball. Through 18 games, IWU holds a 9-1 record when committing fewer than 15 turnovers. Conversely, when racking up 15-or-more miscues, Illinois Wesleyan is 3-5.

MEN IN BLACK: Illinois Wesleyan sported its alternate uniforms in its win at WashU, Nov. 22, picking up the Titans first win in the black uniforms. The alternate was introduced last season. IWU's record by uniform this year stands at 5-3 in white, 5-2 in green, 1-0 in grey, and 1-1 in black.

NO SURPRISE HERE: A go-ahead layup with less than four seconds to play highlighted a 23-point effort from Luke Yoder against Wheaton, Jan. 17. The veteran floor general, who has punished opponents on both ends of the floor over the course of his IWU career, added six assists, five rebounds, and two steals in the victory. Prior to last week's bout with the Thunder, Yoder had amassed a total of 23 points in IWU's five previous games, Dec. 19-Jan. 13. He was incredibly efficient against the Thunder, going 10-for-15 from the floor and 2-for-5 from three-point range.

20/20 VISION: Illinois Wesleyan's Luke Yoder and Harrison Wilmsen powered IWU past Wheaton, Jan. 17, with a pair of 20-point game. Yoder scored a team-high 23 and Wilmsen added a career-best 21, as IWU saw two players go over the 20-point mark in the same game for the first time this season. Additionally, it was the first occurrence since Lucas Heflen (25) and Cody Mitchell (24) did so against Carroll, Feb. 4.

TITANS, THUNDER... IT'S ALWAYS WILD AT WHEATON: Illinois Wesleyan and Wheaton played another thrilling game inside King Arena, Jan. 17, as the game came down to the final seconds. Fortunately for the Titans, the difference proved to be Luke Yoder's layup with 3.9 seconds to play. The Thunder, who have hit many buzzer-beating shots on their home floor to break the hearts of IWU in recent memory, were held off as the Green and White escaped with a 78-77 win.

NEW YEAR, NEW ME: Since the calendar flipped over to 2024, senior Ryan Sroka has found his footing. In four games in the new year, Sroka has drained 23-of-42 shots, good for a 54.8 percent clip. Surprisingly, in this stretch, Sroka is just 4-of-13 from three, making his efficient shooting from two-point range of 19-of-31 (61.3 percent) even more impressive. Additionally, Sroka has committed just five turnovers in the four-game span.

ON THE HORIZON: The Titans remain at home this weekend for their annual PinkZone game Saturday, Jan. 27. IWU will host Augustana College in the second leg of a double feature with the IWU women's basketball team. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. inside the Shirk Center.