BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University men's basketball team dips back into College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin play Sunday, Jan. 7 with a trip to Augustana College. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:15 p.m. inside the Carver Center and will follow the IWU women's basketball team's game against the Vikings.
    The Titans are 7-6 overall, having lost three in-a-row, but sit one game out of the top spot in the CCIW standings at 3-1. Augustana owns a 5-9 overall record with a 2-3 league standing ahead of Sunday. The Vikings have won two straight, including a 67-64 thriller against Wheaton College, Jan. 3.
    A live stream and live stats of the game will be available through links on the men's basketball schedule page of iwusports.com, while Eric Stock and Joel Swanson will also have the call on WESN.

AGAINST AUGIE ALL-TIME: Illinois Wesleyan and Augustana will square off on the hardwood for the 178th time Saturday, in a series that dates back to the 1914-15 season. IWU leads the all-time tally, 99-78. Augie has won 12 of the last 18 meetings, but the Titans have come out victorious in five of the last seven.
The 2022-23 season saw the home team come out on top in a pair of meetings. IWU bested Augustana, 65-50, inside the Shirk Center, Jan. 14, before Augie handed Illinois Wesleyan an 89-80 setback on the road, Jan. 28.

NOBODY PLAYS HARDER: From diving on the floor for loose balls, fending off as many oppposing players as neccessary for a rebound, or hitting a bucket in the post through no shortage of contact, Marko Anderson has established himself as one of the hardest working players on the court this season. Anderson, who has become a key spark off the bench on both ends of the floor, put together a near double-double at UW-Stevens Point, Dec. 30. Anderson finished with a career-high 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting in a career-high 17 minutes of action. He also added nine rebounds and a steal, while going 7-for-8 at the free throw line.

CARVER CURSE: Illinois Wesleyan has fared much better against Augustana when playing inside the friendly confines of the Shirk Center, however IWU has not seen the same success inside Augie's Carver Center. In fact, the Titans are just 6-17 in the venue since 2005. IWU has won just two of the past 10 meetings in Rock Island, with the victories coming during the 2019-20 and 2021-22 seasons.

DON'T HOLD IT AGAINST HIM: Illinois Wesleyan Athletic Director Mike Wagner, a 1992 Augie graduate, played football for the Vikings for four seasons. An Honorable Mention All-American by Dan Hansen's Football Gazette, Wagner was an All-CCIW linebacker for the Vikings. He led Augie to three NCAA Division III Playoff appearances during his playing career.

SHE LOOKS BETTER IN GREEN: Illinois Wesleyan men's basketball athletic trainer Rachel Dawson is in her first season with the Titans after a two-year run as an athletic trainer at Augustana. Dawson oversees the athletic training care for the Titan men's basketball and women's lacrosse programs.

BACK TO CCIW PLAY: The first half of IWU's season may not have gone as well as the Titans would have liked, but the Green and White find itself right in the thick of the race for the CCIW title. At 3-1 in the league, Illinois Wesleyan is just one game back of conference-leading Elmhurst (4-0) and sits tied for second alongside Carthage (3-1).

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 38.3, the 25th-best in the country. The Green and White is holding opponents to 29.4 percent from three-point range, 69th-best nationally, and is giving up just 64.9 points per game (42nd 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 13 games, IWU holds a 6-1 record when committing fewer than 15 turnovers. Conversely, when racking up 15-or-more miscues, Illinois Wesleyan is just 1-5.

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 season stands at 4-3 in white, 2-2 in green, and 1-1 in black.

ON THE HORIZON: Illinois Wesleyan returns back home for the first time in over a month when Wheaton College travels to the Shirk Center Wednesday night, Jan. 10. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will mark IWU's first home game since Dec. 6.