BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The sixth-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University men's basketball team hits the road for a battle with the Big Blue of Millikin University Wednesday, Jan. 15. The College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin bout is set for 7 p.m.
    Illinois Wesleyan heads into the midweek matchup on the heels of a triple overtime win over North Central College, Jan. 11. IWU outlasted NCC, 99-91, to improve to 13-2 overall and 5-1 in league play. Millikin saw a five-game win streak snapped at Carthage College, 64-55, Jan. 11, dropping the Big Blue's record to 9-5 overall. MU owns a 3-2 CCIW mark.
    A live stream with Eric Stock and Joel Swanson on the call as well as live stats will be available. Links can be found on the men's basketball schedule page of IWUsports.com.

6 FOOT 8 INCHES OF ROPE: Illinois Wesleyan senior Nick Roper took his play to another level in the Titans' triple overtime win over North Central, Jan. 11. Roper poured in a career-high 29 points over 48 minutes of play, while adding nine rebounds and three assists.
    In addition to a season-high, Roper posted the highest point total by a Titan since Matthew Leritz scored 31 against Wheaton Feb. 12, 2022. Since the calendar turned to 2025, Roper is averaging 24.7 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.3 steals per game. Roper ranks second in the CCIW in scoring at 19.8 points per game and sits fourth in rebounding (6.7 rpg).

EVERYBODY NEEDS A MARKO: Perhaps one of the most underrated players across Division III, Marko Anderson made his presence known in IWU's triple OT thriller against North Central, Jan. 11. Anderson went for a 19-point, 12-rebound double-double in Illinois Wesleyan's 99-91 win, with 11 points coming in overtime. The Park Ridge, Ill. native is amid a career year in which he is averaging 8.9 points and a team-high 6.7 rebounds off the bench.

20/20 VISION: Illinois Wesleyan's Nick Roper and Hakim Williams propelled IWU past North Central, Jan. 11, with a pair of 20-point games. Roper scored a career-high 29 points, while Williams added 21 points for his second career 20-point effort.  IWU saw two players go over the 20-point mark in the same game for the first time this season and the first time since Jan. 17, 2024 when Luke Yoder went for 23 points and Harrison Wilmsen tallied 21 in a win at Wheaton.

STEPS IN AND STEPS UP: With fouls piling up and foul trouble forcing lineup changes, Nathan Boldt took full advantage of extra minutes on the floor in IWU's win over NCC, Jan. 11. Boldt scored a career-high six points on 2-of-2 shooting with five rebounds, a pair of assists, and a steal over a career-high 27 minutes.
    Boldt's first three-pointer came midway through the second half, and put the Titans up one, 54-53. His second make of the day came in the final OT period, as Hakim Williams found Boldt for a triple from the wing to stretch the lead to five with 3:32 on the clock. The shot proved to be the dagger as the Cardinals never got within fewer than three from that point on.

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!: The Titans needed three overtime periods to top North Central, Jan. 11. The game marked IWU's second overtime contest of the season and the Titans' 37th OT contest since the 2000-01 season. Over that span, IWU has compiled a 20-17 record.
Saturday's thrilling win was the first-ever triple OT game inside the Shirk Center and IWU's first since 1981. That season, Illinois Wesleyan edged Wheaton, 99-97.

LONG-STANDING RIVALRY: IWU and Millikin have met on 240 occasions, with the first match-up held in the 1909-10 season. The 240 total contests rank second in Division III men's basketball in most-played rivalries. The Titans hold a 161-79 advantage against the Big Blue all-time, including winning 32 of the last 35 meetings.
    A split in last year's regular season series snapped IWU's 15-game win streak against the Big Blue. After topping MU, 72-50, in Bloomington, the Big Blue rode a halftime lead to a 59-56 triumph. Luke Yoder scored 20 points in the loss, while Ryan Sroka added 10.

IT'S FRIDMAN: Since assuming the starting point guard role, freshman Josh Fridman has come into his own, even taking his game to another level in CCIW play. Through six conference games, the rookie is averaging 10.8 points per game on 15-of-31 shooting (48.4 percent) and is 7-for-17 from beyond the arc (41.2 percent). He is the team's third-leading scorer in league contests and is second on the team with 16 assists (3.2 per game).
Around the conference, Fridman is second in the league in free throw percentage (96.2), seventh in assists (2.8 apg),  and 19th in scoring.

TWO BIGS, BETTER THAN ONE: The five-man platoon of seniors Harrison Wilmsen and Marko Anderson  has been a crucial component to Illinois Wesleyan's success this season. Together, the duo is averaging 17.3 points and 11.5 rebounds per game and poses a consistent challenge for the opposition. Anderson is IWU's top rebounder with 6.3 boards per game, including a team-high 34 offensive rebounds, to go along with 8.1 points per game. Wilmsen's numbers sit at 9.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.

BENCH BOSS: In his 18th season leading his alma mater, Ron Rose has compiled a 337-160 overall record. His career mark includes 179 CCIW wins, the most of any active head coach in the conference.
The Titans won the 2013, 2014, 2022, and 2024 CCIW titles outright and shared the 2018 regular season championship with Augustana. Illinois Wesleyan claimed the 2021 CCIW Championship in a COVID-shortened season as well as the regular season title last season.

HARD TO COME BY: Through 15 games this season, Illinois Wesleyan has established itself as one of the stingiest defenses in all of Division III. The Titans are ranked 17th nationally in field goal percentage defense, limiting opponents to 37.8 percent. IWU is allowing just 69.9 points per game, a mark which is slotted 113th-best across Division III.

POLLING STATION:  Illinois Wesleyan is one of 28 programs that have appeared in at least 100 D3hoops.com Top-25 rankings. In fact, the Titans' 196 appearances in the weekly poll are eighth-most all-time as well as the most in the CCIW.
The Titans are currently ranked No. 6 in the poll as of Jan. 13.

30 NEVER LOOKED SO GOOD: Illinois Wesleyan celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Shirk Center with a day-long celebration, Jan. 11. Since January of 1994, the Shirk Center for Athletics and Recreation has served as a hub for Titan athletics, Illinois Wesleyan, and the Bloomington-Normal community. The venue has been home to six NCAA Division III national championships and hosts more than 100 community events each year.
  The main performance arena can seat up to 2,680 for indoor sporting events. The facility also houses four multi-use courts, multiple golf rooms and bays, a racquetball court, a 200-meter track, training rooms, classrooms, and athletic department offices.
In 2016, another major gift from the Shirk family and the Shirk Family Foundation was used to expand the fitness and athletic team space on the building's east side. The two-story expansion doubled the size of existing fitness facilities, provided multipurpose rooms for athletic and recreational use, added locker rooms for teams, and addressed other training and storage needs.

ON THE HORIZON: Illinois Wesleyan travels to Decatur this upcoming Wednesday, Jan. 15, for a conference clash at Millikin University. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. inside the Griswold Center.