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MACOMB, Ill. - The IUPUI basketball team will open the second half of its Summit League schedule on Saturday night when it takes on Western Illinois inside Western Hall at 8:00 p.m.. Pregame coverage with Scott McCauley (play-by-play) will begin on 88.3 FM / The Walk at approximately 7:55.

IUPUI (12-10, 6-3 Summit) is coming off quite possibly its best 20 minutes of basketball this season as it blitzed Southern Utah in the second half last Saturday on its way to an 87-61 win in Cedar City. Junior Alex Young scored a game-high 27 points and Leroy Nobles added 22 in the win. Christian Siakam hit all five of his field goal attempts and scored 15 and Stephen Thomas added 14.

The Jags trailed by three at the break, but outscored Southern Utah 47-18 after halftime in the win. IUPUI shot nearly 63 percent in the second half and finished the game hitting 58 percent overall.

IUPUI hasn't lost at Western Illinois (7-13, 2-7) since Jan. 2000 and has won 20 of the past 21 meetings between the two schools. The Jaguars dispatched of the Leathernecks in Indianapolis, 70-55 on Dec. 30 behind Young's 21 tallies. IUPUI built a 16-point first half lead and extended out to a 24-point advantage before the Leathernecks crept within 11. However, a struggling IUPUI offense got back-to-back tip-ins from Siakam to spark a 6-0 run and coasted to the win from there.

Siakam enters Saturday's game having made 13 straight field goal attempts and 68.5 percent of his shots against Summit League foes. On the wings, Young has been on a scoring binge, scoring 59 points in IUPUI's two games last week. He has since ascended to No. 7 on the program's career scoring list and is just 29 points away from taking the No. 6 spot away from Hall of Famer Kim King (1,447 points).

Western is led offensively by Evansville-native Matt Lander (16.3 ppg) and is getting 9.9 points and 6.8 rebounds per game from JUCO-transfer Kaimarr Price. Four different Leathernecks have hit at least 20 threes on the season as WIU shoots 38 percent collectively from deep. The Leathernecks are the top defensive team in The Summit, limiting opponents to just 57.8 points per game. The Jags are one of just five opponents to score at least 70 points against WIU this season.