The Western Illinois men’s basketball team tips off the season Tuesday night at Nebraska.
The Leathernecks went 2-0 in their exhibition games but take a major step up in competition, taking on the Big 10’s Cornhuskers at 7 p.m.
And while the hill will be a tough one to climb, getting back on the court and starting the season with a positive performance is goal No. 1 for head coach Rob Jeter.
“We want to get better every time out, when you play opponents like this, it’s an opportunity to make a statement but the odds of that happening are pretty long,” the coach said. “The statement we want to make is to play our game, compete and have some level of success at what we want to do.
“A game like this, it can go the other way, if you don’t have any level of success, you kind of make the statement that it’s back to the drawing board, so you can send the other kind of message to the league and that is that we’re not ready.”
Many of the faces for WIU will be familiar as the Leathernecks return the bulk of last season’s including Will Carius.
And while Carius will be called upon to be WIU’s biggest offensive weapon, Jeter would like to see other players take steps forward early in the regular season.
Point guard Colton Sandage is one of those players.
Last winter, Jeter moved Sandage to point guard, a position he had never before played. But Sandage adjusted to the role, becoming Western’s full-time starter at the point.
Now in year two, Jeter would like Sandage to make even more steps as starting point guard.
“When he hits shots, it opens things up going to the basket for him,” Jeter said of Sandage. “He’s a shooter, a scorer who can put the ball in the basket but we need to help him out at point.
“He did a nice job last year and hopefully that carries over. Last January was the first time he’s ever played point guard, he took the first steps last year now we need to see him build off that.”
Another spot to watch for the Leathernecks is inside.
WIU has a trio of big men who can contribute, even if they each bring different strengths to the floor.
Tamell Pearson, Luka Barisic and Adam Anhold provide Western variety on the front line, and combined with players off the bench, Jeter sees an improvement on the boards and in the post.
“Adam is clearly the most athletic, Tamell is clearly better laterally defensively and Luka is the best at shooting the ball from deep, if we could put them all together, we’d have a heck of a player, so we’ll have to use them at different times,” the coach said. “Overlooked in that group though is George (Dixon). George transferred in and is only 6-5 but he plays like a big man.
“I think he’ll be really key with Cam Burrell in our rotation, they give us a totally different look when we go smaller and more athletic when we look at substituting at that four and five spot. George is a more physical version of Cam and that’s what we needed, I think last season we were really good on the offensive glass and George is going to enhance that. He’s tough to keep away from the ball when it’s in the air. Offseason in recruiting, we were looking at pieces to fill in the gaps and strengthen ares and George was a huge pickup.”
When it comes to Tuesday’s game, WIU may be without Burrell, Quinlan Bennett and Ramean Hinton, who did not dress for the exhibition games.
Jeter was hopeful Burrell would play against Nebraska but Bennett and Hinton most likely will not.
With some openings and opportunities available, the coach is planning to get his main group plenty of minutes but keep the door open for role players looking for time.
“The guys have earned their minutes, so the core guys will get the majority of the minutes,” the coach said. “We’re still trying to get everyone in game shape, so the guys who earned minutes will get their opportunities too.
“We still have to get in better game shape, so it is dependent on how things work out when it comes to opportunities for other guys who have earned minutes. But we’re going in to re-enforce who we want to be and have success with who we want to be.”