UMKC Kicks Off Final Road Trip With Western Illinois Thursday

The 'Roos start their final regular season road swing on Thursday as they head to Macomb to face second place Western Illinois. A 'Roos win can improve their seed in the Summit League Tournament. WIU needs to win its final two games to clinch at least a share of the league crown. The Kangaroos and Leathernecks are meeting for the 43rd time, the most played series for UMKC in the Division I era. The 'Roos lead the series 26-16 overall, and have won three of the last five meetings, but dropped the last two, including a 68-63 contest in KC earlier this year.
The Western Illinois Leathernecks come in with a 19-7 overall record, with an 11-3 mark in Summit League play. They have gone 15-4 since the last time they played the 'Roos.
The Leathernecks are paced by their two all-conference performers in senior guard Ceola Clark and senior forward Terell Parks. Parks leads the team with 12.7 points and 9.6 rebounds per game, while Clark averages 11.7 per contest, including 27 points against UMKC in December, as well as 109 assists and 42 steals. Adam Link is the third in double figures at 10.0 a game.
As a team the Leathernecks will slow it down, averaging 60.3 points and allowing a league-best 52.5 per outing. They hold opponents to 38.7 percent shooting.
Nelson Kirksey has had the hot hand for the 'Roos recently. The junior guard/forward matched his career-high with 18 points against Oakland and followed that up with a game-high 16 points against Tennessee Tech on Saturday, as well as a career-best eight boards.
Kansas City will be either the No. 5, No. 6 or No. 7 seed in the upcoming Summit League Championships in Sioux Falls, S.D. To get the No. 5 seed, UMKC must win both games this week and IPFW must lose to Oakland. To get the No. 6 seed, UMKC must record as many or more wins than South Dakota in the next two contests. Both teams play Western Illinois and IUPUI this week. To get the No. 7 seed, South Dakota must win one more game than UMKC this week.
UMKC heads to IUPUI for a 6:30 p.m. CT regular season finale on Saturday.