For the first time since the season officially began, every player on the University of Illinois Springfield men’s basketball roster practiced this week.
That allowed Prairie Stars coach Ben Wierzba an opportunity to get a good look at the Stars and prepare the team for tonight’s season opener against Northwood University at the Great Lakes Valley Conference/Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Challenge in Midland, Mich.
The Stars, who have been dealing with a series of minor injuries, enter the matchup having dropped exhibition contests to a pair of NCAA Division I programs. Southern Illinois-Carbondale handed UIS a 79-56 loss and Evansville knocked off the Stars 74-61.
UIS hopes to replicate the success it experienced last season at the GLVC/GLIAC Challenge. The Stars scored one-point victories over both Lake Superior State and Northwood. There will be a rematch between UIS and Lake Superior State at 4 p.m. Saturday.
The men's team was featured in an November 11, 2011, article in The State Journal-Register.
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