Eureka Kicks Off Final Homestand Wednesday

ABOUT EUREKA

The Red Devils own a 13-8 record and a 7-7 record versus SLIAC foes. Eureka will try to start a new home win streak after seeing its previous 10-game streak came to an end earlier this month. The Red Devils are 17-3 in 20 games played on Dave Darnall Court since the renovation of the Reagan Athletic Complex in the summer of 2015.

Eureka's 7-7 league record is good enough seventh place in the current SLIAC standings, but the top seven teams remain within four games of one another. The Red Devils trail Blackburn by one full game for the fourth and final league tournament berth. Six of the league's 10 teams remain in the hunt for the four bids to the conference's annual postseason event.

Shea Feehan ranks second among NCAA Division III players with a scoring average of 27.0 points per game. He is the national leader with 567 total points and 159 free throws made, a mark that is an ongoing single-season Eureka record during the program's Division III era.

Feehan ranks among the national top 10 in a handful of other categories with a 93.5 free throw percentage (fourth), 3.81 3-pointers per game (fourth) and 80 3-pointers (fourth).

Like Feehan, junior guard Kendall Davis ranks among the national scoring leaders. Davis has made 194 field goals this season, second-most in Division III and just two behind Rockford's Zach Wallace. Additionally, Davis's season free throw percentage of 85.7 ranks 66th nationally and is on pace to be the sixth-best mark in single-season EC history.

League coaches picked Eureka to finish eighth during a poll conducted before the start of the season. 

The Red Devils return two full-time starters and 10 letterwinners overall from last season's team that went 12-13 overall and 10-8 in the SLIAC to tie for third place in the final league standings. Sixteen newcomers have joined the program, including nine first-year freshmen, to give EC a roster size of 26 student-athletes.

WESTMINSTER DEFEATS RED DEVILS MONDAY

Shea Feehan moved into ninth place on the Red Devils' single-season scoring list with 13 points, but host Westminster used a quick start to notch a 79-60 SLIAC victory over EC, Monday night in Fulton, Mo.

The Blue Jays led Monday's game 39-24 at halftime after shooting 47 percent from the floor and 40 percent from long range in the first 20 minutes.

Eureka fought to close the gap in the second half, using a 12-4 run midway through the frame thanks to baskets from Koby White, Feehan, Jordan Dehm and Brady Sanders, but the push wasn't enough.

Feehan improved his season point total to 567, moving ahead of Kameron Bell's 2009-10 total of 564 for ninth place on the program's single-season scoring list. Feehan needs an additional 86 points this season to match Chris Peterson's school record of 653 points set during the 1993-94 season.

Sanders matched a career high with 12 points off the bench. Kendall Davis and Alex Wiegand each added eight points. 

ABOUT MacMURRAY

The Highlanders have dropped three straight games and five of their last six outings, owning a 3-17 overall record and a 3-11 mark in conference action. One of MC's three wins this season was a 77-76 triumph over the Red Devils in Jacksonville, Ill. on Jan. 7. MC is winless on the road this season, dropping all eight contests on an opponent's home floor.

Junior forward Brett Long shoots 53 percent from the field and 80 percent from the foul line en route to a team-best 18.8 points per game. Senior guard Tim Frazier adds 13.1 points per game and junior guard Marshall Corbin tallies 10.7 point on average. Frazier, Corbin and junior forward Riley Spencer have started all 20 games this season for the Highlanders.

MC scores 76.2 points per game, eighth-most among SLIAC schools. The Highlanders do most of their damage inside, as their 3.7 makes per game from long range rank last in the league.

Defensively, MacMurray ranks near the bottom of the league in several statistical categories. MC yields 91.8 points per game, ninth-most in the league, allows opponents to shoot a league-high 40.2 percent from 3-point range and blocks only 1.6 shots per game, last in the SLIAC.

MacMurray was tabbed sixth in the SLIAC in a preseason coaches poll. MC is the two-time defending SLIAC regular-season champion.

A charter member of the SLIAC, MacMurray has won or shared five SLIAC regular-season championships. The Highlanders won the SLIAC Tournament in 1993 and again in 1999. 

ABOUT THE HEAD COACHES

Chip Wilde is in his 10th season directing the Red Devils. The Macomb, Ill. native has 117 wins at EC, fourth-most in program history.

In all, Wilde has coached two SLIAC Players of the Year, 15 All-SLIAC selections, five SLIAC All-Tournament Team selections, four SLIAC All-Defensive Team picks and 29 SLIAC Player of the Week choices.

Todd Creal owns a 112-140 record in 10 seasons as the head coach at MacMurray. The two-time SLIAC Coach of the Year piloted the Highlanders to a share of back-to-back regular-season league titles in 2015 and 2016. MC has also qualified for six SLIAC Tournament semifinals under Creal and a berth in the title game in 2012.

Creal is a 1998 graduate of Illinois College. He has previous collegiate coaching experience as an assistant at IC, Augustana and Millikin. 

SERIES VERSUS MacMURRAY

Eureka and MacMurray have split their last 52 matchups, 26-26, since the 1974-75 season. The Red Devils are 15-10 against MC in that same time frame in games played in Eureka.

Since becoming SLIAC rivals in 2007, MacMurray has won 14 of 21 regular-season games. The two squads have split their home-and-home series each of the last two seasons. 

The two squads have met twice in the SLIAC Tournament semifinals. Eureka won both contests, a 95-81 victory in 2007 and a 98-78 triumph in 2010.

LAST TIME VERSUS MacMURRAY

Eureka overcame an 13-point deficit at MacMurray on Jan. 7, but MC scored the game-winning basket on a Brent Long putback with 12 seconds remaining to earn a 77-76 win over the Red Devils.

Facing a 69-64 deficit with 4:41 to play, Eureka scored eight of the next 10 points to claim a 72-71 lead on two free throws from Shea Feehan with 2:02 left. After trading single free throws on the ensuing three possessions, Feehan broke a 73-73 tie with a corner 3 at the 1:26 mark for a 76-73 advantage.

Eureka wouldn't score again. Long converted on the ensuing MC trip to make the deficit 76-75. After Eureka couldn't answer with a one-point lead, Long rebounded and delivered the go-ahead basket after Riley Spencer's miss with 16 seconds left.

The Red Devils had one final chance down one in the closing moments, but a 3-point try with four seconds to play was off the mark.

Kendall Davis scored 35 points thanks in part to an 8-for-8 effort from the free throw line. Feehan added 20 points and 10 rebounds. The Red Devils committed only seven turnovers.

Four MC starters finished in double figures, led by 18 apiece from Frazier and Long. 

FOLLOW THE ACTION ONLINE

Links to a live video stream and live statistics be available at EurekaRedDevils.com and sliac.org.

The Eureka College media relations staff will provide updates throughout the game via Twitter at @EurekaGameDay.