2022–23 Western Illinois Leathernecks men's basketball team

The 2022–23 Western Illinois Leathernecks men's basketball team represented Western Illinois University in the 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Leathernecks, led by third-year head coach Rob Jeter, played their home games at Western Hall in Macomb, Illinois, as members of the Summit League. they finished the season 16–14, 9–9 in Summit League play, to finish in a tie for fourth place. As the No. 4 seed in the Summit League tournament, they lost to St. Thomas in the quarterfinals.

2022–23 Western Illinois Leathernecks men's basketball
Conference	Summit League
Record	16–14 (9–9 The Summit)
Head coach	Rob Jeter (3rd season)
Associate head coach	Chad Boudreau
Assistant coaches	Kyle Heikkinen Allan Hanson
Home arena	Western Hall
Seasons ← 2021–22 2023–24 →

2022–23 Summit League men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Oral Roberts †	18	–	0		1.000			30	–	5		.857
South Dakota State	13	–	5		.722			19	–	13		.594
North Dakota State	11	–	7		.611			16	–	17		.485
Western Illinois	9	–	9		.500			16	–	14		.533
St. Thomas*	9	–	9		.500			19	–	14		.576
South Dakota	7	–	11		.389			12	–	19		.387
Kansas City	7	–	11		.389			11	–	21		.344
Denver	6	–	12		.333			15	–	17		.469
North Dakota	6	–	12		.333			13	–	20		.394
Omaha	4	–	14		.222			9	–	23		.281
* Ineligible for the 2023 NCAA tournament due to transition from Division III
† 2023 Summit League Tournament winner

On April 12, 2023, head coach Rob Jeter left to take the head coaching position at Southern Utah.^[1] On April 13, the school named associate head coach Chad Boudreau the team's new head coach.^[2]

This was also the final season for the Leathernecks in the Summit League as Western Illinois is moving to the Ohio Valley Conference for the 2023–24 season.

Previous season

The Leathernecks finished the 2021–22 season 16–16, 7–11 in Summit League play to finish in a tie for sixth place. In the Summit League tournament, they were defeated by Oral Roberts in the first round.^[3] They received an invitation to The Basketball Classic, where they lost to UTEP in the first round.^[4]

Roster

2022–23 Western Illinois Leathernecks men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown G 1 Quinlan Bennett 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) RS Jr Lamar Chicago, IL G 2 Alec Rosner 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) — Sr Winona State Appleton, WI G 3 KJ Lee 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 170 lb (77 kg) So Fort Zumwalt North HS O'Fallon, MO F 4 Jesiah West 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) — Jr Southeastern CC Elizabeth, NJ G 5 Trenton Massner 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Sr Northwestern State Wapello, IA G 10 JJ Kalakon 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) — Jr Triton College Louisville, KY G 11 De' Meiko Anderson 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) — Fr Minnesota North HS Minneapolis, MN C 12 Vuk Stevanic 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 228 lb (103 kg) Sr St. Francis Brooklyn Jagodina, Serbia G 13 Braden Lamar 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 190 lb (86 kg) So Bishop Gorman HS Las Vegas, NV F 15 Steph Gabriel 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Jr Highland CC Irvington, NJ C 20 Cody Collinsworth 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Jr Clarendon College Lindale, TX G 22 Robert Jeter IV 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 180 lb (82 kg) So East Ridge HS Woodbury, MN F 22 Elijah Farr 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 240 lb (109 kg) Jr Murray State Kansas City, MO G 25 Dirin Birhiray 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) — Fr Brebeuf Jesuit Prep Indianapolis, IN G 30 Jake Fisher 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) — Fr Oconomowoc HS Oconomowoc, WI G 40 Matthew Wade 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 160 lb (73 kg) So Golda Meir School Milwaukee, WI	Head coach Rob Jeter (UW–Platteville) Assistant coach(es) Chad Boudreau (Hannibal–LaGrange) Kyle Heikkinen (UW–Whitewater) Allan Hanson (Milwaukee) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster Last update: December 23, 2022

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
November 1, 2022* 7:30 pm		Monmouth College	W 89–61	–	Western Hall (432) Macomb, IL
Non-conference regular season
November 7, 2022* 7:00 pm, ESPN3		at Illinois State	W 71–68	1–0	CEFCU Arena (4,133) Normal, IL
November 9, 2022* 6:00 pm		Rockford	W 113–56	2–0	Western Hall (641) Macomb, IL
November 11, 2022* 9:00 pm, FS2		at DePaul Bahamas Championship campus-site game	L 74–86	2–1	Wintrust Arena (2,977) Chicago, IL
November 14, 2022* 6:00 pm, ESPN+		at UCF	L 37–70	2–2	Addition Financial Arena (3,940) Orlando, FL
November 21, 2022* 5:00 pm, LHN/ESPN+		at Texas–Rio Grande Valley	L 77–78	2–3	Bert Ogden Arena (6,674) Edinburg, TX
November 26, 2022* 2:00 pm		Youngstown State	L 64–88	2–4	Western Hall (431) Macomb, IL
November 30, 2022* 7:30 pm		Southern Indiana	W 86–78	3–4	Western Hall (493) Macomb, IL
December 3, 2022* 2:30 pm, ESPN+		Texas–Rio Grande Valley	W 90–72	4–4	Western Hall (603) Macomb, IL
December 7, 2022* 6:00 pm		Iowa Wesleyan	W 84–73	5–4	Western Hall (391) Macomb, IL
December 10, 2022* 2:00 pm, ESPN+		at Eastern Illinois	W 79–75	6–4	Lantz Arena (1,137) Charleston, IL
December 16, 2022* 7:30 pm		Eureka	W 79–50	7–4	Vibrant Arena at The MARK  Moline, IL
Summit League regular season
December 19, 2022 6:00 pm		North Dakota State	W 79–60	8–4 (1–0)	Western Hall (522) Macomb, IL
December 21, 2022 12:00 pm		North Dakota	Postponed due to Winter Storm Elliott[5]		Western Hall  Macomb, IL
December 29, 2022 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at South Dakota State	L 64–71	8–5 (1–1)	Frost Arena (1,701) Brookings, SD
December 31, 2022 1:00 pm		at South Dakota	L 63–80	8–6 (1–2)	Sanford Coyote Sports Center (1,567) Vermillion, SD
January 5, 2023 6:00 pm		Omaha	L 74–78	8–7 (1–3)	Western Hall (354) Macomb, IL
January 7, 2023 2:00 pm		Denver	W 91–74	9–7 (2–3)	Western Hall (508) Macomb, IL
January 12, 2023 7:00 pm		at Oral Roberts	L 63–87	9–8 (2–4)	Mabee Center (5,183) Tulsa, OK
January 14, 2023 7:00 pm		at Kansas City	W 60–52	10–8 (3–4)	Swinney Recreation Center (927) Kansas City, MO
January 21, 2023 2:00 pm		St. Thomas	W 60–56	11–8 (4–4)	Western Hall (727) Macomb, IL
January 23, 2023 6:00 pm		North Dakota Rescheduled from December 21	W 92–80	12–8 (5–4)	Western Hall (761) Macomb, IL
January 26, 2023 6:00 pm		South Dakota	W 75–72	13–8 (6–4)	Western Hall (937) Macomb, IL
January 28, 2023 2:00 pm		South Dakota State	W 81–73 OT	14–8 (7–4)	Western Hall (1,534) Macomb, IL
February 2, 2023 8:00 pm		at Denver	L 44–77	14–9 (7–5)	Hamilton Gymnasium (689) Denver, CO
February 4, 2023 2:05 pm		at Omaha	W 75–72	15–9 (8–5)	Baxter Arena (1,898) Omaha, NE
February 9, 2023 6:00 pm		Kansas City	L 64–76	15–10 (8–6)	Western Hall (884) Macomb, IL
February 11, 2023 2:00 pm		Oral Roberts	L 73–82	15–11 (8–7)	Western Hall (1,681) Macomb, IL
February 18, 2023 7:00 pm		at St. Thomas	L 69–82	15–12 (8–8)	Schoenecker Arena (1,674) Saint Paul, MN
February 23, 2023 11:00 am, ESPN+		at North Dakota	W 81–70	16–12 (9–8)	Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,271) Grand Forks, ND
February 25, 2023 1:00 pm, ESPN+		at North Dakota State	L 69–71	16–13 (9–9)	Scheels Center (2,602) Fargo, ND
Summit League tournament
March 5, 2023 6:00 pm, ESPN+	(4)	vs. (5) St. Thomas Quarterfinals	L 60–67	16–14	Denny Sanford Premier Center  Sioux Falls, SD
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central.

Sources^[6][7]

References

1. Walker, Sean (April 12, 2023). "Southern Utah finalizes hiring of new coach Rob Jeter from Western Illinois". ksl.com. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
2. "'This is home': Western Illinois hires new men's basketball coach". Peoria Journal Star. April 13, 2023. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
3. "Golden Eagles hold off Leathernecks to move onto semifinals". The Summit League. March 6, 2022. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
4. "UTEP Trounces Western Illinois, 80-54, To Advance To Second Round Of Basketball Classic". UTEP Miners. March 19, 2022. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
5. "WIU-UND men's game postponed". Western Illinois University Athletics. December 20, 2022. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
6. "2022-23 Men's Basketball Schedule". Western Illinois University Athletics. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
7. "2022-23 Western Illinois Leathernecks Schedule". ESPN. Retrieved December 23, 2022.