ROLLA, Mo. -- Missouri S&T's men's basketball team begins a busy stretch – mostly away from home – as it will play three Great Lakes Valley Conference games in five days in the coming week, starting with a road contest Thursday at the University of Illinois Springfield.

The Miners will play four of their next five games on the road, the first of which takes place against the Prairie Stars at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.  S&T will remain on the road Saturday to face McKendree in Lebanon, Ill., in a 3 p.m. game, then comes home for a rescheduled contest against Indianapolis Monday at Gibson Arena beginning at 5 p.m.

Those three games, coupled with two road games next week, means that the Miners will play five games in a span of 10 days with four of them on enemy floors.

S&T heads into Thursday's contest at with records of 2-10 overall and 0-4 in the GLVC after a 73-58 loss last Thursday to Lewis.  The Miners were led in that game by a pair of freshmen as Yahmir Muhammad (Rockford, IL/Auburn) led the way with 12 points and Mitch Fairless (St. Charles, MO/Duchesne) reached double figures for the first time as a Miner by finishing with 10.  S&T had an eight-rebound advantage in the game as well, but shot only 38 percent from the field.

CJ Hedgepeth (Evansville, IN/Harrison) is the top active scorer for the Miners entering the week with an average of 12.4 points per game; he is also leading S&T with 39 assists on the year.  Dulan Scott (Chicago, IL/Farragut Academy) is averaging 11.6 points a game and Juwan Miller (Kitchener, Ont./Huron Heights) is at 10.3 per game entering play this afternoon and has added 35 assists and 21 steals.

ABOUT ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD: The Prairie Stars have made a big jump in the GLVC this season as they enter Thursday's contest at 10-5 overall and 3-2 in conference play.  UIS had dropped two in a row before bouncing back with an 81-70 victory at home over Maryville Saturday behind 21 points from Vince Walker.

Walker, the son of UIS head coach and former Miner player Bill Walker, was among five in double figures for the Prairie Stars in that win and is one of four players averaging at least 10 points per game for UIS this season.  The top scorer is Gilwan Nelson with an average of 15.2 points per game, while Peyton Allen, a transfer from Texas A&M, is scoring 15.2 per game.  Aundrae Williams is averaging 12.6 points a contest and Walker is at 10 per game and leads UIS with 35 three-point baskets while shooting 41.2 percent from beyond the arc.

Cole Walker ranks fourth in the GLVC in rebounding with his team-high seven per game, although the Prairie Stars have been outrebounded as a team for the season by a slight margin.  UIS is making 35.6 percent of its three-point attempts and owns the league's second-best turnover margin, committing just 11.4 per game.
 
ABOUT McKENDREE: After a slow start to the season, the Bearcats reached the .500 mark Sunday when they routed Missouri-St. Louis 92-67 behind 23 points from Nate Michael and 15 from reserve Carrington Bass.  McKendree is 7-7 overall and 3-2 in the GLVC heading into Thursday's home matchup against Drury.

Michael leads the Bearcats with an average of 16.1 points per game and is shooting 37.7 percent from three-point range; his 2.9 three-pointers per game are the second-most in the conference.  In three career games against S&T, Michael has averaged 25.3 points per game.

Nolan Gerling, a 54.8 percent shooter on the year, is also averaging in double figures with 11.2 points per contest and ranks as McKendree's top rebounder with 5.7 per contest. Alijah Thomas and Logan Kohrmann are both just short of double figures in scoring at 9.9 and 9.6 points per game, respectively, while Giovanni Offard has a team-high 66 assists.

ABOUT INDIANAPOLIS:  The Greyhounds opened the 2018-19 campaign with six straight wins and landed a spot in the national top 25 in the process, then lost four straight contests prior to the holiday break before bouncing back with four consecutive victories since play resumed.  UIndy takes a 10-4 overall record and 3-1 GLVC mark in a Saturday home game against Lewis after pulling out a 71-70 win last Thursday at Drury on Jimmy King's two free throws with four seconds remaining.
 
All five individuals who started for the Greyhounds in their win Thursday are averaging in double figures on the season, led by Jesse Kempson's 16.3 points per game that ranks seventh in the conference.  Kempson is also the second-leading rebounder for UIndy with 7.9 per game, while Jordache Mavunga is pulling down 7.2 boards per game to go along with his scoring avearge of 11.4 points per game.

Trevor Lakes is averaging 15 points per game after scoring 21 Thursday, while UIndy is also getting 14.5 points per game from CJ Hardaway -- a 53.9 percent shooter from the field --  and Jimmy King 12.5 for the GLVC"s fourth-highest scoring team.  King is also the league leader in assists with 88.