ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team ended its pre-holiday schedule with back-to-back victories and now looks to keep that winning streak intact as it returns to action Sunday by hosting Illinois Springfield in a Great Lakes Valley Conference contest at Gibson Arena.

After dropping its first five games of the season, the Miners bounced back in a big way before the break by picking up wins at Drury and William Jewell and will bring a 2-5 record into Sunday's 3 p.m. matchup.  The Miners enter the game seeking its first three-game winning streak in GLVC play since early in the 2015-16 conference season.

The Miners return to action with four players averaging in double figures on the season, led by Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) with an average of 18.3 points per game.  Smith scored a career-high 30 points in the win at Drury and currently leads the Miners with 18 three-point field goals; he is shooting 25.3 percent from beyond the arc.

Mitch Fairless (St. Charles, MO/Duchesne) is averaging 15.6 points per contest, while Kevin Legardy (Las Vegas, NV/Canyon Springs) is at 14 points per game and is leading S&T with an average of 6.7 rebounds per game.   The Miners' fourth double figure scorer is Ryan Parker (Bloomington, IN/Ridgeview), who is scoring 11 points a contest and has also pulled down 6 2 rebounds per game.

The Miners have two players that also rank among the national leaders at the NCAA Division II level in Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln), who has 22 steals to lead the nation and GLVC – he is also fourth in the GLVC in assists with 36 – while Mahamadou Kaba-Camera's (Conakry, Guinea/Balboa City (San Diego, CA)) 11 blocked shots also rank first nationally.

Sunday's game will mark the first of three over a seven-game span for the Miners in their first week back in action.  S&T will play at Rockhurst in a game moved up from its original date of Jan. 21 to Jan. 6, then hosts Quincy at Gibson Arena on Saturday, Jan. 9.

ABOUT ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD: The Prairie Stars come into the game at 1-2 on the season, but have not played since Dec. 5 due to COVID-19 protocols.  After downing Quincy 89-82 in its season opener, UIS lost by six to Rockhurst and by one to Maryville before its season was halted.

UIS has three explosive scorers led by Chase Robinson, who ranks fifth in the GLVC in scoring with an average of 19.7 points per game; he recorded 30 in the win over Quincy.  Trey Marble comes into the contest averaging 17 points per game and Keymonta Johnson is scoring 16.3 per game; all three double figure scorers rank among the top 20 in the confrence in that department.

Matt Wendling is the top rebounder for the Prairie Stars with an average of eight per game, while Marble has a team-high 15 assists and is shooting 52.9 percent overall and 47.1 percent from three-point range with a team-best eight three-point baskets.

In three games thus far, UIS is shooting 78.6 percent at the free throw line which is the third-best mark in the conference.