KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan men's basketball team looks for its third consecutive win on Tuesday evening as it travels down to Athens to face Ohio.
 

GAME INFO

Matchup: Western Michigan (7-14, 4-5 MAC) at Ohio (11-10, 5-4)

Date/Time: Tuesday, Feb. 4 – 7 pm

Site: Convocation Center (Athens, Ohio)

Video: ESPN+

Radio: Bronco Media Network

Live Stats: StatBoadcast

OPENING TIP

• Western Michigan heads down to Athens on Tuesday night for the first of two regular season meetings with Ohio.
• The Broncos are coming off of a 61-54 victory over Eastern Michigan on Saturday.
• The 54 points marked the second-fewest allowed by Western Michigan this season.
• Chansey Willis Jr. led WMU with 16 points, while JaVaughn Hannah added 11.
• Donovan Williams just missed out on a double-double with nine points and a season-high 10 rebounds.
• WMU remains atop the MAC in offensive rebounding at 13.3 per game, and in conference play is at 13.8 per contest.
• Ohio owns a 74-67 advantage in the all-time series between the two programs.
• The Bobcats are 51-19 against the Broncos in Athens, with WMU's last road win in the series coming back on Feb. 19, 2014.
• Last season, Western Michigan won in Kalamazoo, with Ohio taking the rematch in the MAC Tournament in Cleveland.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
After a pair of wins last week, Western Michigan hits the road on Tuesday evening as it travels down to Athens to face Ohio. Tuesday is the first of two meetings between the Broncos and Bobcats, with the rematch scheduled for Feb. 25 in Kalamazoo.

LAST TIME OUT
The Broncos made it back-to-back wins for the first time in MAC play on Saturday as they knocked off Eastern Michigan, 61-54, on Saturday afternoon. Chansey Willis Jr. led Western Michigan with 16 points, JaVaughn Hannah had 11 and Donovan Williams just missed out on a double-double with nine points and a season-high 10 rebounds. 

TURNING UP THE DEFENSE
Western Michigan turned in one of its best defensive performances of the season on Saturday, yielding 54 points to Eastern Michigan. In the first half, the visitors had two separate stretches of more than four minutes without a field goal, which led to 18 first-half points, the second-fewest allowed in a half this season by the WMU defense. EMU hit just two three's and shot 9.2% from downtown, both of which were the lowest marks allowed by the Broncos this year. The Brown and Gold also forced 15 turnovers and nabbed 11 steals, with three different players picking up a pair of swipes.

THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, WILLIS
Chansey Willis Jr. led the Broncos in scoring for the seventh time in 13 games with his 16 points on Saturday. The junior has been in double-figures in all but two games he's played in and is averaging 15.0 points, 5.5 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game. In league play, he is third in assists (5.3), eighth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.7) and tied for ninth in steals (1.4).

DONOVAN GETS IT DONE
Donovan Williams nearly had his first double-double as a Bronco on Saturday as he netted nine points and collected a season-high 10 rebounds. It was the second straight game the graduate student led Western Michigan on the glass. Since moving into the starting lineup for the NIU game on Jan. 21, Williams is averaging 12.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. WMU is 3-1 in the four games since he became a starter.

CRASHING THE BOARDS
WMU continues to rank among the league's best in rebounding, as it leads the MAC in offensive rebounding (13.3), is second in overall rebounding (38.3) and third in rebounding margin (+3.9). WMU boasts three of the conference's top-20 rebounders in Owen Lobsinger (7.5, 3rd), Max Burton (5.6, T-15) and Donovan Williams (5.4, 19th). The trio are all inside the top-12 in conference play, with Lobsinger third (8.4), Williams 11th (6.1) and Burton 12th (6.0).

GETTING OFFENSIVE
For the third straight season, Western Michigan leads the MAC in offensive rebounding  at 13.3 per game (30th in NCAA DI). Three players are averaging at least 2.0 per game, Owen Lobsinger (2.2), Donovan Williams (2.0) and Max Burton (2.0). The Broncos are averaging a league-best 13.8 in league play.

OWEN-ING THE BOARDS
Senior Owen Lobsinger has been the top rebounder for WMU all season, and ranks third in the league at 7.5 rebounds per game. In MAC play he is up to 8.4 per contest, which is also third in the conference.

PROTECTING THE ROCK
Western Michigan has turned the ball over 10 or fewer times in 10 of its 21 games in 2024-25. WMU's 11.0 turnovers per game are the second-fewest in the conference.

SERIES HISTORY
Ohio comes into Tuesday's matchup with a 74-67 lead in the all-time series, including a 51-19 advantage in Athens. Last season, the Broncos won the regular season meeting in Kalamazoo, but Ohio eliminated Western Michigan in the quarterfinals of the MAC Tournament in Cleveland. WMU's last road win in the series came back on Feb. 19, 2014.

ON THE HORIZON
WMU returns to Kalamazoo on Saturday to face Georgia Southern in its second game of this year's MAC-Sun Belt Challenge.