Tonight: Western Big 6 Conference play resumes with the Moline Maroons traveling to the Rock Garden to face the Rock Island Rocks, 7:30 tipoff after the sophomore game at 6.

Saturday: Both have road games, Moline at Wheeling in a 2:30 p.m. game and Rock Island at the Naperville North Shootout, facing Proviso West at 4 p.m.

On Twitter: Tonight, follow @ness_da. For Moline on Saturday, follow @SteveTappa_da and for Rock Island on Saturday, follow @DanMak57

Probable starting lineups
Moline: G: Drew Owens, 6-0, Sr. (11.9 ppg, 4.2 rpg), Tyler Biscontine, 5-10, So. (9.3, 2.2), Jed Wood, 6-0, Sr. (9.5, 2.3); F: Derrick Stabler, 6-4, Sr. (6.2, 2.8); C: Brandon Vice, 6-5, Sr. (8.3, 7.1).

Rock Island: G: C.J. Carr, 5-6, Jr. (13.9 ppg, 3.1 rpg), Brian Richardson, 6-0, Sr. (12.0, 3.2), Trey Sigel, 6-1, Jr. (9.5, 2.9); F: Rob Johnson, 6-2, Sr. (5.4, 4.5), Keenan Shorter, 6-3, Jr. (8.8, 3.0) or Bryce Jones, 6-1, Sr. (5.2, 3.2).

Why watch: It's a matchup of holiday tournament runners-up, Moline at DeKalb and Rock Island at the State Farm Classic in Normal. Both have won five of six since the Genesis Shootout. ... Both have injury issues with key players. For Moline, sophomore forward Mitch Reeves (4.0 ppg, 3.8 ppg) rolled an ankle during the Christmas weekend just after making his first varsity starts at the DeKalb Tourney. Coach Jeff Schimmel says he's been practice at about 80 percent "so we still don't know if he will be able to go." For Rock Island, senior center Raahsaan Brown (11.2 ppg, 5.1 ppg) badly sprained an ankle in the title game at Normal against North Chicago. He didn't play in last Saturday's win over Sterling. RI coach Thom Sigel lists him as questionable for the weekend. ... This will be the Rocks' first Western Big 6 home game after three conference road games. "With a loss already, we need to defend the home court," Sigel said. "Moline is playing well. We will have to be ready to play and have guys step up and do their jobs." Schimmel's approach to RI's first WB6 game at home: "We have some young guys playing in their first WB6 game. We are playing with a little more confidence, but we know what we are up against in a state-ranked (7th in 4A) Rocky team."

Moline coach Schimmel: "Regardless of what defense we play, we need to try and contain Rocky in transition and not allow them to get second and third opportunities. We need to value possessions and take care of the ball against Rocky's pressure defense."

RI coach Sigel: "We have played a lot of teams that have been bigger than we are, so I hope that we have learned to adapt. If Brown can't go, that will be a challenge for us. We will try to do what we have focused on all year -- play good team defense and move the ball to get good shots."

-- By Marc Nesseler, nesseler@qconline.com