NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State tips off the 2015-16 Missouri Valley Conference season by hosting Missouri State Wednesday, Dec. 30 at 7 p.m. on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena. After winning three of their last four games, the Redbirds (6-7) are aiming to open up conference play with a victory for the first time since the 2011-12 campaign.
MISSOURI STATE AT ILLINOIS STATE • WEDNESDAY, DEC. 30, 2015 • 7 p.m.
THE SERIES:
Wednesday's game marks the 67th meeting between Illinois State and Missouri State. ISU leads the all-time series, 38-28, with the Redbirds winning two-straight games and three of the last four. Versus the Bears, ISU is 23-6 at home and 18-6 at Redbird Arena. Head Coach Dan Muller holds a 4-3 records against Missouri State.
THE COACHES:
Illinois State: Dan Muller (Illinois State, 1998) is in his fourth season as the head coach at Illinois State (64-51). Muller is the first coach in ISU history to beat three Top-25 teams in his first three seasons.
Missouri State: Paul Lusk (Southern Illinois, 1995) is in his fifth season as the head coach at Missouri State (62-79). Lusk led the Bears to a 20-win season and postseason bid (CollegeInsider.com Tournament) in 2013-14.
ABOUT ILLINOIS STATE:
Picked to finish fourth (out of 10 teams) in the Missouri Valley Conference ... return three of five starters and six of 13 letterwinners from last year's team, which went 22-13 overall, advancing to the second round of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) ... tied for third place in the 2014-15 MVC standings (11-7) ... feature MVC preseason team selection senior DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell ... played the top-two nationally-ranked teams in a one-week span.
ABOUT MISSOURI STATE:
Picked to finish eighth (out of 10 teams) in the Missouri Valley Conference ... return all five starters and seven of nine letterwinners from last year's team, which recorded an 11-20 overall record and a 5-13 MVC mark (ninth place) ... feature returning senior guard Dorrian Williams who was named to the 2015 MVC Most-Improved Team and is averaging 7.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game ... Camyn Boone is averaging 13.1 points.
UP NEXT: Sunday, Jan. 3 at Drake: 1 p.m. CT at the Knapp Center in Des Moines, Iowa.
LAST TIME OUT (W, 66-55 - Dec. 22, 2015 VS. TENNESSEE STATE)
The Illinois State men's basketball team made a season-high eight first-half 3-pointers en route to a 66-55 victory over Tennessee State on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena. The win for ISU snapped TSU's seven-game winning streak. Nick Banyard led the Redbirds, collecting a career-high 11 rebounds with eight points. MiKyle McIntosh, Roland Griffin and DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell all scored 10 points each. The Redbirds (6-7) shot 46.8 percent (22-for-47) from the field and finished the game with nine 3-pointers, one short of their season high. ISU held the Tigers (9-3) to 37.7 percent (23-61) from the floor.
MVC TIPOFF
In ISU's final game in the calendar year of 2015, the Illinois State men's basketball team begins a new year of Missouri Valley Conference basketball by hosting Missouri State Wednesday night. The Redbirds are opening MVC play at home for the second-straight season, with ISU last winning a home league opener during the 2011-12 season. Since joining the MVC in 1981-82, the Redbirds are 15-19 in conference openers, with a 7-9 record in home MVC openers. Illinois State is 2-2 in Valley openers versus Missouri State, with an 0-1 mark against the Bears in home conference openers.
WINNING WAYS
After winning a season-best three of their last four games, the Redbirds are aiming to win three-straight contests on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena for the first time this season when ISU hosts Missouri State Wednesday night. Illinois State is trying to earn its first Missouri Valley Conference season-opening win since beating Northern Iowa at home, 65-61, Dec. 29, 2009.
NON-CONFERENCE TESTED
Illinois State enters Missouri Valley Conference play just one game below .500 after playing a challenging non-conference schedule which included four 2015 NCAA Tournament teams (San Diego State, Maryland, Kentucky, UAB) and a National Invitation Tournament (NIT) qualifier (Murray State). According to the Dec. 25 Collegiate Basketball News Schedule Strength Rankings, ISU's non-conference schedule ranks No. 60 nationally, which is fifth in the MVC. Illinois State's RPI is ranked No. 161.
NDIAYE'S BLOCK PARTY
Freshman center Daouda "David" Ndiaye recorded a career-best five blocks in Illinois State's win over Tennessee State (Dec. 22), marking the most blocks by a Redbird since Reggie Lynch blocked six shots against Green Bay (March 18, 2015). Ndiaye is now averaging 1.4 blocks per game which ranks third in the Missouri Valley Conference. He also recorded a career-best six rebounds against Tennessee State.
FLIPPING THE SWITCH
A newly-installed $950 thousand dollar state-of-the-art video board system at Redbird Arena went live during the Tennessee State game (Dec. 22). Funded by corporate sponsorships and approved by the ISU Board of Trustees, the high definition, LED Daktronics video board system includes a four-sided, center-hung video display and two ribbon boards. The center-hung structure features four 15-by-8-foot video panels positioned above a 49-by-3-foot video ring. Fastened to the concrete façade above the north and south baselines, the two ribbon boards each measure 141-by-3-feet. Redbird Productions will continue to operate the entire Redbird Arena video board system. Similar to the Hancock Stadium video board, the new Redbird Arena displays can be divided into segments and allow for live game-statistic integration.
DOUBLE THE FUN
With 14 points and 11 rebounds in Illinois State's win at Illinois-Chicago (Dec. 16), sophomore forward MiKyle McIntosh recorded his first-career double-double, which was also ISU's first double-double since DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell recorded 20 points and 12 rebounds versus Missouri State (Jan. 28, 2015). Not only was McIntosh's double-double ISU's first of the season, but his 11 rebounds marked the Redbirds' first double-digit rebounding effort of the year and the most since Deontae Hawkins collected 11 boards at Northern Iowa (Feb. 11, 2015). McIntosh has collected five or more rebounds in five-straight contests.
GO-TO GUY
Senior guard DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell is Illinois State's top offensive threat in 2015-16, reaching double figures in all 13 of ISU's games this year, and dating back to last season, 15-straight and 20 of the last 21. Akoon-Purcell has also scored 20 or more points three times this season and six times throughout his career since transferring to Illinois State as a junior. The Orlando, Florida, native is averaging a team-best 16.0 points per game, which ranks sixth in the Missouri Valley Conference. Akoon-Purcell has led ISU in scoring eight times this season.
HAWKINS BAROMETER
When sophomore forward Deontae Hawkins plays well, so too do the Redbirds this season. The Redbirds – now 6-7 overall – are 5-2 when Hawkins scores in double-digits. ISU is 6-3 when Hawkins nets eight or more points. Hawkins recorded season highs in points (16) and rebounds (nine) in ISU's victory over Murray State (Dec. 13).
SETTING THE STARTERS
Through Illinois State's first 13 games, the Redbirds have featured six different starting lineups. Deontae Hawkins is the only Redbird to have started every game. Paris Lee and DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell did not start in ISU's win over Tennessee State (Dec. 22), breaking streaks of 28 and 22 games, respectively.
COMEBACK KIDS
In three of Illinois State's six victories, the Redbirds have overcome second-half deficits of eight points or more: Nov. 16 vs. Morehead State (down by nine with 14:54 remaining); Dec. 13 vs. Murray State (down by eight with 19:18 remaining; Dec. 16 at Illinois-Chicago (down by eight with 14:20 remaining). In all three contests, ISU has come back to take the lead with more than five minutes remaining. The Redbirds are 6-0 when leading with five minutes to play and 0-7 when trailing at the five-minute mark.
LEE-DINGÂ IN STEALING
After 13 games, junior point guard Paris Lee ranks fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference with 1.8 steals averaged per contest. With two steals at Saint Joseph's (Dec. 19), Lee increased his career-total to 150 steals and is in sole possession of fifth place on the career steals list, ahead of Jamar Smiley (ISU's point guard when Dan Muller played). In 2014-15, Lee led the MVC and ranked No. 9 nationally in steals (2.4 per game), establishing ISU's single-season steals record (82). After 13 games, Lee has 21 steals.
TRENDING
Now 13 games into the season, some trends have emerged: ISU is 6-0 when allowing less than 70 points; ISU is 3-0 when scoring 70 or more points; ISU is 5-0 when its starters outscore the opponent's starters and 1-7 when ISU's starters do not outscore the opponent's; ISU is 4-1 when it outrebounds its opponent.
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