Feb. 21, 2006
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About The Game:
Illinois State concludes its home schedule tomorrow and says farewell to four seniors - Dana Ford, Nedu Onyeuku, Neil Plank and Travis Wallace. The Redbirds have dropped six of their last seven, while Missouri State has won six of its last seven, including three straight.
Series History:
Tomorrow's game marks the 46th meeting in the series. The Redbirds own a 26-19 advantage in the series, but the Bears have won six of the last eight meetings.
Radio:
Dick Luedke, play-by-play; Mike Matthews, color; Bruce Evans, sideline (home only) and Jim Williams, studio host. Affiliates: WJBC (AM 1230/Bloomington), flagship; WBIG (AM 1280/Aurora), WJEZ (FM 98.9/Dwight), WZOE (AM 1490/Princeton) and WFMB (AM 1450/Springfield). All Redbird broadcasts, including Porter Moser's weekly call-in show, which generally airs each Thursday from 6:07-7 pm, depending on the schedule, can be heard via the Internet at GoRedbirds.com.
Television:
Tomorrow's game is available on KY3-TV in Springfield, Mo. The broadcast team consists of Don West (play-by-play) and Dan Lucy (color analysis).
The Coaches
Porter Moser (Creighton '90) owns a 90-82 (.523) career mark in his third season at Illinois State, including a 36-48 (.429) record with the Redbirds. Prior to guiding the `Birds, Moser served three seasons at Arkansas-Little Rock in his first head coaching position. Moser is assisted by Chris Jans, Daniyal Robinson and Brian Barone.
Barry Hinson (Oklahoma State `83) is in his seventh season at Missouri State. He owns a 126-88 (.589) record with the Bears and carries a 162-111 (.593) record in his nine seasons as a head coach. He is assisted by Troy Collier, Kyan Brown and Ben Miller.
About the Missouri State Bears
Missouri State, located in Springfield, Mo., was founded in 1905 and has an enrollment of 20,846.
The Bears return nine letterwinners, including three starters, from a team that finished 19-13 overall and finished fifth in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 10-8 mark.
Missouri State leads the league in scoring offense with 77.4 points per game, led by the conference's individual leader Blake Ahearn, who is posting 17.6 points per contest.
Ahearn also leads the Valley in free throw percentage, shooting 94.3 percent for the season with only six missed attempts.
The Bears offensive numbers are powered by their ability to shoot. MSU leads the Valley in field goal percentage (46.9) and three-point field goal percentage (38.0)
Dale Lamberth leads the Valley in 3-point shooting (48.1%).
Senior Salute
For the final home game, ISU will say farewell to its four seniors following tomorrow's game. The Redbird seniors include Dana Ford, Nedu Onyeuku, Neil Plank and Travis Wallace. The quartet, prior to Wednesday's game, accounts for 38.4 percent of ISU's minutes played, 39.2 percent of the scoring and 33.8 percent of the rebounds.
20-20 Vision
With the Redbirds only averaging 55.6 points per game, seeing an ISU player scoring 20-plus points in back-to-back games didn't seem likely. That is, until Roberto Fortes started heating up. Fortes has torched the net for 45 points in his last two games with 22 points in the overtime win against Drake and 23 tallies at Miami (Ohio). It marked the first time a player had posted back-to-back 20-point performances since Trey Guidry, who scored 30 at Creighton on Jan. 22, 2005 and 25 against Evansville on Jan. 25, 2005.
Roberto for Three ... It's Good
In the last two games, that has been a common phase for Dick Luedke during Redbird radio broadcasts. After all, junior college transfer Roberto Fortes has made 13 three-point field goals in the last two contests, while shooting 61.9 percent from beyond the arc (13-for-21). The 13 treys in two games is the most by a Redbird since Tarise Bryson posted 14 combined threes against Miami (Fla.) and Northeastern during the 1999-2000 season.
One-Man Wrecking Crew
Junior Roberto Fortes tallied 23 points in Illinois State's two-point loss at Miami (Ohio) on Saturday. Of the Redbirds' 49 points, Fortes scored 46.9 percent of his team's points. That percentage of scoring was the highest by a Redbird since Tarise Bryson tossed in 38 points in ISU's 90-79 NIT loss at Purdue, which was 48.1 percent of the Redbirds' point total.
Taking the Norm Out of Normal
With a 9-16 record, the Redbirds are in the midst of an aberration. ISU will likely have only its sixth losing season in the 35 years of being a Division I program. Unfortunately, four of those losing campaigns will have occurred in the last seven seasons.
Establishing a Fortes
It has taken a little longer than expected, but junior Roberto Fortes is starting to showcase his forte -- being able to score. Despite tossing in 22 points in ISU's first 21 games of the season, Fortes has put together back-to-back-to-back-to-back career nights with seven points at Drake, 11 tallies versus Bradley, 22 points at home against Drake and a new standard of 23 points at Miami (Ohio).
Dilligard Joins the Century Club
When it is all said and done Greg Dilligard will go down in history as one of the best defensive players to suit up for ISU. In his third season, Dilligard now ranks No. 4 in career blocked shots with 114, becoming only the fifth player to post 100 or more career blocks as a Redbird. He also has 52 blocks for the year, which is second best.
Setting a Defensive Standard
In addition to having their sights set on the school record for points allowed per game, the Redbirds are also in pursuit of the school record for defensive field goal percentage. Currently, ISU foes are shooting 39.8 percent from the field, while the school mark is 40.2 percent, which was set during the 1996-97 season. That defensive percentage also ranks as the season leader in the Valley.
The Redbird Shuffle
Through 25 games, the `Birds have courted 10 different starting line-ups this season. The total more than doubles that of last season, in which the `Birds had four different starting combinations. Of the 14 players on the roster, 11 have earned starting assignments and no combination has been used for more than seven games.
Dilly's Holding On
Greg Dilligard's season scoring average rests at 10.1 points per game. The scoring average, ranks No. 1 on the team, and ISU has never had its leading scorer average less than double figures for a season since becoming a Division I program in 1970-71.
197 Games With a Trey on the Board
ISU enters the game against Missouri State with at least one made three in 197 straight games. The last time ISU didn't sink a trey was an 82-43 loss at Creighton on Dec. 12, 1999.
Gone in 60 Points
It's not the sequel to Nicholas Cage's car thief film, but it has proven to be the recipe for success, or lack there of, for the Redbirds this season. The formula is easy to follow. Opponents score less than 60 points, the Redbirds are 9-5. ISU foes score 60 or more, the `Birds are 0-11. It's that simple.
D-Fence, D-Fence
This season ISU opponents are averaging 58.6 points per contest. If the Redbirds can maintain this effort, it would mark the first time that foes have been held below 66 points per game for three straight seasons since the 1985-86, 1984-85 and 1983-84 campaigns. Also, the 58.6 points allowed ranks as the lowest in school history.
Making the Grade
The Illinois State men's basketball team set a record GPA during the Fall 2005 semester by posting a collective 2.81 GPA, topping the old mark of 2.75. The athletic department as a whole also netted a new standard with a 2.93 GPA, while having a record 201 student-athletes named to the AFNI athletic honor roll.
Out of Africa ...
And into Redbird Arena for four Redbirds this season. Freshmen Dinma Odiakosa and Eric Vianney are from the continent, with Odiakosa coming from Nigeria and Vianney being from Cameroon. In addition, senior Nedu Onyeuku and junior Roberto Fortes were each born in Africa before their families moved to the United States. Onyeuku was born in Nigeria, while Fortes was born in Angola.
Prized Pupil Plank
Neil Plank added another academic honor on Feb. 9, when he was named to the 2006 ESPN the Magazine All-America® University District V Academic team. It marked the third time that Plank had been named to the district team, he claimed second team academic all-America honors in 2005 as well as being named the 2005 Prairie Farms/Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He carried a 3.93 grade point average as an undergraduate finance major and is currently pursuing his master's in business administration.
This Date in Redbird History
Feb. 22, 2003 - Unable to leave the Bloomington Airport the night before and the morning of, the Illinois State basketball team loads up in vans and cars to depart from Springfield, Ill. The Redbirds arrive at Marshall two-and-a-half hours before tip-off for a BracketBusters match-up and ISU lands its first road victory of the season 57-53. Gregg Alexander paces the `Birds with 21 points, including a 4-for-6 effort on treys. Illinois State owns a 5-5 record on this date during the Division I era.
