Bradley was projected to finish fifth in the Missouri Valley Conference Preseason Poll, as compiled by league coaches, media and sports information directors.
SUITS AND SNEAKERS
The Illinois State coaching staff will be wearing sneakers instead of dress shoes Saturday to demonstrate their support for the American Cancer Society and the fight against cancer.
VALLEY CHAMPS?
Sure, it's a little early to be talking about a conference championship. However, in the history of the conference, 17 teams have started a season 13-0 or better, including Illinois State's 14-0 start this season, and 14 of those teams went on to win the Valley championship. Only Bradley in 1951 and Indiana State in 1978 did not win the championship after starting the season with 13-plus wins.
WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE
The Redbirds are well aware that one of the keys to claiming the Missouri Valley Conference crown is to protect Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena. Illinois State has done just that to date, by boasting a perfect 11-0 record at home this season, including a 5-0 mark in the Valley.
IN-SEASON MEDIA CONFERENCES
ISU Athletics Media Relations will host seven in-season media conferences during the 2008-09 season. Each conference will feature head coach Tim Jankovich and a member of the ISU basketball team. The media conferences will start at 1 p.m., and be held in the Redbird Arena Media Room, which is just off the southwest loading dock. The remaining scheduled dates are: Feb. 23 and March 3.
VALLEY TELECONFERENCES
Teleconferences with The Valley head coaches will be conducted each Tuesday throughout the season. The first teleconference is slated for Dec. 16, followed by every Tuesday from Jan. 6 to March 3. The conferences begin at 10 a.m. CT. To participate in the conference calls, call 913.981.5517. Illinois State head coach Tim Jankovich will participate at 10:30 a.m.
HOME SWEET HOME
Illinois State is in its 21st season of basketball action on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena. In the Tim Jankovich-era, the Redbirds have posted a 27-2 (.931) mark at home. Overall, ISU owns a 211-78 all-time record on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena, and boasts a 73-percent winning percentage.
THIRTYSOMETHING
Each of Illinois State's five starters rank among the top-30 in the Missouri Valley Conference for scoring. The Redbirds are the only team to place five players in the top-30.
HOME COOKING
The Redbird offense has definitely been cooking this season during ISU home games. In the five league games played on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena, Illinois State is averaging a 15-point margin of victory, while scoring 73.8 points per game. The Redbirds are shooting 46.4 percent from the field and 46.3 percent on three-pointers.
SWEET 16
It was 16 years ago that Redbird Arena had three sellouts in the same season (1991-92 - Southern Illinois, Indiana State and Bradley). After today that feat will be equalled. The Redbirds will face Bradley in front of the third sold out crowd this season at Redbird Arena. Illinois State played to a capacity crowd against Creighton (Jan. 3), Southern Illinois (Jan. 24) and today.
HOLLOWAY HEATING UP
After missing his first six three-point attempts following the celebration of the new year, Emmanuel Holloway has sank 5-of-9 treys (.556) heading into today's game. Holloway is now shooting 39 percent this season beyond the arc and ranks fourth on the team with 30 made threes.
TINY BUBBLES
Osiris Eldridge only scored four points in Wednesday's loss at Northern Iowa, but it was enough to surpass Redbird legend Bubbles Hawkins in the all-time career scoring list in Illinois State history. Eldridge now ranks No. 30 all-time with 1,146 career points.
MAKING THE MOST OF IT
Champ Oguchi transferred to Illinois State with only one year of eligibility remaining. The senior from Houston has been making the most of his final year. Oguchi has scored 319 points this season in 21 games, which is his career best for points in a season. Oguchi's best scoring season at Oregon was the 2005-06 season, when he scored 306 points in 32 games played.
LETHAL WEAPON 4
The Redbirds have four starters that are shooting 38.9 percent or better from three-point land. Lloyd Phillips leads Illinois State by shooting at a 42.4-percent clip from three and Champ Oguchi is second with a 39.3-percent accuracy on triples. Emmanuel Holloway is shooting 39 percent and Osiris Eldridge is shooting at 38.9 percent.
IT IS A NEW YEAR
Illinois State notched a 13-0 record this season in 2008, but has posted a 4-4 mark in the new year.
FOUR SCORE AND ...
The Redbirds win. With four players scoring double-digits in the win over Southern Illinois, it marked the 12th time this season that the Redbirds have had four players score in double-figures. In those 12 games, the Redbirds boast an 11-1 record. In addition, ISU has had at least three players score in double-digits in 17-straight games.
THE TRADITION CONTINUES
With at least 10 games remaining in the season, Illinois State has secured itself of another winning season in men's basketball. In the 38 years of being an NCAA Division I program, the Redbirds have had 31 winning seasons.
TAKING ADVANTAGE OF OTHER'S MISTAKES
On the season, Illinois State has accumulated 151 steals and forced 285 turnovers by its opponents and the Redbirds are cashing in. Through 21 games, ISU has scored 347 points off turnovers or 16.5 points per game. Scoring off opponent turnovers has accounted for 22.8 percent of the Redbirds' offense this season.
LORDY, LORDY LOOKS WHO'S GOT 40
With the win over Drake earlier in the season, Illinois State head coach Tim Jankovich captured his 40th victory with the Redbirds. As a result, Jankovich became the fastest ISU men's basketball coach to win 40 games for the Redbirds. Jankovich won his 40th game in 52 contests, while former head coach Gene Smithson won his 40th game at ISU in his 53rd try. Jankovich now boasts a 42-14 record at ISU.
THE LION'S SHARE
Illinois State's primary starting five is logging the lion's share of the minutes this season. Through 21 games, the Redbird starting five of Osiris Eldridge (34.5), Lloyd Phillips (32.2), Champ Oguchi (31.2), Emmanuel Holloway (29.0) and Dinma Odiakosa (25.3) have accounted for 75.3 percent of the team's minutes. As a result, as a group, the Redbird starters are averaging 30.5 minutes per game.
BOARDED UP
Against Southern Illinois, Illinois State grabbed 11 offensive rebounds. It marked the 13th game this season where the Redbirds have pulled down double-digit offensive rebounds. On the season, ISU is averaging 11 offensive rebounds per game. Junior Dinma Odiakosa leads the team with 63 offensive boards.
THE O-ZONE
In the last eight games, junior Dinma Odiakosa has really been accurate from the field. It could be said that he's "in the zone." Odiakosa is shooting 33-for-48 (.688) from the field during that span, and as a result, he currently leads the Valley in field goal percentage for the season at 61.4 percent.
AN ALL-AROUND GAME
This season, Osiris Eldridge eclipsed a trio of milestones with 1,000 career points, 400 career rebounds and 100 career steals. In doing so, Eldridge became the seventh Redbird all-time to accomplish the feat, joining Tony Holifield, Rickie Johnson, Rick Lamb, Dan Muller, Mike VandeGarde and LeRoy Watkins.
20/20
For the first time since joining the Missouri Valley Conference in 1982, Illinois State posted back-to-back 20-plus-point wins over league foes. ISU downed Evansville, 80-50, before topping Creighton, 86-64.
287-STRAIGHT GAMES WITH A TREY
After sinking five three-pointers at Northern Iowa, Illinois State enters today's game against Bradley with at least one made three in 287-straight games. The last time ISU didn't sink a trey was an 82-43 loss at Creighton Dec. 12, 1999.
LET THE RECORD SHOW
Illinois State began the season with a 14-0 record, the best start in school history. The previous mark was set in 1977-78, when the Redbirds won their first 12 games to open the campaign. Prior to ISU's first loss, the Redbirds were one of only four teams in all of NCAA Division I basketball to be unbeaten.
CREATING THE SECOND CHANCE
Junior Dinma Odiakosa is all about giving his teammates a second chance, and as a result, is leading the team with 63 offensive rebounds. Odiakosa has accumulated 154 offensive rebounds in his three seasons at Illinois State and his offensive boards have accounted for 40.2 percent of his total rebounds. This year, Odiakosa leads the Redbirds in total rebounding with 7.3 boards per game.
JUST IMAGINE ...
If the three-point line was not moved back a foot. Through 21 games, the Redbirds are averaging a would-be school-record 9.0 made three-pointers per game. Also, ISU is shooting 38.9 percent from beyond the arc this season, after shooting 37.2 percent last year.
CRASHING THE BOARDS
Despite starting a four-guard lineup in 20-of-21 games, Illinois State has won the rebounding battle in 16 games this season and tied in one. On the year, the Redbirds own a +4.8 rebounding margin.
RAINING THREES
ISU connected on 12 three-point baskets against Drake five games ago and has collected double-digit made threes eight times this season, which is three more than the entire season last year.
JOINING THE CLUB
With his 18 points at Central Michigan, Osiris Eldridge became the 39th member of ISU's 1,000-point club. Eldridge, who is the first addition to the 1,000-point club since 2005, currently has 1,142 career points.
STATUE OF ASPIRATIONS
During halftime of Illinois State's game against Southern Illinois (Jan. 24), the Redbird Athletics Department unveiled plans to have a statue erected to honor the nation's first African-American NCAA Division I head basketball coach, Will Robinson, and his most famous player, Doug Collins, a three-time All-American at Illinois State. The piece, which will be installed at the north entrance of Redbird Arena sometime in the summer 2009, is being sculpted by Lou Cella, a 1985 graduate of ISU. Robinson was named the Redbirds' head coach Feb. 27, 1970, and posted a 78-51 seasons in five seasons. He passed away at the age of 96, April 28, 2008.
RARE COMPANY
After being named the Valley's Preseason Player of the Year, junior Osiris Eldridge appears to have an inside track to join a select group. Eldridge won the conference's freshman of the year award in 2007. If he ends his Illinois State career with the Larry Bird MVC Player of the Year Award, which he finished runner-up for last season, Eldridge would become only the second player in league history to win both the freshman of the year and player of the year award, joining Southern Illinois' Ashraf Amaya.
JANKOVICH'S ENCORE
Head coach Tim Jankovich's first season at Illinois State was a memorable one, not only for him, but for the program. With a 25-10 record, Jankovich guided the Redbirds to a school-record-tying 25 wins and he posted the most single-season wins for a first-year coach in program history. Currently he holds a 75.0 percent winning percentage (42-14) at Illinois State, which ranks fourth on the all-time coaching ledger in ISU's 111-year history.
SIXTH CENTURY
In the history of the world, the sixth century was deemed as the start of the dark ages. However in Redbird basketball, players who score their 100th point of the season through the first six games has been anything but dark. ISU's Champ Oguchi scored 104 points through the first six games for the Redbirds. The last player at ISU to surpass the 100-point plateau through six games was Lorenzo Gordon in the 2004-05 season. The 2005 Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Year had 107 points after six games.
WHAT'S A UTE?
Illinois State will find out first hand next season, when the Redbirds travel to Utah for the first-ever meeting between the two schools, Dec. 19, 2009, as part of the inaugural Missouri Valley-Mountain West Challenge Series. The game between ISU and Utah will be one of nine matchups between the two leagues.
FOUR SIGN FOR 2009 CLASS
Illinois State head coach Tim Jankovich announced the signing of four incoming freshmen during the early signing period. The Redbirds added Justin Clark (guard, 6-4, 176) and Jon Ekey (forward, 6-7, 190), teammates from Chrisman High School in Independence, Mo. ISU also added a pair of Chicago natives with Terrance Johnson (guard, 6-0, 170) from North Lawndale College Prep and Zeke Upshaw (guard, 6-6, 195) of University High School.
EIGHT IS ENOUGH
At least that's what Houston Baptist was saying, as the Redbirds had eight players score in double-figures. The eight double-digit scorers is the most by Illinois State in a single-game in the NCAA Division I-era (1970-present). Osiris Eldridge led the way with 16 points, while Emmanuel Holloway (15), Landon Shipley (14), Brandon Sampay (12), Lloyd Phillips (11), Champ Oguchi (11), Dinma Odiakosa (11) and Brandon Holtz (11) each scored 10 or more points in the game.
