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Illinois State University Athletics

Illinois State Begins Two-Game Homestand; Opens with UNI

Jan. 11, 2011

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THE GAME
Illinois State can make big strides on improving its 0-5 Valley start with three of its next four games at home. The Redbirds are still looking for their first league victory and are riding a five-game losing skid. But in order to stop that streak, ISU will have to halt its five-game drought against Northern Iowa. UNI enters the game 1-5 on the road this season.

THE SERIES
This is the 58th meeting between the two schools. Illinois State leads the all-time series, 34-23, but Northern Iowa has won each of the last five meetings. ISU's last win in the series was a 56-42 victory in St. Louis at the Valley Tournament on March 8, 2008.

THE COACHES
Illinois State: Tim Jankovich (Kansas State, 1982) is 79-39 (.669) in his fourth season with the Redbirds and 182-110 (.623) in his 10th season as a head coach. At Illinois State, Jankovich is 40-27 (.597) against teams from the Missouri Valley Conference, 39-12 versus non-conference opponents, 51-10 at home, 21-23 on the road, 7-5 on a neutral court and 2-6 against Northern Iowa. Northern Iowa: Ben Jacobson (North Dakota, 1994) is in his fifth season at Northern Iowa, his only head coaching position. With the Panthers, Jacobson owns a 100-49 (.671) record. Prior to leading UNI, Jacobson served as an assistant coach with the Panthers under current Creighton head coach Greg McDermott and again at North Dakota State.

THE PROGRAM

  • Illinois State is in its 41st season as a NCAA Division I program, and during that time, the Redbirds have only had seven losing seasons.
  • The Redbirds have made 17 postseason appearances, including the last three seasons with an NIT berth.
  • In the previous three seasons, Illinois State is the only Valley school to post at least 20 regular-season wins in each campaign.
  • Jankovich is the first coach in league history to lead his team to back-to-back Valley Tournament title games in his first two seasons.

    THE FACT
    Illinois State's current five-game losing streak is the longest for the Redbirds in the Tim Jankovich era. It is the longest losing skid by the 'Birds since the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons. ISU ended the 2005-06 campaign with a four-game losing streak and dropped its first two games in 2006-07 for a six-game drought.

    ABOUT NORTHERN IOWA

  • Northern Iowa is located in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and has an enrollment of 13,201. The Panthers are members of the Missouri Valley Conference. UNI was projected to finish third in the league's preseason poll, as conducted by the conference's head coaches, sports information directors and media members. Northern Iowa received 289 votes, including three first-place tallies.
  • The Panthers return two starters from a team which won the Valley regular-season and tournament titles, along with a Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA Tournament, after knocking off UNLV (69-66) and No. 1-seeded Kansas (69-67). UNI fell to then-No. 12 Michigan State, 59-52, and finished the season with a 30-5 overall record.
  • Senior Kwadzo Ahelegbe was named to the Valley's All-Preseason Team and leads the team with 11.9 points per game, while also ranking first on the squad in assists (39).
  • UNI has won back-to-back Missouri Valley Conference regular-season and State Farm MVC Tournament titles, and the Panthers are the only Valley school to have played in five of the last seven NCAA Tournaments.
  • Senior Lucas O'Rear missed Sunday's game against Bradley due to a team suspension.
  • Of UNI's nine-man rotation (averaging 10 or more minutes played per game), five players are averaging five or more points per contest.

    NOW BOARDING
    Senior Tony Lewis has taken the lead rebounding role for the Redbirds this season. He is averaging 6.8 boards per game, which ranks fifth in the Valley. He is also the league-leader in offensive caroms with 2.7 per game, which is amazing since he is only averaging 17.9 minutes played per game. Lewis has had six games this season with eight or more rebounds.

    50/50 REALLY IS 50/50
    This season, Illinois State has shot over 50 percent from the field in a game four times. The first two times (SIU Edwardsville and South Dakota) resulted in victories, but the last two 50-percent efforts have ended in defeat (Missouri State and Southern Illinois).

    STUMBLING START
    For the first time since the 2003-04 season, Illinois State has started the Missouri Valley Conference season with an 0-5 mark. This is the third time the Redbirds have began Valley play with an 0-5 start (1999-2000 and 2003-04), while the worst start in school history occurred in 2002-03 when ISU lost its first eight MVC games.

    HOME SWEET HOME?
    Illinois State is in its 23rd season of basketball action on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena. Under head coach Tim Jankovich, the Redbirds are 51-10 (.836) when playing at home. ISU owns a 235-86 (.7362) all-time record on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena. However, for the first time in the Tim Jankovich-era, Illinois State has lost back-to-back home games. The Redbirds are trying to avoid their first three-game home losing streak since the end of the 2004-05 campaign.

    TWENTY SOMETHING
    With Anthony Cousin's 23-point effort at Missouri State, the Redbirds now have five players on their roster who have scored at least 20 points in an NCAA Division I game, including four this season. Jackie Carmichael has three 20-point efforts in his career and two this season, while Cousin, Justin Clark and Jon Ekey have each posted one 20-point game this season. Trey Blue had a 20-point effort with Fordham.

    THERE IS NO 'D' IN VALLEY
    However, if the Redbirds are going to improve their conference standing they are going to have to put a 'D' in Valley. Through five league games, Illinois State opponents are shooting 48.4 percent from the field and 43.5 percent from beyond the arch. Redbird league foes are also averaging 69.2 points per game.

    IT ALL COMES DOWN TO SHOOTING
    In Illinois State's eight wins, the Redbirds are shooting 45.4 percent from the field (191-for-421) and 33.9 percent on threes (42-for-124). In the eight losses, ISU is shooting 41.2 percent from the floor (175-for-425) and 23.9 percent from beyond the arch (34-for-142).

    NOT GETTING ANY KICKS
    The Illinois State campus has historic Route 66 running through it, but this season the Redbird offense has had a tough time reaching 66. In fact, ISU hasn't reached 66 points in game in 12 contests this season, including 11 of the last 12 games.

    WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES
    The Redbirds are still winless in 2011, which is surprising considering Illinois State won 20 games during the 2010 calendar year. This is the latest ISU has gone into a new year without a win since the 2005-06 season (Jan. 14). The longest drought is January 29 during the 2002-03 season.

    FREEDOM OF CHOICES
    So far this season, Illinois State has had 10 different players post a double-digit scoring game. The Redbirds have had 39 double-figure performances to date on the campaign achieved by: Jackie Carmichael (10), Austin Hill (7), John Wilkins (5), Blake Mishler (4), Anthony Cousin (4), Tony Lewis (3), Trey Blue (2), Justin Clark (2), Jon Ekey (1) and Alex Rubin (1).

    THE POWER OF THREES
    The most obvious explanation for Illinois State's inconsistent start this season can be found with the team's shooting percentage. On the season, ISU is shooting 28.6 percent from three-point range, which would rank as the lowest single-season effort in school history, undercutting the 30.4 percentage during the 1990-91 campaign.

    ARCH MADNESS
    After the first two games of the season, Illinois State appeared to have a strong perimeter team with a combined 14-for-33 (.424) effort on threes. However, in the last 14 games, shooting from beyond the arch has dried up for the Redbirds. Illinois State has shot 62-for-233 (.266) and only John Wilkins (.381) is shooting over 37.5 percent during that span.

    THAT 70's SHOW
    ISU's success during the Tim Jankovich-era has been pretty much based on 70 points. When the Redbirds score 70 or more points, Illinois State owns a 44-10 record (.815) in his four seasons. When ISU opponent's score less than 70 points, the Redbirds are 70-18 (.795) during that span.

    OUI OUI
    Is French-born ISU sophomore John Wilkins starting to find his three-point shooting groove? Yes! In his first two games, Wilkins combined to score a total of six points, but in his last nine contests Wilkins is averaging 10.0 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, while shooting a combined 15-for-35 (.429) from three.

    FINDING THE RIGHT COMBO
    Already this season, the Redbirds have had more players earn a spot in the starting lineup than the team did all of last season. The Redbirds have had nine different players start for seven different starting five combinations. Illinois State started a new set of five at Southern Illinois with Anthony Cousin, Austin Hill, John Wilkins, Jon Ekey and Jackie Carmichael.

    BLOCK PARTY
    Illinois State's Jon Ekey (24) and Jackie Carmichael (21) are among the top-three shot blockers in the Missouri Valley Conference this season. With two of the top-three shot blockers in the conference, it is no surprise that the Redbirds rank among the league leaders in second-place with 4.0 blocks per game. At this pace, the Redbirds would have the third-best blocks per game average in school history.

    THESE 'BIRDS ARE YOUNG
    As the most inexperienced team in the Valley entering the season, the Illinois State roster had combined to play a total of 3,257 minutes for the Redbirds. Opening the season, the Redbirds had combined to play 10 Division I seasons, which ranked ISU No. 23, as one of the most inexperienced teams in the nation.

    CARMICHAEL FOR THE BLOCK
    Sophomore Jackie Carmichael ended his first season with the Redbirds as the most-prolific freshman shot blocker in Illinois State history. Carmichael swatted away 46 shots during the 2009-10 season, crushing the old mark of 36 set by Mike VandeGarde during his freshman campaign in 1990-91. With 67 career blocks, Carmichael ranks 10th for career blocked shots at ISU and he needs three more to surpass Dinma Odiakosa (69) for ninth place.

    ERR, EKEY FOR THE BLOCK?
    Jackie Carmichael's ISU freshman shot block record might be short lived, as freshman Jon Ekey has collected 24 blocked shots this season. The Valley leader in blocks per game (1.5) is on pace to finish with approximately 47 blocked shots on the season, which would not only be the freshman record, but would mark the fifth-best, single-season blocked shot total in Illinois State history.

    FEAR THE BEARD
    Sophomore Jackie Carmichael, a member of the 2010 Valley All-Freshman Team, will look to become only the second Redbird to earn first team all-league honors after being named to the all-freshman team. With Carmichael, the Redbirds have had seven players named to the Valley All-Freshman Team and only Osiris Eldridge went on to earn first-team all-league accolades (three times).

    349-STRAIGHT GAMES WITH A TREY
    Illinois State enters the game against Northern Iowa with at least one made three in 349-straight games. The last time ISU didn't sink a trey was an 82-43 loss at Creighton, Dec. 12, 1999.

    TWENTY, TWENTY, TWENTY, THEY'VE DONE IT AGAIN
    With the BracketBusters win over Morehead State last season, ISU posted its third-straight 20-win campaign, which hadn't happened in Normal, Ill., since the 1995-96, 1996-97 and 1997-98 seasons. It also became the 16th 20-win season for the Redbirds since the program became an NCAA Division I program prior to the 1970-71 season.

    A RETURN TO POSTSEASON
    Illinois State, which became an NCAA Division I program prior to the 1970-71 season, enjoyed postseason play for the 17th time last season. The Redbirds have qualified for the NCAA Tournament six times (1983, 1984, 1985, 1990, 1997 and 1998) and the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) 11 times (1977, 1978, 1980, 1987, 1988, 1995, 1996, 2001, 2008, 2009 and 2010).

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