In the Great West's preseason poll, Chicago State was projected to finish tied for fifth out of six teams, along with Houston Baptist, as voted by the league's head coaches.
FOUR SCORE AND ...
Illinois State had four players reach double-digit scoring in Sunday's win over Bethune-Cookman, which marked the third time this season the Redbirds have accomplished that feat. Last season, the Redbirds had four players reach double-digits four times over a 31-game schedule.
SHARE AND SHARE ALIKE
In Sunday's game against Bethune-Cookman not only did the Redbirds collect season-best 23 assists, but ISU had four different players with at least four assists apiece. Nic Moore led the charge with seven dimes, while Jon Ekey tied his career-best with five. Anthony Cousin and Tyler Brown each added four apiece.
DOUBLE TRIPLE
For the second time this season, and the second time in the last three games, Illinois State dropped in 10 three-point field goals. This feat already equals the Redbirds' number of double-digit three-point games from last season.
SCORCHING THE NETS
Illinois State's shooting performance against Bethune-Cookman was the greatest team effort by any Redbird squad in the 24-year history of Redbird Arena. ISU shot 27-for-42 from the floor for a 64.3 shooting percentage, which topped its 63.9 percent effort against Missouri State on Jan. 6, 1993. Coincidently, the Bears still own the overall arena mark at 65.8 percent, which Missouri State set on Jan. 15, 2007.
EKEY DOUBLES DOWN
Last season, sophomore Jon Ekey posted two double-digit scoring efforts throughout the whole season. Already this year, Ekey has collected five double-figure performances and is currently riding a five-game streak in which he has scored 10 or more points in each of the games.
HOME SWEET HOME
Illinois State enters its 24th season of basketball action on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena. Under head coach Tim Jankovich, the Redbirds are 57-14 (.802) when playing at home. ISU owns a 241-90 (.728) all-time record on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena.
FEELING RIGHT AT HOME
John Wilkins hails from France, but he felt right at home in Mexico. After firing in a career-best 21 points in the victory over Rutgers, Wilkins also grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds against the Scarlet Knights and posted his first career double-double. In the two games in Cancun, Wilkins averaged a team-best 15.5 points and a team-high 8.5 rebounds per game.
CARMICHAEL RETURNS
After being held to back-to-back single digit games, the first of this season, junior Jackie Carmichael erupted with 17 points on 5-for-8 shooting against Illinois to lead the Redbirds in scoring. He also led the Redbirds in scoring against Bethune-Cookman with 21 points, on 9-for-11 shooting. These back-to-back efforts marked his best scoring outputs of the season.
JUST THE HALF OF IT
The fate of Illinois State's basketball team can pretty much be decided by only 20 minutes of play. In the Tim Jankovich-era, the Redbirds boast a 64-10 (.865) mark when leading at the half. In addition, Illinois State owns a 78-7 mark (.918) under Jankovich when the team is leading with five minutes remaining in regulation.
MAKING THE MOST OF IT
Of the six players who have been a part of the starting lineup this season, Jackie Carmichael is averaging the fewest minutes per game at 22.3. However, prorated over 40 minutes, Carmichael would lead the team in scoring with 23.0 points per contest and 13.4 rebounds per game.
DON'T LET THE NAME FOOL YOU
Illinois State has had six different players account for this season's starting lineup, yet none of them are from the state of Illinois. The Redbirds have started players from Kansas (Jackie Carmichael), Missouri (Jon Ekey), Alaska (Anthony Cousin), Indiana (Nic Moore), Kentucky (Tyler Brown) and France (John Wilkins).
TWENTY SOMETHING
ISU has five players on the roster who have scored at least 20 points in an NCAA Division I game. Jackie Carmichael has five 20-point efforts in his career, including one this season, while Anthony Cousin, John Wilkins and Jon Ekey have each posted one 20-point game. Trey Blue had a 20-point effort while playing at Fordham.
'TIS THE SEASON FOR GIVING
In the last two games, Illinois State has converted 46 field goals combined and 39 of those were the result of a pass - or 84.8 percent of them. On the season, ISU has recorded assists on 90 of its 125 field goal makes, meaning 72 percent of the Redbirds' made baskets are the direct result of a timely pass.
DOWNTOWN Tyler Brown
Junior college transfer Tyler Brown became the first Redbird in over a year to sink five three-pointers in a game, when he posted a 5-for-10 effort from beyond the arc against Lipscomb and finished with 19 points. Since the Lipscomb game, Brown has made at least two three-pointers in each of the last four games, including a 4-for-4 effort against Bethune-Cookman.
DRAINING THE THREE
The Redbirds got off to a slow start converting 32.5 percent of their three-point tries in the first two games. But over the last four, ISU has made 48.7 percent of its shots from beyond the arc. As a result, the Redbirds are shooting 43.1 percent on the season from three, which if this pace continues would be the fourth-best team effort in school history.
APPLYING THE PRESSURE
Through the first five games this season, Illinois State has shown an aggressive offensive style. The Redbirds are averaging 23.5 free throw attempts per game this season, while last year, the Redbirds only averaged 17.3 per contest.
SCORING FROM SEVEN
Already this season, Illinois State has gotten double-digit scoring games from seven different players: Jon Ekey (5), Nic Moore (4), John Wilkins (3), Tyler Brown (3), Jackie Carmichael (4), Anthony Cousin (1) and Johnny Hill (1). Also, in the six games, the Redbirds have had four different top scorers.
370-STRAIGHT GAMES WITH A TREY
Illinois State enters the Chicago State game with at least one made three in 370-straight games. The last time ISU didn't sink a trey was an 82-43 loss at Creighton, Dec. 12, 1999.
COUSIN CIRCLES
Heading into the Illinois game, junior Anthony Cousin had totaled nine assists and 14 turnoves on the season for a 0.64 assist-to-turnover ratio. However, after an eight assist effort against the Fighting Illini without a single turnover, and four more assists against Bethune-Cookman, again without a turnover - Cousin now sports a 1.5 assist-to-turnover ratio.
THE GREAT WHITE NORTH
Illinois State got a jump on the 2011-12 season with a four-game tour to Canada in August. The Redbirds posted a 2-2 mark, while facing off against collegiate programs in Canada, as well as professional all-star teams. In addition to the four games, the Redbirds were also granted, per NCAA rules, 10 days of practice leading up to the trip.
THE SWAT TEAM
Last season, Illinois State's Jon Ekey and Jackie Carmichael became the first set of Missouri Valley Conference teammates to finish the regular-season ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in blocked shots since the 1986-87 season. Ekey finished the year with 52 swats (1.7 bpg.), while Carmichael added 36 rejections (1.2 bpg.). Bradley's Donald Powell and Luke Jackson were the last pair of teammates to finish in the top-2 for blocked shots. Ekey also became the second Redbird to lead the Valley in blocked shots, joining Mike VandeGarde, who led the league with 1.52 blocks per game during the 1991-92 season. The duo has combined for 13 blocked shots in their first six games this season.
THE RIGHT HALF IS BACK
Even though the Redbirds only return six players from last season's team, they must be the right guys. The six returning players accounted for 52.7 percent of the scoring last season, and five of the players were among the team's top-seven scorers.
THE NEXT BEST THING
Illinois State has a pair of players this season who were runner-up for Mr. Basketball in their respective home state. Junior Anthony Cousin was runner-up for Mr. Basketball in Alaska in 2008, while in 2011, Nic Moore was runner-up for Mr. Basketball in Indiana.
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 49-10 record (.831) in his five seasons. When ISU opponent's score less than 70 points, the Redbirds are 74-27 (.733) during that span.
TWO GUARDS SIGN FOR 2012-13 SEASON
North Chicago High School point guard Aaron Simpson and Anthony Beane Jr., a product of Normal Community High School and the son of Illinois State assistant basketball coach Anthony Beane Sr., will continue their collegiate and basketball careers at Illinois State, after each signed National Letters of Intent (NLI) during the NCAA early signing period. Last season, Simpson averaged 22.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game, while sinking 71 three-point field goals. The 5-foot-11, 175-pound senior also led North Chicago to a fourth-place finish at the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Class 3A State Tournament. Beane, who was named the 2011 Big 12 Conference Player of the Year, started the last two seasons at NCHS and averaged 14.3 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game last year. He led the Ironmen to a fourth-place finish at the IHSA Class 4A State Tournament.
