NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State hosts 2015 National Invitation Tournament (NIT) qualifier Murray State in the second year of a home-and-home series, Sunday, Dec. 13 at 3 p.m. on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena. The Racers return one starter from the 2014-15 team which won the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title and advanced to the NIT quarterfinals. Sunday's game is presented by Wells Fargo.
MURRAY STATE AT ILLINOIS STATE • SUNDAY, DEC. 13, 2015 • 2 p.m.
THE SERIES:
Sunday's game marks the third meeting between Illinois State and Murray State. The Racers lead the all-time series, 2-0, with both contests previously taking place in Murray, Kentucky. ISU lost the first meeting, 85-74, Dec. 11, 1971, and the Redbirds fell last season at MSU, 89-77, Dec. 20, 2014. Head coach Dan Muller is 0-1 versus Murray State, and the Racers and Redbirds have never before met in Normal, Illinois.
THE COACHES:
Illinois State: Dan Muller (Illinois State, 1998) is in his fourth season as the head coach at Illinois State (61-50). Muller is the first coach in ISU history to beat three Top-25 teams in his first three seasons.
Murray State: Matt McMahon (Appalachian State, 2000) is in his first season as the head coach at Murray State (5-4). McMahon was previously an assistant coach at MSU for four seasons, helping MSU to a pair of OVC titles.
ABOUT ILLINOIS STATE:
Picked to finish fourth 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) ... played the top-two nationally-ranked teams in a one-week span (L, 77-66 vs. No. 2 Maryland Nov. 24; L, 75-63 at No. 1 Kentucky, Nov. 30).
ABOUT MURRAY STATE:
Picked to finish second overall and win the Ohio Valley Conference West Division ... return one starter (Jeffery Moss - All-OVC Preseason selection) and four of nine letterwinners from last year's team, which posted a 29-6 overall record and won the OVC regular-season title with a 16-0 league record ... fell by one point to Belmont in the 2015 OVC Tournament Championship game ... earned an NIT bid and advanced to the quarterfinals.
LAST TIME OUT (L, 74-61 - DEC. 5, 2015 VS. UAB)
UAB manufactured a 26-4 run midway through the second half and shot 57 percent after the break to secure a 74-61 victory over the Illinois State men's basketball team on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena. ISU led for the first 26 minutes of the game, but shot 36 percent from the field and connected on five of 32 three-point attempts. The 32 attempts was a season-high for ISU. DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell endured a 3-for-12 shooting performance in the first half, but bounced back to finish 8-for-20 for the game with a team-high 18 points. Akoon-Purcell also collected a team-best eight rebounds.
SUCCESS AGAINST THE OVC
Illinois State holds a 101-54 record against current members of the Ohio Valley Conference, and head coach Dan Muller is 5-1 versus the OVC after earning a 67-66 home-opening victory over Morehead State Nov. 16. Muller's other games against OVC foes include: an 83-57 victory against Austin Peay (Dec. 22, 2012), a 64-58 win over Tennessee State (Jan. 19, 2013), a 77-67 victory versus Morehead State (March 19, 2014) in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational (CBI), a 64-54 win over UT Martin (Dec. 17, 2014), and an 89-77 loss at Murray State (Dec. 20, 2014). ISU had won 32-straight games against members of the OVC prior to last season's setback to the Racers. The Redbirds are 0-2 versus MSU.
THE TEST CONTINUES
Although final exams are finished, the Redbird men's basketball team continues to be tested by quality non-conference opponents. Sunday's game against Murray State marks ISU's third-consecutive opponent which won its respective regular-season conference title and played in the 2015 postseason (Nov. 30 at Kentucky - NCAA Final Four; Dec. 5 vs. UAB - NCAA third round; Dec. 13 vs. Murray State - NIT third round). Kentucky and UAB were also picked to win their respective conferences in 2015-16, while Murray State was picked to win the Ohio Valley Conference West Division and finish second overall. Four 2015 NCAA Tournament teams (San Diego State, Maryland, Kentucky, UAB) and a National Invitation Tournament (NIT) qualifier (Murray State) have highlighted ISU's challenging non-conference schedule.
GO-TO GUY
Senior guard DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell has emerged as Illinois State's top offensive threat in 2015-16, reaching double figures in all nine of ISU's games this year, and dating back to last season, 11-straight and 16 of the last 17. Akoon-Purcell has also scored 20 or more points three times this season and six times throughout his career since transferring to Illinois State for his junior year. The Orlando, Florida, native is averaging a team-best 16.8 points per game, which ranks sixth in the Missouri Valley Conference. Akoon-Purcell has led ISU in scoring six times this season.
STARTER SUCCESS
Illinois State is 3-0 when the Redbird starters outscore their opponent's starters. Conversely, ISU is 0-6 when the opposing team's starters outscore ISU's.
SETTING THE STARTERS
Through Illinois State's first nine games, the Redbirds have featured five different starting lineups. Paris Lee and DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell have started every game, while MiKyle McIntosh has started all but one. He missed the Nov. 27 contest against Quincy with a concussion. Meanwhile, Nick Banyard (two games), Quintin Brewer (one game), Roland Griffin (one game), Justin McCloud (one game) and Tony Wills (five games) have also appeared in the starting lineup this season.
RACE TO THE HALF
In eight of ISU's nine games this season, whoever is leading at halftime is also leading at the final horn. The Redbirds have trailed at the half in five of nine games this year and are 0-5 when trailing and 3-1 when leading. ISU is also 3-0 when leading with five minutes left and 0-6 when trailing with five minutes left.
COMPARING HALVES
Illinois State holds a -2.6 scoring margin and a -0.6 rebounding margin in cumulative first halves this season. Comparatively, ISU has a -2.7 scoring margin and a -3.6 rebounding margin in second halves.Â
LEE-DING IN STEALING
After nine games, junior point guard Paris Lee leads the Missouri Valley Conference with 1.8 steals averaged per contest. With one steal versus UAB (Dec. 5), Lee increased his career-total to 145 steals and is in sole possession of fifth place on the career steals list, ahead of Jamar Smiley (ISU's point guard when head coach 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 nine games, Lee has 16 steals.
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