NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State men's basketball team will still host Southern Illinois Wednesday, Feb. 24 at 6 p.m., as scheduled, despite winter weather in the area. ISU's three seniors – DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell, Quintin Brewer and Justin McCloud – will play their final regular-season game on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena Wednesday night. ISU enters the contest tied for second in the MVC with two games remaining. A win would ensure ISU a two or three seed in the MVC Tournament, while a loss would leave open the possibility of a four or five seed.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS AT ILLINOIS STATE • WEDNESDAY, FEB. 24, 2016 • 6 P.M.
THE SERIES:
Wednesday's game marks the 149th meeting between Illinois State and Southern Illinois. The Salukis lead the all-time series, 78-70. Versus Southern Illinois, Illinois State is 47-22 in Normal, Illinois, and 16-11 on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena. Dan Muller is 4-3 versus the Salukis after ISU fell, 81-78, at SIU this season (Jan. 12). The Redbirds have won eight-straight games against the Salukis at home.
THE COACHES:
Illinois State: Dan Muller (Illinois State, 1998) is in his fourth season as the head coach at Illinois State (75-56). Muller is the first Redbird coach to beat four Top-25 teams in his first four seasons. He led ISU to the 2015 NIT.
Southern Illinois: Barry Hinson (Oklahoma State, 1983) is in his fourth season as the head coach at Southern Illinois (61-65). Hinson is the league's winningest active coach in the MVC with 266 overall victories.
ABOUT ILLINOIS STATE:
Picked to finish fourth (out of 10 teams) 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) ... had a five-game winning streak snapped at UNI (Feb. 20) ... tied for second place in the league after winning seven of the last nine games.
ABOUT SOUTHERN ILLINOIS:
Picked to finish ninth (out of 10 teams) in the Missouri Valley Conference ... return three of five starters and six of 12 letterwinners from last year's team, which recorded a 12-21 overall record and a 4-14 MVC mark (ninth place) ... feature MVC preseason honorable mention selection Anthony Beane who is averaging a team-best 20.0 points and 4.0 rebounds per game ... in sole possession of fourth in the league standings and can finish second through fifth.
SENIOR NIGHT
Illinois State's three senior players – DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell, Quintin Brewer and Justin McCloud – along with senior managers KJ Conklin and John Putryski, will each be recognized in a pregame ceremony Wednesday at approximately 5:45 p.m. Fans are encouraged to be seated by 5:40 p.m. So far this season, the seniors have accounted for 30.5 percent of ISU's scoring and 29.1 percent of rebounding.
UPWARD TREND
Now 11-5 in MVC play, the Redbirds have achieved their best league record through 16 games since also going 11-5 in 2008-09. Illinois State is now aiming for 12 or more MVC wins for the 13th time in program history and the first time since going 13-5 in 2007-08. A victory Wednesday over Southern Illinois would mark head coach Dan Muller's most MVC regular-season wins, passing his previous high of 11 achieved in 2014-15. ISU has now earned 11 or more MVC wins 17 times out of 34 seasons, including this year.
HOME STRETCH
With two regular season games remaining, Illinois State enter Wednesday's contest versus Southern Illinois tied for second place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings with Evansville (both teams started the week 11-5 in MVC play). The Redbirds can still finish anywhere from second place to fifth. Regular-season standings are the determining factor in setting first-round pairings for the MVC Tournament. For ties:
Two-way Ties
1. Records in head-to-head competition are compared, with the higher seed going to the team that has won the most games against the other.
2. If head-to-head competition does not break the tie, the deadlock will be broken using the overall adjusted RPI, as published in The RPI Report on the morning after the final regular-season MVC game. The team with the better overall adjusted RPI will receive the higher seed. ISU's RPI is: 111 (fourth in the league).
Multiple Ties
1. If three or more teams are tied, regular-season competition among the tied schools shall be pooled into a "mini round-robin." Teams shall be ranked according to their position in such a round- robin.
2. If head-to-head competition does not break the tie, the deadlock will be broken using the overall adjusted RPI, as published in The RPI Report on the morning after the final regular-season MVC game. The teams will be seeded in order of their overall adjusted RPI.
THREES FALL
Illinois State averaged six 3-pointers per game to rank seventh in the Missouri Valley Conference at the end of non-conference play. Conversely, in MVC games, ISU leads the league, averaging 8.5 trifectas. When factoring in all regular-season games, including non-conference and conference, Illinois State is up to third in the league with 7.4 three-balls per contest. ISU has shot a league-best 37.4 percent from three-point range in MVC games this season compared to 29.7 percent versus non-conference foes.
PAST 10
The Redbirds saw their season-best five-game winning streak snapped in a loss at Northern Iowa (Feb. 20). However, Illinois State is still 8-2 through its last 10 games, with the Redbirds holding a +7.8 scoring margin and a +4.8 rebounding margin. Despite being limited to three points at UNI, MiKyle McIntosh has led ISU with 12.8 points and 5.4 rebounds per contest during the 10-game stretch.
SETTING THE STARTERS
Illinois State has featured the same starting lineup of Paris Lee, Tony Wills, DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell, MiKyle McIntosh and Deontae Hawkins in 11-straight games, earning a 7-3 record.
CONSISTENT LEADER
Junior point guard Paris Lee has reached double figure scoring in a team-best five-straight games, helping the Redbirds to a 4-1 record while averaging 14.6 points, 3.0 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 3.0 steals throughout the five games. Lee ranks third on the team in scoring (10.9 points per game). Comparatively, after 29 games in 2014-15, Lee was averaging 6.6 points per game to rank sixth in team scoring.
FINDING ANOTHER GEAR
Sophomore forward MiKyle McIntosh has increased his offensive productivity in Missouri Valley Conference play, averaging 11.9 points per game against league foes, compared to 9.8 points per game during the non-conference season. McIntosh has netted double figures in nine of the last 13 games. The Pickering, Ontario, native has scored a career-high 25 points twice this season, both times in MVC play.
CRASHING THE GLASS
After being outrebounded in eight of their first 10 games (going 4-6 with a -4.2 rebounding margin), the Redbirds have outrebounded the opposition in 14 of their last 19 contests (going 13-6 with a +3.5 rebounding margin). ISU is 13-2 when outrebounding its opponent and 3-10 when outrebounded.
DOUBLE-DIGIT DeVAUGHN
Senior guard DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell has scored in double figures in 27 of Illinois State's 29 games this season, and dating back to last season, 33 of the last 36 games. Akoon-Purcell reached double figures in ISU's first 20 games of the season before being held to seven points versus Northern Iowa (Jan. 23). He has recorded 20 or more points four times in 2015-16 and is averaging 14.0 points (seventh in the Missouri Valley Conference) and 4.7 rebounds per contest (17th in the MVC).
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