WICHITA, Kan. – Tied for second place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings with Evansville, the Illinois State men's basketball team travels to Wichita State to face the MVC regular-season champion Shockers Saturday, Feb. 27 at 1 p.m. at Charles Koch Arena in ISU's regular-season finale ahead of next week's MVC Tournament.
ILLINOIS STATE AT WICHITA STATE • SATURDAY, FEB. 27, 2016 • 1 P.M.
THE SERIES:
Saturday's game marks the 80th meeting between Illinois State and Wichita State. WSU leads the all-time series, 40-39. After upsetting the then No. 21-ranked Shockers earlier this season (Feb. 6), ISU has won two-straight against Wichita State, and the Redbirds are aiming for three-straight wins in the series for the first time since 2001 to 2002. Versus the Shockers, ISU is 11-25 at Wichita State, with the Redbirds last winning there January 1, 2008.
THE COACHES:
Illinois State: Dan Muller (Illinois State, 1998) is in his fourth season as the head coach at Illinois State (76-56). Muller is the first-ever ISU coach to beat four Top-25 teams in his first four years, leading ISU to the 2015 NIT.
Wichita State: Gregg Marshall (Randolph Macon, 1985) is in his ninth season as the head coach at Wichita State (226-83) and his 18th overall (420-166). Marshall has led WSU to four-straight NCAA Tournaments.
ABOUT ILLINOIS STATE:
Will enter the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament as either the second or third seed ... earned a win over all nine league opponents at least once ... picked to finish fourth (out of 10 teams) in the MVC ... 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).
ABOUT WICHITA STATE:
Earned its third-straight regular-season MVC title after being picked to finish first (out of 10 teams) in the MVC ... return three of five starters and nine of 11 letterwinners from last year's team, which recorded a 30-5 overall record and a 17-1 MVC mark (first place) ... earned a bid to the 2015 NCAA Tournament where, as a No. 7 seed, beat Indiana and Kansas to advance to the Sweet 16 ... feature All-Americans Ron Baker and Fred Van Vleet.
UPWARD TREND
Now 12-5 in Missouri Valley Conference play, the Redbirds have earned 12 MVC wins for the 13th time in program history while achieving their best league record since finishing 13-5 in 2007-08. Head coach Dan Muller has already earned his most MVC regular-season wins (12), 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. Entering Saturday's final game, the Redbirds are aiming for 13 MVC victories for the 10th time in program history.
PLANTING A SEED
Illinois State enters its regular-season finale tied with Evansville (both 12-5) for second in the MVC standings. The Redbirds will either secure the No. 2 or No. 3 seed for next week's MVC Tournament:
No. 2 Seed – Illinois State or Evansville – ISU is the No. 2 seed with a win and an Evansville loss. Evansville is the No. 2 seed with a win and an Illinois State loss. If ISU and UE both win (or both lose), the tie will be broken using Jim Sukup's RPI Report of Sunday morning, Feb. 28. The team with the better RPI will be the No. 2 seed.
No. 3 Seed – Illinois State or Evansville – ISU is the No. 3 seed with a loss and an Evansville win. Evansville is the No. 3 seed with a loss and an Illinois State win. If ISU and UE both win (or both lose), the tie will be broken using Jim Sukup's RPI Report of Sunday morning, Feb. 28. The team with the worse RPI will be the No. 3 seed.
Jim Sukup RPI (as of Feb. 25): 41 Wichita State; 82 Evansville;103 Illinois State; 109 Northern Iowa;
123 Southern Illinois; 179 Indiana State; 215 Loyola; 234 Missouri State; 296 Bradley; 319 Drake.
ONE OVER EVERYONE
By beating Southern Illinois (Feb. 24), the Redbirds secured a regular season in which they recorded at least one win over all nine MVC programs. ISU had not accomplished such a feat since 1994-95.
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 8.4 trifectas. ISU has shot a league-best 36.7 percent from three-point range in MVC games this season compared to 29.7 percent versus non-conference foes.
PAST 11
Illinois State is 9-2 through its past 11 games, with the Redbirds holding a +9.2 scoring margin and a +3.7 rebounding margin. Junior point guard Paris Lee has led ISU during the 11-game stretch by averaging 13.2 points, 2.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists (versus 2.4 turnovers) and 1.8 steals per game.
WHEN THERE'S A WILLS THERE'S A WAY
Junior guard Tony Wills exemplified his defensive prowess in Illinois State's win over Southern Illinois (Feb. 24), primarily matching up with SIU's Anthony Beane (who entered the game averaging 20.0 points per game to rank second in MVC scoring). Wills held Beane to a season-low two points on 1-for-8 shooting from the field. In ISU's first meeting at SIU (Jan. 12), Wills limited Beane to 12 points.
DEFENDING THE NEST
Southern Illinois' 15 first-half points were the second-fewest allowed ever by Illinois State at Redbird Arena. The arena record for fewest points allowed in the first half is 11 by Indiana State (Feb. 14, 2004).
CONSISTENT LEADER
Junior point guard Paris Lee has reached double figure scoring in a team-best six-straight games, helping the Redbirds to a 5-1 record while averaging 15.7 points, 2.8 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.0 steals throughout the five games. Lee ranks second on the team in scoring (11.3 points per game). Comparatively, after 30 games in 2014-15, Lee was averaging 6.8 points per game to rank sixth in team scoring. He most recently scored a career-high 21 points in the win over Southern Illinois (Feb. 24).
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 of the last 12 games, earning a 7-3 record when starting.
DOUBLE-DIGIT DeVAUGHN
Senior guard DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell has scored in double figures in 28 of Illinois State's 30 games this season, and dating back to last season, 34 of the last 37 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 14.1 points (seventh in the Missouri Valley Conference) and 4.8 rebounds per contest (16th in the MVC).
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 20 contests (going 14-6 with a +3.0 rebounding margin). ISU is 13-2 when outrebounding its opponent and 4-10 when outrebounded.
IN CONTROL
Illinois State earned its most decisive victory of the season, beating Indiana State, 78-50 (Feb. 17). ISU's 28-point winning margin was its largest of the season, passing the previous high of 16 points versus Houston Baptist (Nov. 21). ISU led by as many as 29 points versus the Sycamores, passing the previous high of 24 points. It was also ISU's most decisive win since beating Drake by 36 points (Jan. 20, 2015).
SHOCKING UPSET
With Illinois State's 58-53 upset victory over No. 21 Wichita State (Feb. 6) on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena, ISU snapped WSU's 12-game winning streak and handed the Shockers their first Missouri Valley Conference loss of the season. The Redbirds have won two-straight games versus the Shockers, with ISU also defeating then-No. 8 Wichita State in last year's MVC Tournament semifinal (March 7, 2015).
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