CARBONDALE, Ill. – Illinois State puts its perfect 4-0 Missouri Valley Conference record on the line when the Redbirds (12-4, 4-0 MVC) travel to Southern Illinois (10-7, 3-1 MVC) Wednesday for a 7 p.m. tipoff. ISU has won five-straight games and eight of the past nine. The Salukis are on a three-game winning streak and have won four of the past five.
ILLINOIS STATE AT SOUTHERN ILLINOIS • WEDNESDAY, JAN. 11, 2017 • 7 P.M.
THE SERIES:
Wednesday's game marks the 150th meeting between Illinois State and Southern Illinois. The Salukis lead the all-time series, 78-71; however, the Redbirds have won six of the past nine matchups. Versus Southern Illinois, Illinois State is 18-49 in Carbondale, Illinois, and 13-28 at SIU Arena where the Salukis have won three-straight games. Head coach Dan Muller is 5-3 versus the Salukis and 1-3 at SIU Arena, winning in 2013.
THE COACHES:
Illinois State: Dan Muller (Illinois State, 1998) is in his fifth season as the head coach at Illinois State. Muller is the first-ever Illinois State coach to beat four Top-25 teams in his first four years. He led ISU to the 2015 NIT.
Southern Illinois: Barry Hinson (Oklahoma State, 1983) is in his fifth season as the head coach at Southern Illinois. Hinson is the league's winningest active coach in the MVC with 277 overall victories.
ILLINOIS STATE:
Was picked to finish second (out of 10 teams) in the Missouri Valley Conference ... Was the only team to feature two players (out of five) on the Preseason All-MVC First Team (Paris Lee and MiKyle McIntosh) ... Returns four of five starters and seven of 11 letterwinners from last year's team, which finished 18-14 overall and tied for second place in the MVC with a 12-6 record ... Lee is a two-time MVC Player of the Week (Dec. 5 and Dec. 19).
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS:
Was picked to finish fifth (out of 10 teams) in the Missouri Valley Conference ... Returns three starters and eight letterwinners from last year's team which finished 22-10 overall and tied for fourth place in the MVC with an 11-7 record ... Senior forward Sean O'Brien was named to the Preseason All-MVC Second Team and is now averaging 12.2 points and a team-high 8.4 rebounds plus 2.7 assists and 1.0 steals per game for the Salukis.
UNDEFEATED
After winning their first four Missouri Valley Conference games of the season to tie for first place with Wichita State in the current league standings, the Redbirds are aiming to improve to 5-0 in the MVC for the first time since starting 6-0 before suffering a loss during the 2007-08 season. Illinois State has started conference play with a 4-0 record just five times since joining the MVC in 1981. After starting 4-0, the Redbirds have gone on to finish no lower than second in the league, advancing to three NCAA Tournaments and one National Invitation Tournament (NIT) following 4-0 MVC starts.
FAST START
By beating Indiana State (Jan. 7) to improve to 12-4 overall, the Redbirds achieved their best record through the first 16 games since beginning the 2009-10 season with a 13-4 record before suffering their fifth loss in game number 18. After winning five-straight games, Illinois State is aiming to win six games in a row for the first time since also winning six-straight during the 2014-15 season.
WINNING ON THE ROAD
After dropping their first three road games by an average margin of -4.7 points, the Redbirds have won three-straight road games by an average margin of +22.3 points. ISU is aiming to win four-straight road contests in a season for the first time since 2008-09, which was also the last time ISU won three in a row.
CAREER DAY
In Illinois State's win at Indiana State (Jan. 7), junior forward MiKyle McIntosh scored a career-high 31 points, which marked the most points by a Redbird since Tyler Brown netted 35 at Utah State, Feb. 23, 2013. McIntosh matched a career high with nine field goals on 13 attempts (69.2 percent) and five three-point field goals on a perfect 5-for-5 shooting effort (100 percent) from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, Phil Fayne led Illinois State's rebounding effort with a career-high 11 boards plus seven points.
THE DEFENDERS
The Redbirds' field goal defense of 37.9 percent ranks ninth nationally. Opponents have averaged 33.3 percent against Illinois State over the past seven games, with ISU holding five of its past seven foes to season-low averages at the time. In league play, ISU ranks first in field goal percentage defense (35.7).
SHUTTING DOWN
In all four of Illinois State's MVC victories, the Redbirds have held their opponent's leading scorer below his respective scoring average entering the game, by an average of 7.4 points.
-Jaylon Brown, Evansville: Entered the game averaging 21.5 ppg / Scored 17 points (Dec. 29).
-Audre Jackson, Loyola Chicago: Entered the game averaging 15.9 ppg / Scored 5 points (Jan. 1).
-Alize Johnson, Missouri State: Entered the game averaging 14.2 ppg / Scored 7 points (Jan. 4).
-Brenton Scott, Indiana State: Entered the game averaging 19.1 ppg / Scored 12 points (Jan. 7).
BLOCK PARTY
Illinois State leads the Missouri Valley Conference and ranks 73rd nationally with 4.5 blocks per game. ISU recorded a season-high nine blocks against Evansville (Dec. 29). The program record for single-game blocks is 10. Phil Fayne leads ISU and ranks fifth in the MVC with 1.3 blocks per game.
SENIOR LEE-DER
Senior point guard Paris Lee is tied for first in the Missouri Valley Conference in assists (5.3 assists per game, 45th nationally) and ranks second in steals (1.9 steals per game, 47th nationally). He also ranks third in the league and 16th nationally in three-point field goal percentage (47.1 percent).
DROUGHT BUSTER
With their Jan. 7 win at Indiana State, the Redbirds earned their first victory in Terre Haute, Indiana, since Feb. 14, 2007. The Sycamores had won nine-straight games over Illinois State at the Hulman Center, which was Illinois State's second-longest active MVC road losing streak. The Redbirds have lost 12-straight at Northern Iowa and eight-straight at Wichita State, which is now ISU's second-longest road drought.
HANDLE WITH CARE
ISU's nine turnovers at Indiana State (Jan. 7) were the fewest since eight against Southern Illinois (Feb. 24, 2016).
TOP SEVEN
Senior forward Deontae Hawkins is one of two players in the Missouri Valley Conference to rank in the top seven in both scoring (14.8 ppg, seventh) and rebounding (6.6 rpg, sixth).
1,000-POINT CLUB
By netting a 3-pointer from the top of the key at the 13:37 mark in the first half of Illinois State's game at Loyola Chicago (Jan. 1), Paris Lee recorded his 1,000th point, thus becoming the 42nd member of ISU's 1,000-point club. Lee, who finished the game with seven points, enters Wednesday's game with 1,028 career-points. He is just the second player in Redbird history to record more than 1,000 points, 300 assists and 200 steals. Ron Jones, who played from 1976-80, also achieved this feat.
TAKING CONTROL
Illinois State has held the halftime lead in 14 of its first 16 games. ISU holds a +8.9 scoring margin in first halves this season compared to a +0.2 scoring margin in second halves. The Redbirds are shooting 45.9 percent from the field in first halves and allowing opponents to shoot 37.2 percent. In second halves, Illinois State is shooting 41.3 percent while allowing opponents to shoot 38.9 percent.
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