'Birds Take to Road in San Antonio

SAN ANTONIO - Illinois State takes to the road to take on the UTSA Roadrunners on Saturday afternoon, as the 'Birds look to close out the non-conference portion of the schedule with a second consecutive win.

GAME INFORMATION
Illinois State Redbirds (5-6) vs. UTSA Roadrunners (4-7)
When: Saturday, Dec. 21
Tip-Off: 3 p.m.
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Arena: Convocation Center
TV: CUSA-TV
    Andy Everett, play-by-play
    Tim Carter, analyst
Radio: WJBC 93.7 & 1230 AM
    Dick Luedke, play-by-play
    Mike Matthews, analyst

QUICK HITTERS

• This season Illinois State has forced opposing offenses to use an average of 19.1 seconds per possession, the second-longest possession length in the country.
• UTSA junior guard Jhivvan Jackson takes 42.8 percent of his team's shots when he is on the floor, the highest total in the NCAA. ISU's Dedric Boyd has the highest such total on the Redbird squad at 33.3 percent of his team's shots, second-highest in the MVC.
• Against Morehead State, the Illinois State defense did not allow a double-figure scorer, the first time the Redbirds have accomplished that feat since November 29, 2008.
• Through 11 games, Illinois State has had nine different players reach double-figure scoring, more than the team had through the entirety of last season. The team also has five different players who have led the team in scoring for at least one game this year.
• Illinois State scored 51 points from its bench in a narrow loss to UCF, which is the highest reserve total in head coach Dan Muller's tenure with the squad.
• The Redbirds face off against seven opponents picked in the top four of their conference pre-season polls, including Belmont (1st), Western Kentucky (1), Northern Kentucky (2), UTSA (2), Grand Canyon (2), UIC (3), and Cincinnati (3).
• Illinois State sophomore Dedric Boyd scored 22 points off of the bench against UCF on Nov. 17, which is the fifth-most points by an individual off the bench in Muller's tenure.
• Illinois State is 19-8 all-time against the 14 schools in Conference USA, including a 3-3 mark under head coach Dan Muller. UTSA is the second Conference USA school that Illinois State has faced this season, falling in the Virgin Islands to Western Kentucky.
• According to the statistical website KenPom.com that predicts home court advantages based off of an algorithm, Redbird Arena is the fourth-toughest place to play in the country with a home court advantage of 4.4.
• Illinois State has won its last seven overtime games, the third-longest such streak in the country behind Marquette (10) and Harvard (8).
• Since Dan Muller has taken over as head coach, Illinois State has the best record within the state of Illinois (144-102).
• Under head coach Dan Muller, Illinois State is 48-29 all-time in games that are within five points at the end of regulation. ISU is 27-11 in such games over the last four seasons.
 

SCOUTING THE ROADRUNNERS

After a rough start to the season that saw UTSA drop its first five games of the 2019-20 season, the Roadrunners have won four of their last six games with victories over Wiley, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Texas State and Texas-Permian Basin.

Most recently the squad fell 88-78 to 9-1 Oregon State in a neutral-site game in Houston. In the game, NCAA leading scorer Jhivvan Jackson scored 28 points on 10-of-21 shooting from the field and 5-of-13 from long range. Keaton Wallace made 7-of-20 shots and 3-of-10 from long range, adding 21 points. Byron Frohnen pulled down a team-best six rebounds, while Jackson and Wallace each dished out five assists to lead the team.

For the year its Jackson who leads the team in scoring, averaging 25.5 points per game, while Wallace averages 16.1 points per contest. Those two combine to average 41.6 points per game, 56 percent of the team's total. 

Frohnen has pulled down a team-best 68 assists this year (6.2 per game) while Wallace's 46 assists (4.2) hold the top spot on the team. Wallace also leads the Roadrunners with 23 steals as Jacob Germany has a team-best 13 blocked shots over 10 games on the court.

GETTING DEFENSIVE AT LENGTH

This season Illinois State opponents average an offensive possession length of 19.1 seconds. That time is the second-longest defensive possession length in the country, behind only Navy's 19.3 seconds per posses-sion. Below are the 10 longest defensive possession lengths in the country according to the basketball stat analysis site KenPom.

GETTING UP THE SHOTS

This season when he is on the floor, junior guard Jhivvan Jackson takes 42.8 percent of his team's shots, far and away the highest total in the NCAA. Dedric Boyd leads the Redbirds in percentage of shots taken at 33.3 percent, second-highest in the MVC.

FRESHMAN SCORING

This season Illinois State has a pair of freshman in Antonio Reeves and DJ Horne have climbed into the top-10 in the Dan Muller-coached era for single-game points for a freshman. Reeves' 15 points at TCU stands tied for the sixth-best single-game scoring total under head coach Dan Muller, while Horne's 14 points against Morehead State are one of nine times that a freshman has scored that many points in a game under Muller.

FLIPPING THE SCRIPT

Coming into Illinois State's game against UIS, the Redbirds had made just 61.9 percent of its free throws on the season, a total that ranked 314th of 350 teams in NCAA Division I. Against the Prairie Stars, the Redbirds went a perfect 15-of-15 at the charity stripe, the second-best single-game free throw shooting day in the country. Over the course of one game Illinois State's percentage rose to 69.2 percent, and the team climbed to 191st in the country.

PERFECT AT THE LINE

Illinois State's 15-for-15 effort at the free throw line is the third-best single-game shooting performance in program history. Below are the five best single-game free throw shooting games in the history of the program.

NO DOUBLE-FIGURE SCORERS

Against Morehead State, Illinois State kept the Eagles from having a scorer reach double-figures. It was the first time that ISU has held an opponent from recording a double-figure scorer since the 2008-09 season. Below are the eight most recent times where a Redbird opponent has not had a single player in double-figure points.

NEAR THE TOP OF THE NCAA

When Illinois State converted on all 15 of its free throw tries against UIS, it climbed into second this season in the NCAA national rankings for single-game free throw makes, behind only Harvard's perfect 22-of-22 effort against Texas A&M a day earlier. Below are the top-eight single-game free throw performances in the NCAA this season.

PRESEASON STRONG 

Of Illinois State's 11 non-conference opponents, seven were picked to finish inside of their top four of the conference preseason polls, including Belmont and Western Kentucky who were each picked to win their conferences. Below is a list of where the ISU opponents were picked to finish this season.