Illinois State to Honor Seniors on Sunday

NORMAL, Ill. - The Illinois State men's basketball program will honor its four senior basketball players and two managers before the game, as the Redbirds will face off against the Drake Bulldogs for a 1 p.m. tip-off.

GAME INFORMATION
Illinois State Redbirds (14-14, 7-8 MVC) vs. Drake Bulldogs (21-7, 10-5 MVC)
When: Sunday, Feb. 24
Tip-Off: 1 p.m. (CT)
Location: Normal, Ill.
Arena: Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena
TV: CBS Sports Network
    Chris Hassel, play-by-play
    Rich Zvosec, analyst
Radio: WJBC (FM 93.7 and AM1230) / TuneIn Radio
    Dick Luedke, play-by-play
    Mike Matthews, analyst
Live Stats: Illinois State Live Stats

SETTING THE TABLE

•    The Redbirds are 13-1 this season when leading at halftime, and are 2-1 on Sunday, and are 7-4 in afternoon games.
•    Phil Fayne is on a pace to potentially become just the 13th MVC student-athlete since 1996-97 to pull down 100 offensive rebounds in a season.
•    Illinois State has two of the top three highest attended games in the MVC this season, and currently leads the conference in attendance, averaging 5,524 fans per game.
•    Fayne leads active players in the MVC in career field goals made (474) and offensive rebounds (274) and is second in career rebounds in that group.
•    Milik Yarbrough stands nine points shy of becoming the 45th member of the program's 1,000-point club. If he reaches the plateau this season, it will be the eighth time in program history that ISU has had multiple student-athletes reach the feat in the same season.
•    The Illinois State duo of Yarbrough and Fayne combine to average 32 points per game, which is tied for the highest scoring pair in the MVC. The same pair also has the second-highest rebounding average, while Yarbrough and Copeland combine to average 6.5 assists per game, which is also tied for the top spot in the conference.
•    William Tinsley has played 547 minutes this season and has only been to the free throw line four times. Since 2009-10, there have been only seven other NCAA Division I student-athletes to play more minutes with four or fewer free throws attempted. 
•    Illinois State is 10-4 at Redbird Arena in 2018-19, and the team has the sixth-best home court advantage rating according to KenPom.
•    Milik Yarbrough is on pace to become the first Illinois State student-athlete since 1999-00 (Tarise Bryson) to lead his team in points, rebounds, and assists in the same season.
•    Four current Redbirds average double-figure scoring over their careers against Drake, including Copeland (19.0), Yarbrough (16.7), Keyshawn Evans (13.8), and Fayne (12.0). Additionally, in eight career games against the Bulldogs as a student-athlete, ISU head coach Dan Muller averaged 12.1 points per game, making 18-of-29 three-point baskets against Drake.
•    Fayne has 36 blocked shots and 28 steals this season and is one of 17 student-athletes to have at least 20 in both categories in each of the last three seasons.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS

Drake enters the Sunday afternoon game riding a four-game winning streak, including a 77-68 win over Bradley on Feb. 19. In that game five Bulldog players reached double-figure scoring, led by Brady Ellingson's 17 points. D.J. Wilkins scored 14 while Tremell Murphy and Nick McGlynn each scored 13 while Anthony Murphy scored a dozen points off of the bench.

McGlynn leads Drake in scoring (15.3 ppg), rebounding (8.3 rpg) and blocked shots (46). Ellingson averages 12.1, second-best among active members of the roster, while Wilkins pours in 11.4 points per game. The Bulldogs out-rebound their opponents by two rebounds per game, as Tremell Murphy also averages a half-dozen rebounds per game. 

Wilkins has dished out 78 assists, while Noah Thomas has given out 69 helpers. Wilkins has pilfered a team-best 25 steals, leading three different players (Thomas, 23; Tremell Murphy, 21) with at least 20 steals on the season.

GETTING OFFENSIVE WITH THE REBOUNDS

This season Phil Fayne leads the Missouri Valley Conference in offensive rebounds with 87 (3.1 per game). If he keeps up his current average of 3.1 per game through the four guaranteed games remaining on this season's schedule, he will be within distance of becoming the 13th MVC student-athlete since 1996-97 to pull down 100 offensive rebounds in a single season. 

HOME COURT CROWD

There have been 11 games this season in the MVC in which the home attendance was 6,000 or higher, and Illinois State has been involved in seven of those games. Five Redbird home games stand in the top-10 in the conference this season for attendance, including 9,011 for ISU's rivalry game against Bradley. Additionally, Illinois State's 5,524 average attendance is the highest among the 10 MVC schools this season.

MULTIPLE OF 1,000

ISU senior Milik Yarbrough stands nine points away from becoming the 45th member of the program's 1,000-point club. If he joins the club, he will be the second Redbird this season to accomplish the feat, joining Phil Fayne who made the list earlier this year. Additionally, it will be the eighth time in program history that Illinois State has had multiple 1,000-point scoring marks achieve in the same season. 

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

Illinois State senior Milik Yarbrough was no stranger to the Illinois State basketball program when he laced up his shoes for ISU at the beginning of last season. His father, Del Yarbrough, played for the Redbirds from 1976-80, and ranks 27th in career points (1,191), and 10th in career rebounds (750) in program history.