Illinois State Travels to Face Salukis in Regular Season Finale

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Illinois State closes out play for the 2018-19 regular season on Saturday, as the Redbirds face off against the Southern Illinois Salukis in a 1 p.m. tip-off at SIU Arena.

GAME INFORMATION
Illinois State Redbirds (16-14, 9-8 MVC) vs. Southern Illinois Salukis (16-14, 9-8 MVC)
When: Saturday, Mar. 2
Tip-Off: 1 p.m. (CT)
Location: Carbondale, Ill.
Arena: SIU Arena
TV: CBS Sports Network
    Jason Horowitz, play-by-play
    Nick Bahe, analyst
Radio: WJBC (FM 93.7 and AM1230) / TuneIn Radio
    Dick Luedke, play-by-play
    Mike Matthews, analyst
Live Stats: Southern Illinois Live Stats

SETTING THE TABLE

•    Illinois State senior Milik Yarbrough is one of just seven student-athletes in the country this season to have accrued at least 500 points, 200 rebounds, and 95 assists.
•    Phil Fayne is one of 10 student-athletes this season to have at least 30 steals, 30 rebounds and be making over half of their shots from the field.
•    Illinois State is 15-1 this season when leading at halftime, and 10-5 when it out-rebounds its opponent.
•    Fayne's 91 offensive rebounds this season lead the Missouri Valley Conference, and is closing in on becoming the 13th MVC student-athlete since 1996-97 to pull down at least 100 offensive rebounds in a season.
•    When Yarbrough joined the 1,000-point club at ISU, he did it in just two seasons. There had only been three other times in program history where someone scored 1,000 or more points over their first two seasons with the program.
•    With Fayne and Yarbrough joining the 1,000-point club this season, it is just the eighth time in program history where there were multiple student-athletes reaching the prestigious plateau in the same season.
•    Against Missouri State on Feb. 27, the Redbirds attempted just eight three-point shots, which is the lowest number since Jan. 7, 2003, when the team tried seven three-pointers against UNI.
•    Fayne is one of 19 student-athletes in the country to have blocked at least 20 shots and grabbed at least 20 rebounds in each of the last three seasons.
•    Illinois State has out-rebounded its opponent for six consecutive games, the third-longest such streak for ISU under current head coach Dan Muller.
•    Yarbrough is aiming to become the first Redbird student-athlete since Tarise Bryson in the 1999-00 season to lead ISU in points, rebounds, and assists in the same season.
•    Yarbrough's 1,040 career points have him 42nd in the school record book, and he needs just 28 to climb into 36th. Fayne's 1,239 have him 26th all-time, and with 23 more he will climb into 24th.
•    Illinois State has won its last seven overtime games (with two of those during the streak coming against Southern Illinois). That is the third-longest active overtime win streak in the country. 
•    ISU head coach Dan Muller is 24-8 over the last three seasons in games that are within five points at the end of regulation.

SCOUTING THE SALUKIS

Southern Illinois, which unveiled a new athletics logo on Thursday, Feb. 28, comes into the game having won its last two contests, including a 98-91 win over Evansville, in the highest-scoring game in the MVC this season.

In the win, Armon Fletcher made 12-of-21 shots from the field for 34 points and a team-high eight rebounds, while Sean Lloyd made all eight of his shot attempts en route to scoring 19 points. Eric McGill was also perfect from the field, making all five of his field goal tries with three of those coming from long range, scoring 15 points as Aaron Cook scored a dozen.

For the year the Salukis have four players averaging in double-figure scoring, led by Fletcher's 16.2 point per game average. Kavion Pippen averages 12.4 while Cook (10.9) and Lloyd (10.8) both average in double-digits. A fifth player, McGill, is just off of the pace at 9.8 points per game. 

McGill leads the team with 162 rebounds on the year, as Cook has a team-high 110 assists. Pippen leads the MVC in blocked shots with 57, while McGill has grabbed 47 steals which is second in the conference behind Valparaiso freshman Javon Freeman.

ELITE COMPANY

This season, Milik Yarbrough has scored 509 points, pulled down 212 rebounds, and dished out 97 assists. He is one of seven student-athletes in the country to have scored at least 500 points, pulled down at least 200 rebounds, and have given out at least 95 assists.
 

30-30-.500

Phil Fayne stands as one of 10 student-athletes in the country to have accumulated at least 30 steals and 30 blocks, while shooting over .500 from the field.
 

GETTING OFFENSIVE WITH THE REBOUNDS

This season Phil Fayne leads the Missouri Valley Conference in offensive rebounds with 91 (3.0 per game). If he keeps up his current average of three per game through the two 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. 
 

MULTIPLE OF 1,000

With his 1,000th career point, which came on Feb. 24 against Drake, ISU senior Milik Yarbrough became the 45th member of the program's 1,000-point club. When he joined the club, he was the second Redbird this season to accomplish the feat, joining Phil Fayne who made the list earlier this year. Additionally, it is 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. 
 

FEW LONG-RANGE TRIES

Against Missouri State on Feb. 27, Illinois State attempted just eight three-point field goals, hitting two of those. The three-point attempt total is tied for the lowest in over 15 seasons. The Redbirds attempted eight three-point field goals on Dec. 9, 2009 against Utah and on Dec. 7, 2002 against Kent State. The last time ISU attempted fewer than eight three point shots was on Jan. 7, 2003, when the team put up seven against UNI, less than 10 days after also attempting seven long-range shots against Missouri State on Dec. 29, 2002.
 

QUICK TO A GRAND

Milik Yarbrough reached the 1,000-point plateau in just two seasons. He is one of only four Redbirds to reach the mark in only two seasons. Yarbrough joins Doug Collins (1,590 points through first two seasons), Tarise Bryson (1,043), and Tyler Brown (1,046) as the quartet of 'Birds to reach the milestone as quickly as they did.
 

20-20 VISION

This season Phil Fayne has 36 blocked shots and 31 steals and is one of 159 student-athletes to have at least 20 in both categories this season. Of that group, Fayne is one of just 19 student-athletes that have accomplished the 20-steal and 20-block plateau in each of the last three seasons. The others include: Nicholas Baer (Iowa), Malik Benlevi (Georgia State), AJ Brodeur (Penn), Christian Cunningham (Jacksonville State), Andrew Eudy (Campbell),  Tarkus Ferguson (UIC), Ethan Happ (Wisconsin), Kevarrius Hayes (Florida), Cameron Jackson (Wofford), Alex Long (Norfolk State), Nick Mayo (Eastern Kentucky), Zane Najdawi (Citadel), Ed Polite, Jr. (Radford), Nate Renfro (San Francisco), Chris Silva (South Carolina), Tahjai Teague (Ball State), Matissa Thybulle (Washington), and Grant Williams (Tennessee).

REBOUNDING STREAK

The Illinois State Redbirds have out-rebounded its last six opponents. Over the last 10 seasons, that stands as the fifth-longest such streak by a Redbird squad. The most consecutive games out-rebounding opponent over the last decade came during the 2008-09 season when the squad opened the season with eight consecutive games where it had more rebounds than its foes.

LEADING IN POINTS, REBOUNDS, AND ASSISTS

Milik Yarbrough currently leads the Illinois State Redbirds in points, rebounds, and assists. His current trajectory would put him as one of just seven MVC student-athletes in the last 10 seasons to lead their teams in each of the respective categories. The others on that list are Alize Johnson (Missouri State, 2017-18), Jeremy Morgan (UNI, 2016-17), Seth Tuttle (UNI, 2014-15), Desmar Jackson (Southern Illinois, 2013-14), Anthony Downing (Missouri State, 2012-13), Mamadou Seck (Southern Illinois, 2011-12).

He would also be the first Illinois State student-athlete to lead the team in all three categories since Tarise Bryson during the 1999-00 season when Bryson scored 578 points, pulled down 124 rebounds and dished out 105 assists.