COLUMBUS, Ohio - After a delay to open the year, the 2020-21 season tips-off on Wednesday afternoon when the Illinois State Redbirds face off against #23/24 Ohio State.
QUICK HITTERS
• Illinois State is 78-44 all-time in season openers.
• This season's Illinois State team has the seventh-highest average height in program history, as the 15 players on the team have an average height of 6-5.80.
• The Redbirds have no seniors on this season's team, the seventh time in program history a squad had no seniors. Of the six previous occurrences, four times the team made a postseason (NCAA or NIT) the following season.
• Along with having no seniors and just four juniors, the team's average athletic year is 1.80 (freshman = 1, seniors  = 4), which is tied for the least experienced team in program history.
• Last season Illinois State's opponents averaged an offensive possession length of 18.8 seconds, the longest-such total in the NCAA according to KenPom.
• Illinois State has four players from outside of the United States, the most foreign players on a Redbird team in program history. The previous most was from the 1996-97, 2012-13, and 2013-14 seasons that had three players each from outside of the USA.
• Illinois State has faced 10 of the 14 schools in the Big Ten, with a 7-26 record all-time against teams from the conference.
• There are 11 current NCAA Division I head coaches that either played or coached at Illinois State, including two other head coaches in the Missouri Valley Conference.
• Illinois State head coach Dan Muller is one of 34 head coaches in the country who is coaching at his alma mater. Of that group, he has the seventh-most victories. Leading the list is Jim Boeheim (Syracuse), Roy Williams (North Carolina), Matt Painter (Purdue), and Bob Huggins (West Virginia).
• Illinois State is 149-117 under head coach Dan Muller. Since he took over, he has the second-best record in the state of Illinois.
• Illinois State is 3-5 all-time on November 25.
SCOUTING THE BUCKEYES
The season opener for Ohio State comes after a COVID-shortened 2019-20 season in which the Buckeyes went 21-10 with an 11-9 mark in Big Ten play.
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Back for Ohio State this season is 6-3 guard Duane Washington who averaged 11.5 points per game last season, dishing out 40 assists while making 55-of-140 shots from beyond the arc. Also back is 6-1 guard CJ Walker and 6-8 forward Kyle Young who averaged 8.7 and 7.5 points per game, each. Walker dished out 107 assists against 54 turnovers, while Young pulled down 144 rebounds and made 59 percent of his shots from the field.
In the Buckeyes' last game, an 80-69 loss at Michigan State, Washington led the team with 16 points, while Walker scored 14 and forward E.J. Liddell added a dozen points. The Buckeyes made 45 percent of their shots from the field, and 31 percent from beyond the arc.
TALL TEAM
With the team having four players standing 6-9 or taller, this Illinois State squad has the seventh-biggest average height of any team in program history with an average height of 6-5.80, this years' team trails the tallest two teams (1976-77 and 1987-88) by just over 1/4 of an inch per player.
BABY BIRDS
This season's Illinois State men's basketball team has no seniors and just four juniors, with the remaining 11 student-athletes being of sophomore or freshman age. The average athletic year for the Redbirds this season is 1.80 (freshman =1, senior =4), which is tied for the youngest squad in program history.Â
LONG DEFENSIVE POSSESSIONS
Last season Illinois State opponents averaged a possession length of 18.8 seconds, the longest  such length in the country (per KenPom).
FEW SENIORS
For the 2020-21 season, Illinois State has zero seniors on its roster. Since 1962-63, there have been just six other Redbird rosters with no seniors. Those other seasons include 1965-66, 1988-89, 1996-97, 2011-12, 2013-14, and 2017-18. In six of those previous seasons, four times the team advanced to postseason play the following season, three times (1966-67, 1989-90, 1997-98) the team earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament, while the 2014-15 team advanced to the NIT second round.
NOT FROM AROUND HERE
The first Redbird student-athlete to come from outside of the United Stats was Roy Herald, a native of Finland, that played for Illinois State from 1977 through 1981. Since then 16 foreign-native student-athletes have played for the Redbirds. This season's team has four foreign-born student-athletes, the most on a single team in program history. The previous high mark for foreign players was three, set three times, the first in 1996-97, along with 2012-13 and 2013-14.Â
YOUNG STATS
Last season, then-Illinois State freshmen DJ Horne, Abdou Ndiaye, and Antonio Reeves climbed into the top-10 in program history in a trio of categories, as Horne had the third-best single-season three-point percentage by a freshman, sixth-most three-point field goals by a freshman, and Ndiaye had the sixth-most blocked shots by a freshman. Reeves moved into 10th in single-season three-pointers made by a freshman.
