Men's Basketball Closes Regular Season at Evansville on Saturday

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The Illinois State Redbirds and the Evansville Aces close out each program's 2019-20 regular season on Saturday afternoon when the two teams face off at the Ford Center in Evansville.

GAME INFORMATION
Illinois State Redbirds (9-20, 4-13 MVC) vs. Evansville Aces (9-21, 0-17 MVC)
When: Saturday, February 29
Tip-Off: 1 p.m.
Location: Evansville, Ind.
Arena: Ford Center
TV: ESPN3
    Alex Gould, play-by-play
    Marcus Wilson, analyst
Radio: WJBC 93.7 & 1230 AM
    Dick Luedke, play-by-play
    Mike Matthews, analyst

QUICK HITTERS

• The game will feature one of two firsts this season, the first road win for Illinois State or the first conference win for Evansville. 
• While both Illinois State (9th) and Evansville (10th) have secured their seeds, whom each team will play remains undecided. Illinois State will face either Missouri State or Drake.
• Illinois State senior Zach Copeland is two made three-pointers away from climbing into the school's single-season top-10 list for made long-range shots, while his 77 makes stands as the fourth-most by a senior.
• Illinois State has held opposing offenses to a possession length of 19.1 seconds, which is the longest length in the country, and the third-longest in NCAA Division I basketball since 2015-16.
• The game is Illinois State's third-ever on Leap Day, a day that occurs only once every four years.
• Illinois State freshman DJ Horne has made 42.5 percent of his three-point tries this season, the best percentage by a freshman in school history. His 45 makes are seventh-most in school history by a freshman, while Abdou Ndiaye's 28 blocked shots are sixth-most by a freshman in school history.
• This season Illinois State has had eight different players lead the team in scoring, which is tied for the second-highest total in the MVC this season. The team also has had eight different leading rebounders (tied for most) and 10 assist leaders (second most).
• Against Drake on Jan. 16, Illinois State senior Zach Copeland scored 32 points with seven assists and eight made three-pointers, all while committing no turnovers. He is one of 28 players in Division I to have a 30-point, 7-assist game, and one of three players to do it with no turnovers.
• Illinois State head coach Dan Muller is one of 38 head coaches in the country who is coaching at his alma mater. Of that group, he has the eighth-most victories. Leading the list is Jim Boeheim (Syracuse), Roy Williams (North Carolina), Matt Painter (Purdue), and Bob Huggins (West Virginia).
• Illinois State has used 11 different starting lineup combinations this season.
• Illinois State freshman DJ Horne and Antonio Reeves have combined to score eight of the top-13 highest single-game scoring efforts by a freshman under current head coach Dan Muller.
• Four players on the current roster average double-figure scoring all-time against Evansville, led by Jaycee Hillsman (20.0), Keith Fisher III (16.0), Antonio Reeves (12.0) and DJ Horne (10.0), while head coach Dan Muller averaged 12.6 points in eight all-time meetings with the Aces.

SCOUTING THE ACES

Evansville comes into the game looking to snap out of its 17-game losing streak in which all of the streak has come during MVC play.

In their last game, a 20-point loss at UNI, Evansville got 13 points each from Evan Kuhlman and Jawaun Newton, while Sam Cunliffe scored nine and K.J. Riley eight. Newton pulled down a team-best five rebounds against the Panthers, while Kuhlman and DeAndre Williams each dished out a game-high four assists.

For the season the team is led by Williams, who despite missing 12 games during the heart of the conference season still leads the team with 124 rebounds and 18 blocked shots. His scoring average of 15.2 is tops on the team, while Riley averages 12.5 and Cunliffe 11.3. Riley has a team-best 84 assists and 25 steals this season.

SEEDING POTENTIAL

Heading into the final regular season game of the MVC season, Illinois State has two potential opponents for the opening round of the 2020 MVC Tournament: Drake and Missouri State. If Missouri State and Drake have the same result from their game on Saturday, Drake will be the eighth seed with the second tiebreaker being NET ranking, where Missouri State is ahead by 30 points. A Drake win and a Missouri State loss will bump the Bears to the eighth seed to face ISU, while a Missouri State win will almost assuredly by itself have Drake playing the Redbirds on Thursday.

LONG RANGE RECORDS

This season Zach Copeland has made 77 three-point field goals on 198 attempts. That makes total puts him two away from climbing into the program's single-season top-10 list, and has the fourth-most in a senior season in program history.

GETTING DEFENSIVE AT LENGTH

This season Illinois State opponents average an offensive possession length of 19.1 seconds. That time is the longest defensive possession length in the country. Below are the 10 longest defensive possession lengths in the country according to the basketball stat analysis site KenPom. The team's possession length is the third-longest in the NCAA since the 2015-16 season.

LEAP DAY

A leap day is added in various solar calendars (calendars based on the Earth's revolution around the Sun), including the Gregorian calendar standard in most of the world. A leap day is observed because the Earth's period of orbital revolution around the Sun takes approximately six hours longer than 365 whole days. A leap day compensates for this lag, realigning the calendar with the Earth's position in the Solar System; otherwise, seasons would occur later than intended in the calendar year. In the town of Aurora, Illinois, single women are deputized and may arrest single men, subject to a four-dollar fine, every February 29. In Greece, it is considered unlucky to marry on a leap day.