Redbirds Return Home for Series Against Sycamores

NORMAL, Ill. - After over a month without having a home game, the Illinois State Redbirds return to Redbird Arena on Saturday, January 16 for a two-game series against the Indiana State Sycamores.

QUICK HITTERS

• This season Illinois State has had 11 players score in double figures at least once, which is the second-highest current total in the country, trailing only UT Arlington's 12. The Redbird double-figure total is also the most in a season by an ISU team since at least 1966-67. 
• ISU has had five players score at least 20 points in a game this season, which is the top mark in the MVC, and is also tied for the sixth-most in a season for Illinois State since 1966-67. The school record for total amount of 20+ point scorers in a season is seven held by the 1968-69 squad.
• In the second of two games against Loyola, Illinois State started three freshmen (Howard Fleming Jr., Alston Andrews, and Harouna Sissoko), which is the first time since March 1, 1991 that ISU has started three freshman in a single game.
• Illinois State tied a school record against Chicago State with 17 made three-point baskets, which are also tied for the 24th-most in a game in NCAA Division I this season.
• In Illinois State's win over Greenville, the Redbirds set new NCAA Division I records in field goal percentage (84.3%) and total assists (57). The program also scored the fourth-most points, had the fourth-highest single-half scoring output, and the sixth-highest combined score total in NCAA Division I history.
• With his 30 points against Greenville, Illinois State freshman Emon Washington became just the fifth freshman in program history to reach the 30-point plateau, and is the first since Bubbles Hawkins accomplished the feat on February 16, 1973.
• Against Greenville, two Redbirds, DJ Horne and Josiah Strong had point / assist double-doubles. It was the second time in program history that two players had point / assist double-doubles in the same game, and the first time since the 1973-74 season.
• The Redbirds have no seniors on this season's team, the seventh time in program history an ISU squad had no seniors. Of the six previous occurrences, four times the team made a postseason (NCAA or NIT) the following season. ISU is one of 10 NCAA Division I schools with no seniors on its roster this year.
• Along with having no seniors and just four juniors, the team's average athletic year is 1.80 (freshmen = 1, senior  = 4), which is tied for the least experienced team in program history.
• 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.
• 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.

SCOUTING THE SYCAMORES

Indiana State enters the weekend series with a 1-5 conference record; however, the Sycamores have faced off against each of the top three teams in the MVC standings. Most recently Indiana State split a two-game weekend series with Loyola, winning the opener and falling 58-48 in the series finale.

In that last game, Jake LaRavia scored a team-high 11 points, making four of his dozen shots from the field, as the Sycamores made just 35.6 percent of their shots in the contest. Tre Williams pulled down seven rebounds for Indiana State, with Tyreke Key grabbing six with a game-high four assists.

This season the team is led by Key who averages 14.6 points per game while Cooper Neese and LaRavia have matching 11.8 point per game averages. Williams and Randy Miller Jr. are just off of the double-figure scoring pace at 8.0 and 7.5 points per game, each. LaRavia averages 5.9 rebounds per game, as the Sycamores have three players averaging more than five rebounds per contest, as he is joined by Williams (5.8) and Key (5.2). 

Key is the team leader in assists with 27, while Williams leads the team with 15 blocked shots, and Julian Larry in steals with 15.

DOUBLE-FIGURE SCORERS

This season through 10 games, Illinois State has had 11 different players score in double figures in at least one game. That is the second-highest total in the country, behind only the 12 double-figure scorers from UT Arlington this season.

THREE-POINT PERCENTAGE

This season the Illinois State men's basketball team has made nearly 40 percent of its three-point tries (39.9 percent). That total is the 12th-best in the NCAA this season, while also standing third in the MVC. The last time a Redbird squad had a three-point field goal percentage of .400 or better was during the 2002-03 season when ISU made 44 percent (188-of-427) of its three-point field goal attempts. Below are the top-five schools and notable others in the top-15 in three-point field goal percentage in the NCAA.

YOUNG STARTS

In the second of the two games against the Loyola Ramblers, Illinois State started three freshman: Howard Fleming Jr., Alston Andrews, and Harouna Sissoko. It was the first time since March 1, 1991 in the MVC Tournament against Drake where the Redbirds had started three freshmen in a game (Charles Barnes, Mike VandeGarde, and Scott Taylor).

LONG RANGE RECORDS

Against Chicago State, the Redbirds made a school-record-tying 17 three-point baskets on 36 attempts. The makes also set a Redbird Arena record and tied with two other times in school history in the ISU record books.

UNCOMMONLY COMMON

When the Illinois State Redbirds faced off against the Loyola Ramblers in back-to-back days, it was something that has happened at ISU, but is relatively rare. The last time previous to the 2020-21 MVC opener where Illinois State has played the same school in back-to-back days was on February 9 and 10, 1979 when the Redbirds faced off against Hawai'i in Honolulu. In all, there are seven previous occurrences of back-to-back games against the same opponent, seven of those coming from the 1967-68 season when as part of the IIAC (Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) the teams played the same opponent twice on a conference weekend.

MORE DOUBLE-FIGURE INFORMATION

With Illinois State's 11 players that have scored double-figures at least once this season, it represents the most double-figure scorers by a Redbird basketball team since at least 1966-67. The team has also had five different student-athletes score at least 20 points in a game, which is tied for the sixth-most in a season in program history. The top mark for 20+ point games in a season for ISU is seven, set by the 1968-69 squad which had Jerry Crabtree, Tom Cirks, Mike Green, Dave Handy, Bob Rath, Blaine Royer, and Tom Taulbee all reach the scoring plateau. 

GETTING DEFENSIVE AT LENGTH

A season after leading the country in the category, the Illinois State defense is back at it, holding opponents to a possession length this season of 18.5 seconds, which is the sixth-longest such streak in the country. Below are the 10 longest defensive possession lengths in the country according to the basketball stat analysis site KenPom.