First Road Test of Season Ahead for Redbirds

YPSILANTI, Mich. - After opening the season with a win in the opener, the Illinois State Redbirds take to the road for the first of three true road games in the non-conference season when the squad travels to face off against the Eastern Michigan Eagles.

QUICK HITTERS

• With his 29 points in the season-opener, ISU junior guard Antonio Reeves had the fourth-best season-opening scoring output for Illinois State since 1963-64 season.
• Against UNCW, Illinois State had 10 blocked shots, which is tied for the fourth-most in a game in program history, and is good for the sixth-most in NCAA Division I through one game of the season.
• With his scoring output on opening night, Antonio Reeves had the eighth-best scoring output in the country on the day, and the fourth-highest in games against NCAA Division I opponents.
• Dan Muller is one of 44 current NCAA Division I head coaches that are leading their alma maters - up from 35 from a season ago due to an eye-popping 12 new such coaches this season. He faces off on Friday against another coach on that list, veteran Stan Heath, who is one of the 12 new coaches.
• With his unusual stat line of 29 points, five made three-point baskets, and three blocked shots, Antonio Reeves became just the 38th player in NCAA Division I since 2010-11 to put up such numbers in a single-game.
• Trailing by 15 with just over five minutes to play in the first half, the Redbirds came back to win the game, providing the 11th-largest single-game comeback in program history.
• Illinois State has four student-athletes from outside of the United States, tied for the most foreign student-athletes on the team, as last season also had four players from outside the USA.
•With the team having seven players standing 6-8 or taller, this Illinois State squad has the fifth-biggest average height of any team in program history.
• During his nine-plus years as head coach, Dan Muller has the third-most wins and third-best win percentage of any NCAA Division I school in Illinois.
• Illinois State has faced off one previous time against new Eastern Michigan head coach Stan Heath, and that was during his first season as head coach at Kent State where he led KSU to an 61-48 win in Normal.
• Both Liam McChesney and Mark Freeman both tied ISU program debut records, McChesney with four blocked shots and Freeman with seven made free throws.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES

Eastern Michigan comes into the Friday evening contest with an 0-1 record after dropping its opening game of the season to Indiana University by a 68-62 final score on Tuesday night.

In the game, Noah Farrakhan scored 18 points for the Eagles, while Bryce McBride scored a dozen and Colin Golson and Thomas Binelli each narrowly missed double figures with nine and eight points, respectively. 

Nate Scott pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds to go with his two points, while Darion Spottsville grabbed nine rebounds and Golson eight, with the Eagles being narrowly out-rebounded 43-to-42 in the contest. Monty Scott gave out a team-high three assists, while Binelli had three steals to pace the squad.

In the game the Eagles never led, and trailed by as many as 21 with 18:13 to play in the second half before the visitors started their comback, climbing back to within as few as one point with 2:47 to play in the game at 59-58, before the Hoosiers closed the game with a 9-4 run to give the game its 68-62 final score.

FAST START

With his 29 points against UNCW, Antonio Reeves scored the most points in a Redbird season-opener since Mike VandeGarde scored 29 to open the 1993-94 season. The last person to score at least 30 points in an opener was Ron Jones in the 1978-79 season. Below are the top-10 single-game scoring efforts from a season opener for ISU since the 1963-64 season.

DENIED

In the season opener against UNCW, the Redbirds had 10 blocked shots in the game, which is tied for the fourth-most in a game in program history.

UPPER NCAA

After the opening night of the 2021-22 basketball season, Illinois State junior guard Antonio Reeves' career-high 29 points saw him with the eighth-highest scoring game of the evening; however, it was the fourth-highest in games against NCAA Division I competition.

UNUSUAL COMBINATION

With his opening-night game with 29 points, five three-point baskets, and three blocked shots, Illinois State junior guard Antonio Reeves became just the 38th player in NCAA Division I since the 2010-11 season to record those numbers in a single game, and the only one to do it on opening night.

DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK

Or do call it a comeback, we're just taking the advice of LL Cool J. In the opening game of the season on November 9, the Redbirds found themselves trailing by 15 points with 5:06 to play in the first half; however, the 'Birds closed the gap to nine by halftime, and over the first four minutes of the second half re-took the lead. Recovering from the 15-point deficit gave ISU its 11th-largest margin overcome in program history.