NORMAL, Ill. -Â The 2021-22 season officially opens on Tuesday evening, as the Illinois State Redbirds play host to the UNCW Seahawks in a 7 p.m. tip-off on Doug Collins Court inside Redbird Arena.
QUICK HITTERS
• Illinois  State has not hosted a regular season home game in front of fans for 622 days (since February 26, 2020).
• Illinois State is 96-27 all-time in its home openers, including wins in its last six games. ISU is also 78-45 all-time in season openers.
• No current Illinois State student-athletes have faced off against UNCW; however, head coach Dan Muller faced off against the Seahawks twice while he was a student-athlete, and was 1-1 in those games.Â
• Last season ISU held an opponent to two or fewer free throws made in a game, which are both in the lowest 20 such games in program history.
• 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.
• 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 is 100-38 all-time at Redbird Arena under head coach Dan Muller.
• Last season Illinois State had an average defensive possession length of 18.3 seconds, which was tied for the 18th-largest average in the country.
• Illinois State has never played a game on November 9.
SCOUTING THE SEAHAWKS
UNCW (University of North Carolina -Wilmington) comes into its season-opener after a 7-10 record last season, in head coach Takayo Siddle's first season with the Seahawks.
Leading the returnees for the Seahawks is 6-6 senior guard Jaylen Sims who averaged 17.8 points per game last season, while Mike Okauru, a 6-4 graduate, also returns after averaging 14.2 points per contest. Jaylen Fornes, a 6-3 graduate guard, opened his career at UNCW before transferring to Nicholls State for the 2020-21 season, where he averaged 9.3 points per game before returning to the Seahawks for his final season of eligibility. James Baker Jr., a 6-7 graduate transfer from Morehead State, averaged 7.7 points and 4.4 rebounds last season.
In their exhibition againstFrancis Marion, the Seahawks picked up a 101-72 win, and were led by Sims who scored 19 points, while Okauru scored 16 and Traarien White 15 off of the bench.
IT'S BEEN A WHILE
The last time Illinois State has hosted a game at Redbird Arena in front of fans was on February 26, 2020 in the season finale against Bradley. 622 days will have elapsed between home games in front of fans, when ISU hosts UNCW on Tuesday evening.
STARTING AT HOME
Illinois State is 96-27 all-time in its home openers, including wins in each of the last six home openers. ISU is also 78-45 all-time in season openers.
COACHING THE ALMA MATER
There are currently 44 NCAA Division I head coaches that are leading their alma maters - up from 35 a season ago - including Illinois State's Dan Muller. Muller stands sixth of those coaches in total wins with 156 in his 10th season with the program. Of that group, Jim Boeheim leads the select fraternity with 982 victories - and there are an eye popping 12 new coaches leading their alma maters for the 2021-22 season.
NOT FROM AROUND HERE
The first Redbird student-athlete to come from outside of the United States was Roy Herald, a native of Finland, that played for Illinois State from 1977 through 1981. Since then 17 foreign-native student-athletes have played for the Redbirds. This season's team has four foreign-born student-athletes, tied for the most on a single team in program history. Last season ISU also had four players from outside of the United States, and 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
TALL TEAM
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 with an average height of nearly 6-6, this years' team trails the tallest two teams (1976-77 and 1987-88) by just over 1/10 of an inch per player. Below are the top-10 tallest and shortest Illinois State teams since 1962-63.
