Redbirds Return from Finals Week with Road Trip to Chicago State

CHICAGO, Ill. - After a pause from action for finals, the Illinois State men's basketball squad heads north to take on the Chicago State Cougars in a 2 p.m. tip-off at the Jones Convocation Center.

QUICK HITTERS

• This season Illinois State has played in three games that have gone into overtime and have played four total overtime periods in those three games. Only Utah Valley has played more overtime games (four), than ISU. Illinois State, Utah Valley, and five other schools have a share for the high mark in the NCAA with four overtime periods.
• With Antonio Reeves' five 20+ point scoring games, and Sy Chatman's three, the Redbirds are one of 19 schools in the country with two players with three or more 20+ point scoring games.
• Of the nine highest scoring individual games in the MVC this season, four have been recorded by Redbird student-athletes, including Mark Freeman's 34 points against Bucknell and Antonio Reeves' 32 points against Eastern Michigan which are the second and third-most points in a game in the MVC this season. 
• Illinois State is one of just 10 schools in the NCAA this season to have two different student-athletes score at least 30 points in a game this year (along with Illinois, Colorado State, Winthrop, Loyola (Md.) and Iowa State, and is one of two schools where both scored at least 32 points.
• Illinois State has five different student-athletes who have scored at least 20 points in a game this season, a total that leads the MVC.
• Antonio Reeves has scored in double figures in all nine games this season, which is the 19th-longest such streak to open a season in program history.
• Illinois State junior guard Antonio Reeves - who had spent time atop the NCAA individual scoring leaderboard this season - currently ranks 20th in the country in scoring.
• In his 10th year 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 head basketball coach Dan Muller is one of 44 head coaches in the country this season to be the head coach at their alma mater. His 158 coaching wins at Illinois State is the sixth-most among that group of 44 coaches.
• Illinois State ranks 12th in the country in blocked shots per game, averaging 6.2 blocks per game.
• Illinois State and Chicago State have played 24 times in the series history, with this season being the fifth meeting in Chicago.

SCOUTING THE COUGARS

Chicago State comes into the game having won its most recent contest, a 59-49 win over Tennessee State on Saturday afternoon.

In the win, Jahsean Corbett scored a game-high 17 points while playing all 40 minutes of game time. Coreyoun Rushin scored 15 points, while Brandon Betson added 12 points. 

Corbett pulled down a team-leading eight rebounds, as Betson and Dominique Alexander each dished out three assists. In the game, Chicago State made 37.9 percent of its field goals, and 25 percent of its shots from long range. 

Betson, a 6-1 junior guard, is the team leader in scoring, averaging 16.3 points per game. Corbett, a 6-6 freshman guard, is the second of two double-figure scorers for the Cougars, as he averages 10.8 points per game. Corbett also leads the team in rebounding, pulling down 8.0 boards per game, while Coreyoun Rushin pulls down 6.9 boards per game. 

Bryce Johnson - who has missed the last two games - averages 8.8 points per game. Betson leads the team with 23 made three-pointers, converting on 40.4 percent of his tries, while Corbett is making 40 percent of his 30 attempts. 

Betson and Alexander lead the team with nine steals, while Rushin has eight and a team-leading seven blocked shots.

NON-STATE, STATE SCHOOLS

There are 358 NCAA Division I schools (including the transitional schools) playing basketball this season. Of those schools, 67 have "State" in its name. Of that 67, 31 are direct state schools (ie, Illinois State), while five others have the state in their name, but with a descriptor (Central Connecticut, East Tennessee, Southeast Missouri). The remainder of the schools - 31 total - have no direct state reference in its name (Boise State, Wichita State, etc.) but use State in the name. Of that group, Illinois State will face off against four such schools in the non-conference season: Murray, Jackson, Chicago, and Ball.

HIGH GAME TOTALS

Illinois State is one of just ten schools in NCAA Division I this season to have two different student-athletes that have scored at least 30 points in a game. With Antonio Reeves and Mark Freeman each having reached the 30-point plateau, the Redbirds join Colorado State, Evansville, Furman, Illinois, Iowa State, Loyola (Md.), NC State, Winthrop, and Wyoming as the only schools in the country this season with two different players with 30+ points in a single game. ISU is one of just two schools (Wyoming) with two different student-athletes have games of at least 32 points.

BIG SCORING GAMES

Of the nine highest scoring individual games in the MVC this season, four have been completed by Illinois State players. Mark Freeman's 34 points against Bucknell and Antonio Reeves' 32 points against Eastern Michigan are the second- and third- highest scoring games, while Reeves' 29 against UNCW and Sy Chatman's 29 against Eastern Michigan are tied for the eighth-highest scoring game in the conference this season.

MULTIPLE 20'S

This season Antonio Reeves has scored 20 or more points five times, and Sy Chatman has reached the 20-point plateau three times. Only 19 other schools in the country have two players who have scored 20 or more points at least three times - Bucknell, UConn, Duke, Eastern Washington, Fordham, Furman, Illinois, Missouri State, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Seattle, South Alabama, Syracuse, Tulane, Western Illinois, Wisconsin, Wright State, and Wyoming.

SENDING AWAY

This season through nine games, the Illinois State Redbirds rank 12th in the NCAA in blocked shots per game, averaging 6.2 per contest. 

NINE-GAME SCORING START

This season Illinois State guard Antonio Reeves has scored 185 points through the first nine games of the season, which stands as the 10th-best nine-game season-opening scoring total for ISU since 1964-65, putting his name among the all-time greats in Redbird basketball history, as of the six players ahead of him, five are in the Illinois State Percy Family Hall of Fame.

TEN-GAME SCORING START

With 15 points in his next game, Reeves will eclipse the 200-point plateau through the first 10 games of a season, and would mark the 11th time that has happened for ISU since 1964-65. Additionally, he would be just the second student-athlete since 1978-79 to put himself in that grouping - joining Tarise Bryson who reached the club in 2000-01.

LOTS OF SCORERS

This season Illinois State has had five different players: Sy Chatman, Mark Freeman, Kendall Lewis, Antonio Reeves, and Josiah Strong score 20+ points in a game this season. That number is the most in the MVC this season.

EXTRA TIME

This season across NCAA Division I basketball there have been 83 games that have needed at least one extra period. Illinois State has taken part in three of those games, the second-most in the country this season (behind only Utah Valley's four overtime games). With its double-overtime game against Eastern Michigan, ISU has played in four overtime periods, which is tied with Fordham, Furman, Nebraska, NC State, Troy, and Utah Valley for most overtime periods played this season.

FREE OF FOULING

Against Purdue Northwest, Illinois State was whistled for just seven personal fouls in the game, which ties a program record, previously set against Green Bay on Nov. 29, 1986. ISU has 14 games - including the game on November 27th against the Pride - which ISU committed fewer than 10 fouls in a game.