ISU Set to Battle Cardinals on Saturday

NORMAL, Ill. - The Illinois State Redbirds will look to extend their win streak to three games on Saturday, as ISU hosts the Ball State Cardinals in a return game from last season's contest in Muncie.

QUICK HITTERS

• Illinois State junior guard Antonio Reeves averages 21.1 points per game, which is the 12th-highest scoring average in the country this season.
• Illinois State's 6.6 blocked shot per game average puts them ninth in the country in the category.
• Reeves is one of just four players in the country to rank inside of the top-25 in both three-point makes per game (he ranks 19th) and three-point percentage (he ranks 24th).
• With his 26 points off the bench against Chicago State, ISU guard Josiah Strong is tied for the 10th most points in a game by a non-starter in program history.
• Reeves has scored 765 career points, which puts him 68th in school history.
• Reeves has scored in double figures in all 11 games this season, which is the 16th-longest such streak to open a season in program history.
• Illinois State has had five different players score at least 20 points in a single game this season, which is the highest such total in the MVC this season.
• 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 162 coaching wins at Illinois State is the sixth-most among that group of 44 coaches.
• The Redbirds' three overtime games are tied for the second-most in the country this season.
• Of the 10 top scoring individual efforts in the MVC this season, four have come from Redbird student athletes.
• Illinois State is 152-108 all-time against schools from the Mid-American Conference, and are 137-119 against the 10 schools located inside of the Hoosier state.
• Illinois State is 6-0 this season when shooting as well or better than its opponent.
•ISU is 19-6 all-time on December 18.

SCOUTING THE CARDINALS

Ball State comes into the weekend game after picking up an 85-58 win over IU-Kokomo on Sunday afternoon.

In the win over IU-Kokomo, the Cardinals were led by Tyler Cochran who scored 19 points, while Miryne Thomas scored 13, as Payton Sparks and Luke Bumbalough each had a dozen points. In all, 13 players saw action in the game, with 11 reaching the scoring column. 

On the season five different Cardinals average at least nine points per game, led by Bumbalough's 13.1, with Cochran averaging 10.6. Jalen Windham (9.7), Miryne Thomas (9.7), and Payton Sparks (9.0) are all just shy of the double-figure plateau.

Sparks leads the team with a 5.8 rebound per game average, while Bumbalough has dished out 31 assists to pace the team. Cochran's 16 steals are the most on the team, with Thomas leading the team with five blocked shots. 

TWO FOR A DOZEN

With Antonio Reeves and Josiah Strong each making six three-pointers in ISU's win over Chicago State, which is tied for the third-highest two-person three-point total in program history.

CALLING FOWL IN THE NON-CONFERENCE

During the 2021-22 season, in 13 non-conference games, Illinois State will face off against five schools with bird mascots, and no two doubling up. So far, ISU has faced a Seahawk (UNCW), Eagle (Eastern Michigan), and Hawk (Quincy), with Ball State (Cardinal) and UTSA (Roadrunner) ahead on the schedule. The Redbirds also face off against three jungle cats (Pride of Purdue Northwest, Tigers of Jackson State, and Cougars of Chicago State), three forms of cattle (Racers of Murray State, Bison of Bucknell and Bulls of Buffalo) a Badger (Wisconsin) and whatever the heck a Billiken (Saint Louis) is.
 

BIG NUMBERS

Eleven games into the 2021-22 season, Illinois State's Antonio Reeves ranks 12th in NCAA Division I in points per game, averaging 21.1 per contest.

HIGH MAKES AND PERCENTAGE

Illinois State junior guard Antonio Reeves is one of just four student-athletes across NCAA Division I to rank inside of the top 25 in both three point field goals made per game and three-point field goal percentage.

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.
 

MILESTONE WATCH

With 11 games played in the 2021-22 season, Antonio Reeves is rising through the Illinois State career record book. Reeves is 235 points away from becoming the 46th member of the 1,000-point club.

BIG SCORING OFF THE BENCH

Against Chicago State on December 11, Illinois State guard Josiah Strong came off the bench to score a career-high 26 points, including making 6-of-8 three-point shots in the contest. Strong's point total is tied for the 10th-most points in a reserve role for Illinois State since 1976-77. He is also one of 20 student-athletes in the country this season to have scored at least 26 points as a non-starter - led by Elon's Torrence Watson who scored 34 points off of the bench against High Point on December 4.

11-GAME SCORING START

This season Illinois State guard Antonio Reeves has scored 232 points through the first 11 games of the season, which stands as the seventh-best 11-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 four players ahead of him, three are in the Illinois State Athletics Percy Family Hall of Fame.