ISU Remains Home to Battle Road-Tested Tigers

NORMAL, Ill. - After a MVC-opening win on Wednesday night, the Illinois State Redbirds remain at home on Saturday with a 3 p.m. tip-off against Jackson State, the Tigers' eighth game of a 13-game season-opening road swing.

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, 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 three schools in the country with two players with three or more 20+ point scoring games and are joined by Nevada and Missouri State.
• 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 six 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 the only school 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 eight games this season, which is the 25th-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 - remains inside of the top-20 in the country in scoring, standing in 12th place.
• 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 is 10-0 all-time against teams from the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), and are 10-1 against Division I schools from Mississippi, including a 5-1 mark against Ole Miss.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS

Jackson State enters the game eight games into a 12-game season-opening road swing, as the Tigers' first home game is on December 29 against Southeastern Baptist.

In the team's most recent game, an 83-54 loss at Marquette on Tuesday, Jayveous McKinnis scored a team-high 13 points while pulling down a game-high 14 rebounds. Chance Moore also reach double figures in the scoring column with 54 points.  Of the Tigers' 38 rebounds, 17 came on the offensive end, six by McKinnis and five by Terence Lewis II. 

Gabe Watson, who didn't play against Marquette, leads the team in scoring by averaging 15.3 points per game, as McKinnis averages 12.3 - the only two players on the team averaging in double-figures. Moore is just off the pace with an 8.7 point per game average.

McKinnis' rebounding average of 10.9 boards per game puts him 11th in the NCAA for the season, and his 2.7 blocked shots per game average puts him 25th in the country.  McKinnis' 13 steals also lead the team. Jonas James leads the team with 19 assists, and the Tigers have a 79-to-106 assist-to-turnover ratio. 

In his career, McKinnis has a rebounding average of 9.7 rebounds per game, the fourth-highest active rebounding average in the country, while his 811 career rebounds are the 17th-most among current NCAA Division I student-athletes' career totals.

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 six 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 Illinois, Colorado State, Winthrop, Loyola (Md.), and Iowa State as the only schools in the country this season with two different players with 30+ points in a single game. ISU remains the only school with two different student-athletes to score at least 32 points in a game.

DYNAMIC SCORING DUOS

Illinois State has two of the top four highest scoring duos in the Missouri Valley Conference this season, as Antonio Reeves and Sy Chatman have the second-highest scoring total between two student-athletes, Antonio Reeves and Mark Freeman have the fourth-most, and Sy Chatman and Mark Freeman combine for the ninth-highest two-person scoring average in the MVC this season.

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 sixth-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 two other schools in the country have two players who have scored 20 or more points three times - Nevada and Missouri State.

THE THREE AMIGOS

We're not talking about the legendary trio of Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, and Martin Short, but Illinois State's group of three are just as good. Later in the notes we talk about where Illinois State's top two scorers are among the best pair of scorers in the Missouri Valley Conference. In addition to that, the three-headed monster of Antonio Reeves, Sy Chatman, and Mark Freeman combine to average 50.9 points per game. Not only is that the second highest trio scoring in the Missouri Valley Conference this season, it currently stands as the eighth-highest in Missouri Valley conference history.

EXTRA TIME

This season across NCAA Division I basketball there have been 71 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 (as of games played on December 1).

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. 

CONSECUTIVE DOUBLE-FIGURE SCORING GAMES

This season, Illinois State guard Antonio Reeves has scored in double figures in all eight games of the season. That has him with the 25th-longest single-season streak in program history. The all-time record is 30, held by Derrick Mayes for the full 1978-79 season. Seven times a Redbird student-athlete has scored in double-figures for an entire season, including all three seasons of Doug Collins' career.

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 158 in his 10th season with the program. Of that group, Jim Boeheim leads the select fraternity with 984 victories - and there are an eye popping 12 new coaches leading their alma maters for the 2021-22 season.