ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Illinois State senior Darius Burford has been picked to the Missouri Valley preseason All-Conference Third Team, as the Redbirds were picked to finish eighth according to the preseason conference poll, announced by the MVC office on Tuesday morning.
Illinois State was picked eighth with 237 poll points, just ahead of Southern Illinois (218), UIC (157), Evansville (95), and Valparaiso (66). Drake was picked as the preseason favorite with 558 points and 24 first place votes while UNI (524, 19 first place votes) was tabbed as the preseason runner-up. Bradley (487, 3 first place votes), Indiana State (402), Belmont (400), Missouri State (386, 1 first place vote), and Murray State (292) were picked to finish just ahead of the 'Birds.
Last season Burford played in 31 games during the season, averaging 12.9 points per game – 14th-highest in the MVC – while also pulling down 3.7 rebounds and dishing out 2.5 assists per game. He was seventh in the MVC in free throw percentage, making 81.6 percent of his free tries, while his 48.0 field goal percentage was eighth-best in the conference last season, and fourth best among players 6-0 and shorter.
Also returning is Kendall Lewis who averaged 10.9 points, while finishing third in the MVC in rebounds per game (7.3) and led the team with 46 steals. Malachi Poindexter – the Illinois State single-season free throw percentage record holder – returns after averaging 9.4 points with Luke Kasubke scoring 6.8 points with 50 assists last year.
Among the newcomers include transfers Dalton Banks, Myles Foster, Jordan Davis, and Brandon Lieb in addition to freshmen Ty Pence, Johnny Kinziger and Chase Walker. Banks spent three seasons at Southern Illinois where he played in 89 games for the MVC school while dishing out 167 assists. Foster started 33 games last season for Monmouth, where he averaged 12.5 points and 6.6 rebounds per game with 59 assists and 40 steals. Davis had 18 starts last season for Wisconsin, averaging 5.1 points with 3.5 rebounds per game. Lieb, a 7-1 forward, saw action in 31 games for Illinois with 27 points and 30 rebounds.
Incoming freshman Ty Pence had a final high school recruit ranking of 198 by 247 recruiting, as he set the school's career records with 2,328 points and 245 three - pointers, averaging 26.6 points and 7.0 rebounds per game as a senior, earning his third First Team All-State honor of his career. Johnny Kinziger, the Wisconsin Co - Mr. Basketball, led De Pere High School to an undefeated state title in 2023, scoring 2,134 career points, the 30th - most points in the state of Wisconsin history, also earning three First Team All-State honors. Walker was the OHSAA Division I District 10 Player of the Year after averaging 19. 5 points per game for St. Charles Prep in Columbus.
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