ISU To Take on Field at Gulf Coast Showcase

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. -  The Illinois State men's basketball team treks south to Florida to compete in the Gulf Coast Showcase, opening against Long Beach State on Monday afternoon.

QUICK HITTERS

• While no current Redbird player has played against Long Beach State, ISU assistant coach Andrew Dakich saw action against The Beach during his time as a student-athlete at Michigan, as he and the Wolverines faced LBSU at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off during the 2013-14 season. Dakich played two minutes in the Michigan 24-point win.
• In the season opener against Lourdes, Darius Burford scored his 1,000th collegiate point, and he now ranks 220th in NCAA Division I among career scorers. Teammate Kendall Lewis scored his 1,000th career point on November 15 against Eastern Illinois, and he stands 225th among active players in career scoring.
• With Illinois State's starting lineup of Luke Kasubke, Malachi Poindexter, Dalton Banks, Myles Foster, and Brandon Lieb, the combined jersey total of the five was just 20, the lowest starting lineup jersey total since at least 1991-92.
• With his 12 rebounds against Eastern Illinois on November 15, Illinois State senior Kendall Lewis is tied for the sixth-most rebounds in a game this season by a player coming off the bench against an NCAA Division I opponent.
• Standing 7-1, Brandon Lieb is the tallest player in Redbird basketball history, and is just the seventh player to stand 7-0 or taller.
• This past summer Illinois State redshirt senior Harouna Sissoko played for the Mali National Team at the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament in Lagos, Nigeria. He averaged 7.0 points per game in three games for his country's squad, while his three-point percentage of 71.4 was the highest in the tournament.
• Illinois State freshman Johnny Kinziger has the eighth-highest effective field goal percentage (KenPom.com) in the country, and is the highest freshman on the national list, with the second freshman standing 54th. 
• Kendall Lewis' 604 career rebounds rank 66th in the NCAA among active players.
• Of the 24 NCAA Division I schools within the state of California (the most of any state in the country), the Redbirds have faced off against 19 of those schools and hold a 25-17 all-time record among those teams.
• The Big West Conference - comprised of 10 schools from California and the Hawai'i Rainbows. This will be head coach Ryan Pedon's first game against a school from the conference, and the Redbirds are 11-5 all-time against the 11 schools within the conference.
• Ryan Pedon is one of 55 coaches in their second season at their schools, including other MVC member Evansville and head coach Dave Ragland.
• Ty Blake is the 12th Redbird student-athlete since 1962-63 to hail from the Bloomington/Normal area, and the first University High School alumnus to play for ISU since 1966-69 when Tom Taulbee was a member of the Redbird squad.

SCOUTING LONG BEACH STATE

Long Beach State comes into its opening game of the Gulf Coast Showcase after picking up a 94-86 win on the road at Michigan - LBSU's fourth consecutive road game to open the season.

In the win over the Wolverines, Marcus Tsohonis scored a game-high 35 points on 12-of-29 shooting from the field, while also making 9-of-12 of his free throw tries. Aboubacar Traore scored 15 points, while Lassina Traore and Messiah Thompson each scored a dozen points. Lassina Traore pulled down a team-best 10 rebounds for the double-double, while Thompson dished out a team-best four assists. Aboubacar Traore led The Beach with four steals and four blocked shots.

For the season, Long Beach State is led by Tsohonis, who averages 22.8 points per game, while Aboubacar Traore and Jason Jones averaged 14.3 and 10.8 points per game, each. Lassina Traore is just off the double-figure pace at 9.5 points per game, while leading the team with an 8.3 rebound per game average. Aboubacar Traore is the team leader in assists (15) and blocked shots (nine), and is second behind Jones in assists (11 and six).

BOARDING FROM THE BENCH

Against Eastern Illinois on November 15, Illinois State senior forward Kendall Lewis pulled down 12 rebounds while in a reserve role, one of just 10 players to pull down at least 12 rebounds off the bench in a game this season against an NCAA Division I opponent.
 

ONE OF A FEW SEVEN FOOTERS

When Brandon Lieb joined the squad for the 2023-24 season, the incoming transfer became the tallest player in program history. At 7-0 without shoes, and 7-1 with, he is one of just seven players in program history who have been 7-0 (or taller). Below is the list of players 84 inches or taller in the Redbird men's basketball history.

NATIONAL TEAM MEMBER

Late this past summer, Illinois State redshirt senior Harouna Sissoko played for the Mali National Team for his home country, helping his national team to a 1-2 finish at the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying tournament in Lagos, Nigeria. He scored 21 points over the three games, making 5-of-7 shots from long range (71.4%). His scoring average of 7.0 per game ranked 29th in the tournament, while his three-point percentage was best in the tournament.

LOW JERSEY NUMBERS 

In the team's season-opening win against Lourdes, the Redbirds put together a starting lineup of Luke Kasubke, Malachi Poindexter, Dalton Banks, Myles Foster, and Brandon Lieb. That starting lineup had a combined jersey total of 20 (0, 1, 3, 4, 12) which is the lowest starting lineup jersey combination since at least 1991-92.  

TALL IN THE MVC

Brandon Lieb's 7-1 stature has him as one of the tallest in the MVC, as there are just seven current MVC student-athletes that are 6-11 or taller, and Illinois State - by including Ryan Schmitt - is the only school in the conference with two players on the list.
 

BIG SERIES TOTALS

Illinois State has a long and storied basketball history and has faced off against eight different opponents over 100 times each, including Wednesday evening opponent Eastern Illinois.

1K CAREER SCORING

With his first basket in the opener against Lourdes, ISU senior Darius Burford scored his 1,000th career point. Now with 1,010 career points, Burford ranks 190th in all of NCAA Division I basketball in active career scoring. Having played his first two seasons at Elon where he scored 599 points, along with the 411 points in a year-plus at Illinois State. Redbird forward Kendall Lewis stands nine points away from joining Burford at the 1,000-point plateau.

EFFECTIVELY SHOOTING

Illinois State freshman Johnny Kinziger ranks eighth in the country in effective field goal percentage at 86.4. Effective field goal percentage is calculated by the website KenPom by taking made field goals and adding it to 1/2 of every made three-point field goal, and that numbers is divided by the total number of field goal attempts. Kinziger is the top-rated freshman in the category across NCAA Division I, with the next-highest freshman is ranked 54th from Cam Manyawu of Wyoming with an EFG% of 76.5, and the next highest in the MVC is Kevin Overton of Drake with an EFG% of 58.3.
 

BIG CAREER BOARDING

With 592 career rebounds over his four-plus seasons as a collegiate basketball player, Illinois State fifth-year forward Kendall Lewis has the 71st-most career rebounds among active players in the NCAA. 

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ILLINOIS STATE VS THE GREAT WEST CONFERENCE

The Big West Conference - comprised of 10 schools from California and the Hawai'i Rainbows. This will be head coach Ryan Pedon's first game against a school from the conference, and the Redbirds are 11-5 all-time against the 11 schools within the conference.

REPRESENTING THE CHEESE STATE

This season Illinois State has three players from the Cheese State (Wisconsin) which is the most players in any season from that state. It is also the 11th-most players on a Redbird team from the same state (other than Illinois) in school history. Two teams - 1984-85 and 1973-74 - had seven players from the same state, the former with seven from Indiana and the latter with seven from Michigan.

RETURN TO HORTON

For many longtime Redbird fans, some of their fondest memories of Illinois State basketball come from games that were hosted inside historic Horton Field House. Since 1989, CEFCU Arena has served as host of Redbird basketball games but for one day only, ISU men's basketball returned to Horton Field House with Redbird legend Doug Collins in attendance on December 10 when the Redbirds topped SIU Edwardsville 77-71 in front of 3,420 loud ISU fans. Illinois State will host a second consecutive Return to Horton Game on December 9 when the Redbirds host Norfolk State University.
     Horton Fieldhouse – which was the home of the Redbird basketball program from its opening on December 4, 1963, through the previously last played contest on December 2, 1988. The arena played host to numerous classic ISU victories, including: a 91-81 win over ninth-ranked Tulsa during the 1984 season; an 81-76 win over fourth-ranked Indiana State – featuring future NBA Hall of Famer Larry Bird – during the 1977-78 season; and an 88-84 win over fourth-ranked UNLV in 1977.

LOCAL FLAIR

This season is the second straight that Illinois State head coach Ryan Pedon has had a Bloomington/Normal student-athlete on his basketball team. This year Ty Blake, a 2023 University High School graduate is a member of the basketball squad, while Colton Sandage was a member of last season's team. Since 1962-63, there have been just 11 Redbird men's basketball players from the pair of towns.