Men's Basketball Opens Season Against Gray Wolves

NORMAL, Ill. -  The second season of the Ryan Pedon era kicks off on Monday evening, as the Illinois State Redbirds play host to the Lourdes Gray Wolves, a team that is currently 2-0 and receiving votes in the latest NAIA National Poll.

QUICK HITTERS

• Illinois State has two student-athletes, Darius Burford (998) and Kendall Lewis (991) that are just a single-digit amount of points away from scoring 1,000 career points. If Lewis duplicates his 2022-23 scoring total (350 points), he will be able to eclipse 1,000 career points as a Redbird.
• Darius Burford made 48.0 percent of his shots from the field last season, which is the third-highest in NCAA Division I.
• Last season the Illinois State Redbirds set a school record for team free throw percentage, making 79.2 percent of their free tries, which was also the second-highest total in NCAA Division I basketball last season.
• 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. 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 senior forward Kendall Lewis is one of nine returning players in NCAA Division I with at least 24 blocks, 45 assists, 46 steals, and 350 points from last season.
• Illinois State senior Malachi Poindexter set a new school record for single-season free throw percentage, making 52-of-55 free tries, a percentage of 94.5%.
• Last season Kendall Lewis became the 17th Redbird player since 1963-64 to score at least 350 points with at least 235 rebounds.
• While standing as the tallest player in Illinois State history, and is one of just three players standing 7-0 or taller inside the MVC this season.
• Ryan Pedon is one of 55 coaches in their second season at their schools, including other MVC member Evansville.
• Lourdes head coach Dennis Hopson played for Ohio State from 1983-87, and remains the all-time leading scorer in Buckeye history with 2,096 points.
• 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.
• Illinois State senior Myles Foster and Lourdes junior Will Stevens were teammates at Brooks School in Massachusetts, and remain close friends to this day.
 

SCOUTING THE GRAY WOLVES

Lourdes, out of Sylvania, Ohio (northwest Ohio, near Toledo), is a NAIA school playing in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference.

Last season the Gray Wolves went 22-9 and earned a spot in the NAIA National Championships, where the squad fell in the opening round to eighth ranked Georgetown (Ky.) College. In two games this season Lourdes is 2-0 after a 108-80 win over Wilberforce and an 86-48 win over NCAA Division III Olivet.

In the two games, the squad is led by Jackie Harris, a 6-6 forward, who has scored 66 points, making 12-of-23 shots from long range and 25-of-41 overall from the field. Joey Holifield averages 18.5 points per game over two games, while Shaun Monroe (11.5 points) and Ethan Damerum (10.0) average double-figure points. 

Damerum 16 leads the team with 16 rebounds while Harris has 14 and Jakiel Wells a dozen. Wells has a team-best eight assists, while Holifield's five steals paces the squad. 

BIG MAKES FROM THE SMALL

Last season Illinois State guard Darius Burford made 48 percent of his field goal attempts, which is the third-highest among returning guards 6-0 or shorter (that meet the NCAA statistical minimum of five makes per game).

PUTTING THE FREE IN FREE THROWS

Last season, having made 412 of 518 free throws, Illinois State ranked second in NCAA Division I in the category. There have been just 21 schools in NCAA Division I history to finish a season with a free throw percentage at .800 or better. The school record for season free throw percentage is .775 from the 2001-02 season and the MVC record is .797 set by Missouri State in 2021-22.

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. He scored 21 points over the three games, including scoring nine in the final game of the group phase against Senegal. In all he made 5-of-7 shots from long range (71.4%) while adding five rebounds, three steals, two assists and a blocked shot. His scoring average of 7.0 per game ranked 29th in the tournament, while his three-point percentage was best in the tournament.

STRONG OVERALL NUMBERS

Last season Illinois State forward Kendall Lewis was one of 17 players in NCAA Division I basketball to have a season in which he scored 350+ points, dished out 45+ assists, grabbed 46+ steals and had 24+ blocked shots. Of those 17, he is one of just nine returning players. Below are the returning Division I student-athletes to put up those numbers last season.

NEAR PERFECTION

Last season Illinois State guard Malachi Poindexter made 52-of-55 tries from the charity stripe last season. That gave him a percentage of .945, which is the second-highest in the country for student-athletes with at least 50 made free throws, and the highest in school history.
 

STRONG COMPANY

Since 1963-64 an Illinois State Redbird has scored at least 350 points with at least 235 rebounds 17 times, including last season with Kendall Lewis putting up those numbers. Lewis will attempt to become just the fifth player in program history to put up similar numbers in back-to-back seasons.
 

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.