Redbirds Return After Finals Week to Take on Bison

NORMAL, Ill. -  After a week off for final exams, the Illinois State men's basketball team returns to action on Sunday against the North Dakota State Bison inside CEFCU Arena.

QUICK HITTERS

• Since 1992-93 there have been just nine freshman student-athletes to shoot  50% or better on field goal attempts, 40% or better from long distance, and 90% or better from the free throw line in a season with at least 14 three-point makes. ISU freshman Johnny Kinziger is among those nine, along with former Duke standout Kyrie Irving and former Marquette standout Steve Novak.
• When Illinois State had a +8 turnover margin against Murray State on December 3, it was the highest by the program since January 21, 2022.
• With a field goal percentage of .581 against UIC on November 30, the Redbirds had their ninth-best field goal percentage in a game since 2010-11, and that high percentage came against the school that had the fifth-best defensive field goal percentage in the country.
• Illinois State and Northern Kentucky went back and forth during their game on December 6, and the lead traded hands 19 times, which is the sixth-most in a game for the Redbirds since the 2003-04 season.
• Illinois State started the season with a 2-0 MVC record for the first time since 2017-18, and for the 15th time in program history.
• This week is the second consecutive week that the Illinois State Redbirds have been receiving votes in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major poll. This season is the first since 2018-19 that the 'Birds have appeared in the poll.
• With his six steals against Long Beach State, senior guard Dalton Banks recorded the fourth-most steals in a game in program history. His total is also tied for the 17th-best in a game by a NCAA Division I basketball player this season.
• In the season opener against Lourdes, Darius Burford scored his 1,000th collegiate point, and he now ranks 205th 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 231st among active players in career scoring.
• With Illinois State's season-opening 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 1978-79.
• 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.
• Illinois State is 4-0 this season when the squad scores 30+ points inside the paint.
• Kendall Lewis' 643 career rebounds rank 66th in the NCAA among active players, while Myles Foster's 419 has him tied for 329th.
• The Sunday game is the first time the Redbirds have faced off against a team from the state of North Dakota.

SCOUTING NORTH DAKOTA STATE

North Dakota State comes into the Sunday afternoon game with a win over Oak Hills Christian by the 15th-largest margin of victory in NCAA history, winning the game 108-14 to improve to 7-4 on the season.

In the lopsided win, the Bison saw all 12 players on the active roster score, with 11 of those scoring at least five points. Lance Waddles scored a game-high 19 points, while Damari Wheeler-Thomas and Jeremiah Burke each scored 15. Three players: Lance Waddles, Jeremiah Burke, and Sam Hastreiter, each pulled down eight rebounds, as the Bison out-rebounded the Wolfpack 59-to-14. 

Boden Skunberg and Wheeler-Thomas have 148 and 147 points, respectively, to lead the team, while Andrew Morgan and Jacari White are just off the double-figure scoring plateau with scoring averages of 9.8 and 9.6 points per game, respectively. Tajavis Miller - who averages 8.1 points per game - is the team leader in rebounds per game at 5.3, while Skunberg just behind at 5.1. 

Wheeler-Thomas paces the team with 35 assists over his 11 games, while Skunberg and Waddles each have 11 assists to tie for the team lead. 

YOUNG PERCENTAGES

This season, Redbird freshman Johnny Kinziger has made half of his field goal tries, over 40 percent of his three-point attempts and over 90 percent of his free throws. There are just nine freshman student-athletes in NCAA Division I basketball since 1992-93 with those percentage and at least 14 made three-pointers.

FAMILIAR START

When Illinois State basketball signed high school senior Ty Pence, he was the highest rated player to sign with ISU since Osiris Eldridge - a player who ended his career as the program's fifth leading scorer. Eldridge and Pence also share something else in common, and that is a slow start. Prior to him scoring his 1,838 points, Eldridge opened his Redbird career by going 1-for-23 from the field and 1-for-13 from distance. Pence's career arc is off to a similar trajectory, as the St. Joseph native is 1-for-16 from the field and 0-10 from long range.

STRONG MARGINS

Against Murray State, the Illinois State Redbirds had a +8 assist-to-turnover margin. That is the highest total since January 21, 2022 against Evansville. Below are the 10 most recent occurrences of an assist-to-turnover ratio of +8 or better against Division I opponents.
 

SHOOTING WELL AGAINST A GOOD DEFENSE

On Thursday, November 30, the Illinois State Redbirds made 58.1 percent of their shots against the UIC Flames. UIC came into the game with the fifth-best field goal percentage defense in the country. Since 2010-11  the Redbirds have only had eight games against a NCAA Division I opponent with a better field goal percentage than against the Flames. What makes the Thursday percentage so impressive is that UIC came into the game with the fifth-best defensive field goal percentage in the NCAA. Below are the ten highest single-game field goal percentages since 2010-11, and where the school sat in the NCAA rankings for defensive field goal percentage (with the exception of UC Santa Barbara, as the game was the season-opener and there were no NCAA rankings at that point of the season).

THIEF

Against Long Beach State, Illinois State senior guard Dalton Banks grabbed six steals, which are tied for the seventh-most in a game in program history. Additionally, his steal total is tied for the 17th-most in the NCAA this season in a single game.

NON-STATE STATE SCHOOLS

There are 362 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, the Redbirds will play four games against those schools during the season, including Long Beach, Wright, and Murray.
 

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 1982-83.

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 1,099 career points, Burford ranks 205th 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 500 points in a year-plus at Illinois State. Redbird forward Kendall Lewis reached the milestone in the second half of the game against Eastern Illinois on November 15 and stands 231st among active career scorers.

BIG CAREER BOARDING

With 620 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. 

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.

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.