NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State men's basketball team made just one of its first 10 shots and found themselves trailing by as many as 13 points (20-7) with 10:26 to play in the first half; however, the Redbirds closed the first half with a 26-9 run and held off a late Pacific charge in a 72-61 non-conference win on Saturday evening.
The Redbirds got a career-high 22 points and 11 rebounds from sophomore forward Chase Walker, while Jack Daugherty scored 15 points and Johnny Kinziger 14. Caden Boser narrowly missed double figures with nine points for the Redbirds. Walker's 11 rebounds helped propel the Redbirds to 33 total rebounds – even with Pacific for the game.
Kinziger and Dalton Banks each dished out four assists, as the Redbirds had a 13-to-8 assist-to-turnover ratio in the game. The single-digit turnovers are the fourth time in nine games where ISU has had 10 or fewer turnovers in a game this season. Landon Wolf's two steals are a season-high for the junior.
The Redbirds get a week off from competition for final exams, before taking back to the court on December 15 when the team hosts the Saint Louis Billikens in a 4 p.m. tip-off inside CEFCU Arena.
ISU struggled out of the gate, missing its first three shots, and after a made lay-up by Walker, missed the next six to open the game 1-for-10. A jumper by Pacific's Jazz Gardner gave the visiting Tigers their largest lead of the game at 20-7, at which point the Redbirds were just 2-of-12 from the field.
Over the final 9:40 of the first half, the Redbird offense shined, out-scoring Pacific 26-9 during the span, finishing the half making 9-of-15 shots from the field, including 6-of-9 from long range, stretching the lead to 33-29 heading into the break at halftime.
The Redbird advantage was never extinguished and increased to as many as 17 after a Daugherty three-pointer with 9:09 to play in the game. Pacific chipped the deficit to as few as seven with 1:49 to play, before the Redbirds iced the game by making all four of their free throw tries in the final minute.
Illinois State made 23-of-52 shots from the field (44.2%), 40.0 percent (10-of-25) from beyond the arc, while converting on 16-of-19 free throws (84.2 percent). With 13 assists and eight turnovers, the game is the seventh of nine this season in which ISU has a positive assist-to-turnover mark for a game. Pacific was led to 38.6 percent (22-of-57) shooting in the game, and just 8-of-25 (32.0 percent) from beyond the arc. The Tigers made and attempted nine free throws, a perfect
The Tigers were led by Jazz Gardner who scored 15 points in the game, while Lamar Washington scored 14. Elijah Fisher and Elias Ralph – the team's two leading scorers heading into the game – scored 12 and 10 points, which are five and eight points lower than their season averages coming into the game. Ralph pulled down 10 rebounds for the double-double.
TEAM NOTES
- Illinois State used a starting lineup of 3 Dalton Banks, 4 Landon Wolf, 11 Johnny Kinziger, 22 Ty Pence, and 35 Chase Walker
- It was the eighth consecutive game the Redbirds have used this lineup
- The Tigers won the opening tip
- The first points of the game came from Chase Walker on a lay-up with 19:00 to play in the first half
- It was the third time this season where he scored the first points of the game for ISU
- The first sub off the bench for Illinois State was Caden Boser with 18:33 to play in the first half
- Illinois State led 33-29 at halftime
- ISU trailed by as many as 13 points in the win, the largest margin of deficit overcame this season
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
- Jack Daugherty
- Scored 15 points off the bench, his third game this season of double-figure points
- Made five or more three-pointers for the third time this season
- Only four NCAA Division I student-athletes have more five-make games from deep this season
- Dalton Banks
- Tied for the team lead with four assists, the eighth time this season where he has led or tied for the lead in assists
- Johnny Kinziger
- Scored in double-figures for the eighth consecutive game, and has scored 14+ points five times (and fourth straight)
- Tied for the team lead with four assists, the third time he has held or tied for the team lead in assists
- Caden Boser
- Missed double-figure scoring by just one point with nine points, making 3-of-6 shots from the field and 2-of-4 from long range
- Has made 52.4 percent (11-of-21) of his shots from long range on the season
- Chase Walker
- Scored a career-high 22 points, making 7-of-13 of his shots from the field, and all eight of his free throw tries
- The perfect 8-of-8 effort on free throws was his third career game in which he went 8-of-8 or better from the charity stripe
- Pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds, topping his previous career-high of 10 set at North Dakota State earlier this season
- Tied his career-high with three assists, as he had previously set the career-high on Wednesday against Belmont
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