NORMAL, Ill. - The pairings for the 2024 Paradise Jam have been announced, and the Illinois State Redbirds will open the tournament against McNeese State University, a squad that competed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament and ended the season with a 30-4 overall record. The 'Birds and Cowboys will meet in the second game of the tournament at 2 p.m. CT (4 p.m. local time).
Longwood and UAB will face off in the opening game of the tournament, and the Redbirds will face either of those two schools in the second round. Louisiana, Liberty, George Washington, and Kansas State make up the four schools on the other side of the bracket, and one of which will be ISU's opponent for the final game on November 25. In all, the tournament features three schools that made the 2024 NCAA Tournament (McNeese State, UAB, and Longwood) and another that advanced to the postseason NIT (Kansas State).
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The Redbirds return three of its six players that averaged at least 8.5 points per game last season, including sophomore Johnny Kinziger, graduate student Malachi Poindexter, and graduate student Dalton Banks. The team brought in six new faces during the off-season, of which include All-Missouri Valley Conference honoree Boden Skunberg, in-conference transfer Landon Wolf, Division II sharpshooter Caden Boser, and 6-10 Ole Miss transfer Cameron Barnes, along with a pair of 2024 All-State freshmen in Cade Norris and Jack Daugherty.
