Redbirds Open Exhibition Season at Illinois

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The 2025-26 Illinois State men's basketball season gets off to its unofficial start on Sunday, October 19 when the squad faces off against Illinois in the first of two preseason exhibition games against Big Ten foes.

QUICK HITTERS

• The Sunday afternoon game is the first of two exhibitions against Big Ten schools for the Redbirds
• Illinois State's 341 three-point field goals last season were a new Illinois State single-season record, breaking the previous record of 301 set during the 2017-18 season
• The Redbirds are coming off a post-season tournament championship at the Purple CBI hosted in Daytona Beach, Florida
• Illinois State graduate student Brandon Lieb spent three seasons as a member of the Illinois basketball team, while head coach Ryan Pedon was on John Groce's staff with the Illini from 2013-15
• ISU's three-game win streak is tied for the fifth-longest active win streak in the NCAA, and ISU is one of just 16 schools to have won its last game of the 2024-25 season
• The Redbirds return 1,786 points from last season, which is the fifth-highest returning total in the NCAA
• The Illinois State junior duo of Johnny Kinziger and Chase Walker combined for 1,042 points last season, and as such were the highest scoring sophomore duo in program history, and the second-highest in the NCAA last season. The pair became just the eighth sophomore pair in the NCAA since 2020-21 to each have 500+ points in the same season
• Over the past 10 seasons in the NCAA, few schools made a jump from one season to the next better than ISU did last season. From 2023-24 to 2024-25 the Redbirds  jumped 313 spots in the three-point percentage national ranking and .083 percentage points, ending the season ranked ranked 22nd in the country in three-point field goal percentage
• With 532 and 510 points, respectively, Chase Walker (5th) and Johnny Kinziger (6th) are both in the top-10 in single-season scoring by a sophomore
• Last season Illinois State has had six games with five or fewer turnovers in a game, which is tied for the seventh-most this season in the NCAA
• ISU forward Chase Walker got fouled at a rate of 7.4 fouls per 40 minutes, which was the seventh-highest rate in the NCAA
• With his 90 offensive rebounds, ISU sophomore Chase Walker had the second-most offensive rebounds by a sophomore in school history, and is tied for the sixth-most regardless of class in ISU history
• Illinois State had an effective field goal percentage of .563, which was the 13th-best in the NCAA this season
• Last season the Redbirds had 14 games with single-digit turnovers, which is the most by an ISU squad in a season since at least 1988-89
 

RIDING A WIN STREAK

As a result of winning all three games in last seasons' Purple College Basketball Invitational, ISU comes into the 2025-26 season riding a three-game win streak, which is the fifth-longest win streak in the country heading into the opening weekend of the season. Only Florida (12), Chattanooga (five), Nebraska (four), and Eastern Illinois (four) have longer active win streaks than ISU. In all, Illinois State is one of just 16 schools in the country to have won their final game of the 2024-25 season.

RETURNING SCORING

The Redbirds return players that combined to score 1,786 points from last season — 65.49 percent of the team's scoring — which is the fifth-highest total in the NCAA returning, and the team's returning scoring percentage is 10th-best heading into the 2025-26 season.

COMBINED SOPHOMORE SCORING

Last season the Illinois State sophomore scoring duo of Johnny Kinziger and Chase Walker have combined to score 1,042 points, the highest sophomore scoring pair in program history. The duo is also the third-highest pair of scoring sophomores in the country, trailing only UC Riverside and Toledo. Chase and Johnny, also became just the eighth set of sophomores in the NCAA since 2020-21 to each have each scored 500 points in the same season.

HIGH EXPECTATIONS

Returning three of its top four scorers from last season, including two All-Missouri Valley Conference selections, the 2025-26 Illinois State men's basketball team — and players on the team — have high expectations put on it from numerous preseason prognostications. Mid-Major Madness, Lindy's Basketball Magazine, Blue Ribbon Basketball Mazagine, and the MVC media poll have the Redbirds picked to win the MVC in 2025-26. Mid-Major Madness, Lindy's Basketball Magazine, and Blue Ribbon all have returning forward Chase Walker named as the Preseason Player of the Year, while Johnny Kinziger was named to the Preseason First Team by Blue Ribbon Basketball Magazine and Lindy's Basketball Magazine. The Field of 68 ranked Illinois State as the #3 Mid-Major Team in the country in their preseason poll, while also naming Walker the Mid-Major Preseason Player of the Year.

MAKING AT HISTORIC LEVELS

Last season the Redbirds made 48.2 percent of their shots from the field, which stood as the ninth-best total in program history. The team's free throw percentage of 74.9 was the seventh-highest total in program history.

EFFECTIVELY MAKING

In the statistical category effective field goal percentage (essentially giving more weight to three-pointers because they are worth an extra point compared to two-pointers,  the Redbirds had the 13-highest effective field goal percentage in the country. 

BIG-LITTLE REBOUNDING

Last season Johnny Kinziger pulled down 137 rebounds over the course of the season, which are the fourth-most in the NCAA last season among players that are 5-11 or shorter.

LONG MAKES

ISU sophomore Jack Daugherty had 59 made three-pointers last season as a freshman, and among players with at least 50 long-range makes, he ranked fourth in three-point percentage.
 

LOW TURNOVERS

Last season, in 36 games, Illinois State had 14 games with single-digit turnovers. Since 1988-89, last season's total is the most in a season, and recently bested the previous record of 12 set a season earlier.
 

FOULED A LOT

Illinois State junior forward Chase Walker drew an average of 7.4 fouls per 40 minutes played last season, the seventh-highest total in the country this season.

PERCENTAGES ACROSS THE BOARD

Ten times last season the Illinois State men's basketball team has had games where it has made over half of its field goal tries, 40 percent of the three-point attempts, and at least 75 percent from the charity stripe. No other team in school history - outside of this season's team - has had more than four such games in an entire season. The total was tied for the most in the country last season with St. Thomas. Since 2004-05, the most such games in a season by an NCAA Division I school is 12, last season by St. Thomas, and the previous high-mark was 11, held by Oklahoma State (2004-05), Michigan (2016-17), South Dakota State (2021-22), and Colorado (2023-24).

FRESHMAN DEEP MAKES

Through the 36 games of the last season, Illinois State sophomore Jack Daugherty made 59 three-point field goals, which was the second-most in a season by a freshman in program history. His three-point field goal percentage of .476 was the fifth-highest single-season total in program history, regardless of class.

KENPOM EFFICIENCY

KenPom, the primary statistical and analysis college basketball site, and its work on tempo-based basketball statistics is compared by many to the work of Bill James in baseball. Last season Illinois State's adjusted offensive total is 112.7 was the highest total for ISU in the history of the KenPom ratings, which date back through the 1996-97 season. Stathead basketball has an offensive metric titled Offensive Rating, and ISU's 113.8 last season is nearly 10 points higher than the previous season-high (dating back to the 1996-97 season).