Redbirds Head to Golden State for Battle with Trojans

LOS ANGELES - The Illinois State men's basketball team treks west to the Golden State, to take on a pair of west coast teams, opening with the USC Trojans on Friday night inside Intuit Dome.

QUICK HITTERS

• Illinois State comes into the season as the preseason favorite in the MVC from the conference's preseason coaches poll
• Redbird freshman Ty'Reek Coleman was named the MVC's opening Freshman of the Week after his performances against Ohio and Cornell
• Johnny Kinziger's career free throw percentage of .875 is the 11th-highest active free throw percentage in NCAA Division I, and ninth-highest among all NCAA divisions
• Coleman's home-opening performance of 24 points are tied for the eighth-most points by a freshman in the NCAA this season, and one of two inside of the top-11 that are from a non-power five school
• The Redbirds have allowed its opponents to shoot just 17.9 percent from long range this season, the seventh-lowest total in the country
• ISU's Kinziger has the sixth-highest field goal percentage in the country who have played at least 30 minutes per game, and are under 6-0
• Despite the four-point loss in the season opener, the Illinois State men's basketball team remains in the top-10 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25 poll
• Illinois State's 341 three-point field goals last season was 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
• 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 in 2024-25, which was the seventh-highest rate in the NCAA
 

CAREER FREE THROW

Over his two-plus seasons as a Redbird, ISU junior Johnny Kinziger has a career free throw percentage of .875, which is the 11th-highest active career free throw percentage in NCAA Division I and 18th overall in NCAA basketball. (minimum of 110 free throw makes)

BALANCED OPEN

With his season-opening game against Ohio, Ty Pence is one of just two players in the country in this early portion of the season to have a game of 14 points scored, seven rebounds, .750 field goal percentage, and a .500 three-point percentage, while playing at least 30 minutes.

DEFENDING THE LONG BALL

This season in two games, the Illinois State men's basketball team has held its opponents to 19.4 percent (Ohio) and 12.5 percent (Cornell) from long range, and the season opponent three-point percentage of 17.9, which is the seventh-lowest in NCAA Division I this season.

BIG HOME OPENER FOR THE ROOK

In his second game in a Redbird uniform, and the first at home, freshman Ty'Reek Coleman shined, scoring 24 points, which is the 21st-most by a freshman in program history, the second-highest in a home debut by a freshman, and ranks is tied for the eighth-highest scoring game in the country by a freshman through the first eight days of the college basketball season.

FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK

Using his strong second game, Illinois State freshman Ty'Reek Coleman was named the MVC Freshman of the Week, just the third Redbird to earn this honor, joining teammates Johnny Kinziger (Jan. 29, 2024 and Feb. 26, 2024) and Jack Daugherty (Dec. 23, 2025).

HIGH SMALL PERCENTAGE

This season Johnny Kinziger has made half of his 22 field goal attempts, and he is one of six players in the NCAA this season to be shooting .500 or better in 30 or more minutes played per game, all while being under 6-0 tall.
 

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 Magazine, 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.