NORMAL, Ill. – A big home debut for freshman Ty'Reek Coleman helped turn a 10-point first-half deficit into a 11-point win on Sunday afternoon inside CEFCU Arena.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The teams traded three-pointers early, before Cornell ran off 10 consecutive to lead 13-3, and held the lead until just past the midway point of the opening half, as the Redbirds ran off a 15-0 run to take their first lead with 9:27 to play in the half, extending it to six at 24-18. The Big Red would fight back; however, ISU took a 34-32 lead into the locker room at halftime.
After Cornell scored the first to points of the period to tie the score at 34, ISU ran off a 20-6 run to stretch to a 14-point, 54-40 lead. From there the lead reached as many as 16, and never reached single-digits in the 11-point Redbird win.
KEY STATISTICS
- The Redbirds opened with the starting lineup of 0 Jack Daugherty, 11 Johnny Kinziger, 14 Boden Skunberg, 22 Ty Pence, and #35 Chase Walker
- Today was the second consecutive game that Redbird started with this lineup
- Cornell won the opening tip
- ISU's first points of the game came from Boden Skunberg on a three-pointer with 17:33 to play in the game
- Illinois State's first sub was Brandon Lieb with 16:57 to play in the first half
- Illinois State led 34-32 at halftime
- Illinois State improved to 2-0 all-time against Cornell
- Ty'Reek Coleman scored in double-figures for the first time in his career, ending with a game- and career-high 24
- The 24 points are tied for the 21st-most by a freshman in program history, and he is the ninth freshman in NCAA Division I this season to score 24+ points in a game
- His points total is the second-most in a home debut as a freshman, behind only the 30 from Emon Washington against Greenville on December 2, 2020
- Walker scored 13 points in the game, his first game this season in double-digits, and the 28th of his career
- Kinziger reached double-figure scoring for the second consecutive game with 11, and for the 45th time of his career
- Skunberg scored 10 for his second consecutive double-digit scoring game to open his Redbird career
- Lieb pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds for ISU, his second career game in double-digit boards
- Cornell, who scored 102 in its season opener at Kent State, was held to just 65 points against the Redbirds
- ISU made 47.3 percent of its shots in the game, and 37 percent from beyond the arc
- The Redbirds out-rebounded Cornell 45-to-37 in the game, as Landon Wolf had eight and Kinziger seven
NEXT UP
ISU takes to the road for a pair of games on the West Coast, facing off against USC on November 14 and at Long Beach State on November 16.
