NORMAL, Ill. - The Illinois State men's basketball squad will host the Bradley Braves in the 142nd all-time meeting between the two rivals, the upcoming meeting coming at CEFCU Arena.
QUICK HITTERS
• Over the past 10 seasons in the NCAA, few schools have made a jump from one season to the next better than ISU. From last season to this season the Redbirds have jumped 330 position rankings and .099 percentage points and currently rank ninth in the country in three-point field goal percentage
• Illinois State is one of two schools in the country to have two sophomores that average 15 points or more, as Chase Walker (16.0) and Johnny Kinziger (15.2) are joined by a duo from Toledo.
• This season Illinois State has had five games with five or fewer turnovers in a game, which is tied for the third-most this season in the NCAA
• ISU forward Chase Walker gets fouled at a rate of 7.8 fouls per 40 minutes, which is the fifth-highest rate in the NCAA
• Illinois State has an effective field goal percentage of .580, which is the third-best in the NCAA this season
• This season the Redbirds have had 12 games with single-digit turnovers, which is tied for the most by an ISU squad in a season since at least 1988-89
• If maintained, ISU's .391 three-point field goal percentage is on pace to be the fourth-best single-season average in school history
• Jack Daugherty's 45 three-point baskets are the eighth-most in a season by an ISU freshman in program history
• Illinois State guards Johnny Kinziger (16th) and Malachi Poindexter (35th) rank inside of the top-40 in career free throw percentage. The Redbirds are one of four schools to have two student-athletes inside of the top-40.
• This season the Illinois State Redbirds have had seven different players lead the team in scoring through the opening 27 games of the season
• Among players that are shorter than 6-0, ISU sophomore Johnny Kinziger has the fifth-highest field goal percentage in the country at 46.1 percent
• Illinois State's win against UAB on November 23 was the program's third game in a four-game stretch where the Redbird opponent was picked as the preseason favorite in their conference: Ohio (Mid-American Conference), McNeese (Southland Conference), and UAB (American Athletic Conference). In those games, the Redbirds went 2-1
• The Redbirds are one of just of four schools in the country to rank inside of the top-20 in the NCAA in both three-point field goals per game (10.2 - 20th) and three-point field goal percentage (.391 - 9th)
• This season Illinois State has a KenPom adjusted offensive percentage of 114.1, which is the highest by a Redbird squad in the KenPom era (1996 to present)
• Dalton Banks' three blocked shots against Saint Louis is tied for the fourth-most in the country this season in a game by a player 6-2 or shorter
SCOUTING THE BRAVES
Bradley enters the rivalry game riding a three-game wins streak with victories over Evansville, Southern Illinois, and Drake.
In the team's most recent win, a 61-59 victory over Drake in Des Moines, Duke Deen scored a team-high 12 points, while Zek Montgomery added 11. Three others - Darius Hannah, Christian Davis, and Demarion Burch - each added nine points and Ahmet Jonovic seven in the win. Hannah pulled down a team-best five rebounds, while Montgomery gave out a team-high four assists and tied for the team-high with a pair of steals.
This season Bradley has four players averaging double-figures in the scoring column, led by Deen who averages 13.7 points per game. Montgomery (12.8), Hannah (11.7), and Davis (10.0) are all at the double-figure plateau. Almar Atlason (6.7) is fifth on the team in scoring during the year. Hannah holds a narrow lead on the team in rebounds, pulling down 5.7 per game, with Davis close behind at 5.2 boards per contest.
Deen's 105 assists are nearly 50 more than the next highest total on the team, as Jaquan Johnson (57), Davis (54), and Montgomery (53) are all battling for the runner-up spot on the squad in assists. Hannah and Davis each have 27 blocked shots, while Johnson has a team-best 40 steals through 27 games of the season.
SUPER SOPHS
Illinois State sophomores Chase Walker (16.0) and Johnny Kinziger (15.2) are one of two sets of sophomore teammates to each be averaging 15 or more points per game this season, with only the Toledo duo of Sonny Wilson (15.7) and Sam Lewis (15.4) matching the ISU pair.
EFFECTIVELY MAKING
In the statistical category effective field goal percentage (taking the sum of made field goals plus 0.5 times the made three-point field goals, then dividing that total by the total field goal attempts, essentially giving more weight to three-pointers because they are worth an extra point compared to two-pointers; the formula is: (FGM + (0.5 * 3PM)) / FGA), the Redbirds have the third-highest effective field goal percentage in the country.
SMALL FIELD GOALS
Illinois State guard Johnny Kinziger ranks fifth in the country in field goal percentage among players that are shorter than 6-0, and who have played at least 500 minutes this season.
FOULED A LOT
Illinois State sophomore forward Chase Walker draws an average of 7.8 fouls per 40 minutes played, the fourth-highest total in the country this season.
STRONG WITH THE BALL
Four times this season Illinois State has had games in which it has committed just five or fewer turnovers, five on November 7 at North Dakota State, on December 29 at home against UIC, and on February 1 against Valparaiso, and just four at home against Belmont on January 29. Those are four of the seven lowest single-game turnover totals in program history.
FRESHMAN DEEP MAKES
Through the first 27 games of the season, Illinois State freshman Jack Daugherty has made 45 three-point field goals, which is the eighth-most in a season by a freshman in program history.Â
HIGH ON MAKES AND PERCENTAGE
This season the Redbirds rank ninth in the NCAA in three-point field percentage (.391) and 20th in three-pointers per game (10.2). There are just three other schools to sit in the top-20 in both categories, and the Redbirds have faced off against two of them this season.
LOW TURNOVERS
This season, through 26 games, Illinois State has a dozen games with single-digit turnovers. Since 1988-89, this season's total is tied for the most in a season, and equaled only the 12 that last season's team put together.
EIGHT IS GREAT AND NINE IS FINE
This season Illinois State has strong depth across its lineup, as the team's eighth- (Jordan Davis) and ninth-leading scorers (Caden Boser) are averaging 5.0 and 4.7 points per game each. Among players who have seen action in at least half of their teams' games, Davis has the fourth-best eighth-player scoring average, while Boser also has the highest ninth-leading scoring total.
STRONG NEW CLASS
With four signees, the Illinois State men's basketball recruiting class for the 2025 season was ranked 60th in the country according to the 247sports.com team ranking. ISU added forward Nick Allen, guard/forward Isaac Ericksen, and guards Tyreek Coleman and Mason Klabo. Allen, a 6-11 forward from Bradley-Bourbonnais HS, has a national 247sports ranking of 277, and is the top-rated center in the state of Illinois. He was named First Team All-State as a junior. Ericksen, a 6-9 guard/forward from Green Level HS in Cary, North Carolina, was named Second Team All-State as a junior, and is the 13th-rated prospect inside North Carolina. Coleman, a 6-2 guard from Waubonsie Valley HS, was named Third Team All-State as a junior. Klabo, a 6-1 guard from Fargo Davies HS in Fargo, North Dakota, was named First Team All-State three times heading into his senior season, as he is within grasp of the North Dakota boys basketball all-time scoring record.
KENPOM EFFICIENCYÂ
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. This season Illinois State's adjusted offensive total is 114.1, which is 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 115.6 this season is nearly 10 points higher than the previous season-high (dating back to the 1996-97 season).
PERCENTAGES ACROSS THE BOARD
Ten times this 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 is tied for the most in the country this season with St. Thomas. Since 2004-05, the most such games in a season by an NCAA Division I school is 11, held by Oklahoma State (2004-05), Michigan (2016-17), South Dakota State (2021-22), and Colorado (2023-24).
EXCITING GAMES
Notable basketball analytics website KenPom has a statistic called Game Excitement, which is a measure of how much the win probability changed over the course of a game (using a win probability algorithm that assumes the teams are of equal strength). This season the Redbirds appear in the list twice within the top 19 games overall, with the No. 17 game coming from Illinois State's 84-83 win over UAB in the Virgin Islands, while the Redbird 99-97 overtime loss at Belmont is the 19th highest. ISU's win over UAB is the only game in the top-26 of the ranking to not have gone into overtime.
HALL OF FAMER DOUG COLLINS
On October 13, Redbird basketball legend Doug Collins was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, the highest honor for anyone associated with the game of basketball. Collins had played and worked in basketball at almost every level including being an All-American at Illinois State, an NBA top overall draft pick, an Olympian in 1972, playing for the Philadelphia 76ers, coaching the Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, Philadelphia 76ers, and Washington Wizards, and an NBA and Olympic broadcaster for ABC/ESPN, CBS, NBC, TNT, and TBS. He was joined in the 2024 Hall of Fame class by 12 others including: Chauncey Billups, Vince Carter, Seimone Augustus, Bo Ryan, Michael Cooper, Walter Davis, Charles Smith, Dick Barnett, Harley Redin, Michele Timms, Jerry West, and Herb Simon.
ALL-AMERICA WATCH LIST
On Thursday, October 31, Illinois State sophomore guard Johnny Kinziger was named to the Bracketeer.org All-American watch list. Eligible conferences for the first-year award include: America East, ASUN, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, CAA, Conference USA, Horizon League, Ivy League, MAAC, MAC, MEAC, MVC, NEC, OVC, Patriot League, SoCon, Southland, SWAC, Summit League, Sun Belt, WAC. The 2025 Bracketeer.Org Non-Power Conference Player of the Year will be announced in the final week of March, 2025.Â
PRESEASON POLL
The Illinois State men's basketball team was picked to finish fourth in the preseason poll, with voters in the poll consisting of school's media, SIDs, and head coaches. Johnny Kinziger was named to the First Team, while Malachi Poindexter was picked on the second team.
