NORMAL, Ill. – Behind two players – Boden Skunberg and Chase Walker – who each scored 20 or more points, the Illinois State Redbirds ran away with a dominating 88-62 win over I-74 rival Bradley on Saturday afternoon, winning by an 88-62 final score.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The teams traded the lead four times over the first five minutes of the game, before ISU ran off a 9-0 run to turn a tie game into a nine-point Redbird lead. The Redbird advantage grew to as many as 17 points through the first 20 minutes, as Illinois State took a 15-point, 44-29 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The two teams traded baskets, as the margin remained between 13 and 19 for the first eight minutes of the second half; however, a 7-0 Redbird run stretched a 17-point ISU lead to 24 points on a Ty'Reek Coleman three-pointer with 9:02 to play in the game. The visitors answered back with a 7-0 run of their own to close the gap back to 17; however, the Braves would be unable to get any closer than 19 down the stretch in the 26-point ISU victory.
KEY STATISTICS / NOTES
- The Redbirds opened with the starting lineup of 10 Ty'Reek Coleman, 11 Johnny Kinziger, 14 Boden Skunberg, 22 Ty Pence, and 35 Chase Walker
- This is ISU's 14th game with this lineup, and this group is 9-4 this season
- ISU wore its throwback white uniform for the ninth time this season
- Bradley won the opening tip
- ISU's first points of the game came from Chase Walker on a put-back lay-up with 18:30 on the first half clock
- This game team-leading seventh time this season that Walker has scored ISU's first points
- Illinois State's first subs were Landon Wolf and Mason Klabo with 14:50 to play in the first half
- Illinois State led 44-29 at halftime
- Boden Skunberg set a season-high as he scored 23 points, his 11th game this season scoring in double-digits and the 68th time of his college career
- The game was his second game this season scoring 20+ points, and the 15th time in his career he has reached the 20-point milestone
- Chase Walker scored 20 points for ISU, his 13th time this season scoring in double-digits, and the 40th of his career
- For the seventh time this season, and 22nd of his career he pulled down 7+ rebounds in a game, grabbing 11 in the contest
- The 11 rebounds are a season-high for the junior
- The double-double was Walker's first this season, and third of his career
- For the second time this season, Landon Moore scored in double-figures, as he poured in 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting from the field
- ISU had two players score 20+ points in a game for the first time since February 15, 2025 when Walker and Johnny Kinziger each scored 20+ points at Indiana State
- Scoring seven points in the game, Johnny Kinziger climbed to 46th in school history with 1,012 career points, passing Deontae Hawkins (2014-17) who ended his ISU career with 1,007 points
- Joe Galvin (1,022) and Gregg Alexander (1,023) are 44th and 45th on the scoring list, respectively
- Brandon Lieb's seven rebounds are the fifth time this season – and eighth time in his career – that he has had 7+ rebounds in a game
- Mason Klabo pulled down a career-high six rebounds, while adding three assists and eight points
- The win was the largest in the rivalry since ISU won 78-48 on February 4, 2012
- ISU out-rebounded Bradley 42-to-31, and had a 17-to-8 assist-to-turnover ratio in the win
- The Redbirds made 53.1 percent of their shots from the field (34-of-64), and were 10-of-23 (43.5%) from beyond the arc
- ISU held Bradley to 35.1 percent shooting in the game (20-of-57) and 5-of-14 (35.7%) from long range
NEXT UP
The Redbirds remain at home for a Wednesday night, January 21 battle with the Northern Iowa Panthers. The game, which has a tip off of 8 p.m., will be broadcast on ESPNU.
