ST. LOUIS, Mo. – A quartet of Redbirds: Chase Walker, Johnny Kinziger, Malik Messina-Moore, and Noah Cleveland; have been named to the Missouri Valley Conference watch list, announced by the conference office on Wednesday afternoon.
Last season Walker was named First Team All-MVC – the only member of the All-MVC First or Second teams to return to their school in 2026-27. He averaged 13.7 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, while giving out 68 assists and grabbing 30 steals.
Kinziger averaged 11.5 points with 119 assists last season – the fifth-most by any player in the MVC last season, and the most among any player returning to a MVC school. He has scored 1,208 points over his career – 28th-most in school history – and his 180 career three-point baskets are tied for the seventh-most in ISU history.
Messina-Moore, who played last season at Xavier, averaged 10.9 points per game, with 124 assists against just 48 turnovers while grabbing 35 steals. He averaged 13.1 points per game with 74 assists in Big East play, and his 707 total minutes were the most in the conference, his assists were ninth, and his assist-to-turnover ratio (2.1) was sixth best in the conference.
Cleveland, a native of Bloomington, Illinois, played last season for Illinois Wesleyan University, where he was a First Team All-American and the Division III Rookie of the Year. He averaged 18.8 points and 11.3 rebounds per game with 53 assists, 49 blocks, and 45 steals over 27 games played. He was the first player in College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) history to be named Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year in the same season.
ISU is one of two schools in the NCAA to return two players that scored 1,000 or more points at their respective schools – along with preseason top-ranked Florida and are one of a dozen schools to return their top two leading scorers from the year before.
The Redbirds are coming off a 70-64 home exhibition win over Northwestern on Sunday afternoon, as Cleveland had 16 points and 15 rebounds; Kinziger 15 points, three steals, two assists and two blocks; Walker 11 points and six rebounds; and Messina-Moore six points, five rebounds and three assists.
The Birds travel to Green Bay, Wisconsin, for a Saturday afternoon battle with the Green Bay Phoenix starting at 4 p.m.
