NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State men's basketball team picked up a season sweep of the Murray State Racers behind a 78-61 win on Wednesday night, as Ty'Reek Coleman flirted with his career-high by scoring 22 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Murray State jumped out quickly, leading for the first eight minutes of the game; however, the Redbirds used a 7-0 run – five points coming from Ty'Reek Coleman – as the Birds stretched to its first lead of the game. After the Racers tied the score at 19-19, the Redbirds steadily pressured the visitors, and a 10-3 run over the final five and a half minutes of the period sent ISU into the locker room with a 36-28 lead.
The Redbirds scored six of the first eight points coming out of the locker room, extending the lead to a dozen a minute and a half into the second stanza. The ISU advantage never reached single digits again and grew to as many as 23 in the 17-point MVC win.
KEY STATISTICS / NOTES
- The Redbirds opened with the starting lineup of 3 Mason Klabo, 4 Landon Wolf, 11 Johnny Kinziger, 12 Brandon Lieb, 14 Boden Skunberg
- This is ISU's second game with this starting lineup this season
- ISU wore its throwback white uniform for the 13th time in 2025-26
- Illinois State won the opening tip
- ISU's first points of the game came from Brandon Lieb on a lay-up with 18:48 on the first half clock
- This game was the second time this season he has scored ISU's first points – and the second straight game
- Illinois State led 36-to-28 at halftime
- Ty'Reek Coleman scored 22 points for the Redbirds – 15 in the first half – as he reached double-figures for the 12th time this season
- His 10 field goal makes are a career-high
- Set a career-high with four steals, topping his previous career-high of three from the team's game against Belmont on January 24
- It was his second career game with 20+ points, behind only his career-high of 24 against Cornell in early November
- He has come off the bench in each of his last five games, and is averaging 15 points per game in those contests
- Coleman tied his career-high with four assists, as he led the team in helpers for the seventh game this year
- Scoring 12 points, Landon Wolf reached double-figures in points for the fifth time in his last six games, and the eighth time this year
- He pulled down six rebounds, the fifth time he has led the Redbirds in rebounds this season
- With 15 points, Ty Pence reached double-figures in the scoring column for the 11th time this season, and 23rd time over his ISU career
- He made multiple three-pointers for the fourth time this season, and he tied a season-high with three long-range makes
- ISU had 43 points off the bench, the most against a NCAA Division I opponent this season
- The Redbirds out-scored Murray State by 11 in the second half, and have now out-scored opponents by 62 in the second half this season
- Illinois State has won the last five games in the series with Murray State, and improve to 4-3 against the Racers at home
- The Redbirds made 32-of-58 shots from the field (55.2 percent), the team's fifth-best shooting game of the season
- ISU also made 9-of-21 three-point shots (42.9 percent)
- ISU out-rebounded Murray State 38-to-26, the seventh time that the Redbirds had a rebounding margin of 10+ boards
NEXT UP
The Redbirds are taking the short trek to Peoria on Saturday evening, to battle against I-74 rival Bradley in a 7 p.m. tip-off inside of Carver Arena.
