DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Illinois State men's basketball team steps into postseason play for the first time since the 2016-17 season, as the Redbirds will face off against the Presbyterian Blue Hose on Sunday afternoon.

QUICK HITTERS

• Illinois State's 330 three-point field goals this season is a new Illinois State single-season record, breaking the previous record of 301 set during the 2017-18 season
• The Illinois State sophomore duo of Johnny Kinziger and Chase Walker have combined for 946 points this season, and as such are the highest scoring sophomore duo in program history
• 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 313 spots and .083 percentage points and currently rank 26th in the country in three-point field goal percentage
• This season Illinois State has had six games with five or fewer turnovers in a game, which is tied for the seventh-most this season in the NCAA
• Against Evansville, the Redbirds allowed zero offensive rebounds, just the fifth time in the NCAA this season that a team has been held to zero rebounds on the offensive end
• ISU forward Chase Walker gets fouled at a rate of 7.3 fouls per 40 minutes, which is the eighth-highest rate in the NCAA
• In ISU's win over Evansville, the team made 35 percent of its shots, just the fourth time in the MVC this season that a team has made 35 percent or fewer of its field goal tries and still won the game
• Illinois State has an effective field goal percentage of .568, which is the 10th-best in the NCAA this season
• This season the Redbirds have had 13 games with single-digit turnovers, which is the most by an ISU squad in a season since at least 1988-89
• If maintained, ISU's .375 three-point field goal percentage is on pace to be the eighth-best single-season average in school history
• Jack Daugherty's 58 three-point baskets are tied for the second-most in a season by an ISU freshman in program history
• The Redbirds are one of 11 schools to rank inside of the top 25 of the NCAA in three-point field goals made, and three-point percentage
• Among players that are shorter than 6-0 with over 1,000 minutes played, ISU sophomore Johnny Kinziger has the sixth-highest field goal percentage in the country at 44.1 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
• This season Illinois State has a KenPom adjusted offensive percentage of 111.9, which is the highest by a Redbird squad in the KenPom era (1996 to present)
 

SCOUTING THE BLUE HOSE

Presbyterian comes into the postseason tournament after winning four of the team's last six games, with the last game of the regular season coming on a 74-69 overtime loss in the Big South Conference Tournament against Radford.

In the loss to the Highlanders, Kobe Stewart scored a game-high 22 points, while Kaleb Scott scored 14 and Kory Mincy 13. Scott pulled down nine rebounds - four offensive - while Mincy's eight assists were a game-high. As a team, Presbyterian committed just four turnovers, while grabbing seven steals on the defensive end, three by Stewart.

Over the 32-game regular season, Stewart led the team in scoring, averaging 15.3 points per game with Mincy averaging 14.8. Scott was near the double-figure mark at 9.1 points per game. Three players - Jaylen Peterson (5.7), Scott (5.6), and Stewart (5.1) all average at least five rebounds per game, with 74 of Peterson's 183 rebounds were offensive.

Mincy dished out 144 assists on the year, while also leading the team with 49 steals. Peterson has blocked 49 shots - which leads the team - as the Blue Hose have a combined 103 blocks on the year. Mincy (60), Stewart (51), and Jamahri Harvey (49) have the three highest three-point make totals on the squad this season.

STUFFING THE BOX SCORE 

In the MVC Tournament loss to Belmont, ISU senior guard Dalton Banks filled the box score with numbers only accomplished nine other times since the 2016-17 season against a NCAA Division I opponent, as he scored 19 points with seven assists, three blocks, and three steals. 

COMBINED SOPHOMORE SCORING

This season the Illinois State sophomore scoring duo of Johnny Kinziger and Chase Walker have combined to score 946 points this season, the highest sophomore scoring pair in program history. Below are the five highest scoring sophomore pairs in the history of the men's basketball program.

100% DEFENSIVE REBOUNDING

In the team's win against Evansville, the Redbirds gave up zero offensive rebounds for the entire game, just the fifth time this season where a team did now allow an offensive rebound to their NCAA Division I opponent, while breaking the previous school record of two offensive rebounds allowed.

FINDING A WAY TO WIN 

Against Evansville, the Illinois State Redbirds made just 35.0 percent of its shots, which is one of four times this season where an MVC squad has won while making 35 percent of lower of its field goal tries.

THIEF 

This season with 60 steals, Dalton Banks has climbed into the top-five in single-season steals, is tied for fourth, and is within striking distance of further climbing the list.
 

MAKING AT HISTORIC LEVELS 

This season the Redbirds have made 47.8 percent of their shots from the field, which stands as the 13th-highest total in program history. The team's free throw percentage of 74.8 is the seventh-highest total in program history.

PERCENTAGE PLAYS

Chase Walker has made 57 percent of his field goal tries this season, which is the fourth-best percentage in the MVC following the MVC Tournament.

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 tenth-highest effective field goal percentage in the country. 
 

SMALL FIELD GOALS

Illinois State guard Johnny Kinziger ranks sixth in the country in field goal percentage among players that are shorter than 6-0, and who have played at least 1,000 minutes this season. 
 

FOULED A LOT

Illinois State sophomore forward Chase Walker draws an average of 7.3 fouls per 40 minutes played, the eighth-highest total in the country this season.
 

STRONG WITH THE BALL

Five 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 and against Bradley on February 19. Those are five of the eight lowest single-game turnover totals in program history.

FRESHMAN DEEP MAKES

Through the first 33 games of the season, Illinois State freshman Jack Daugherty has made 58 three-point field goals, which is tied for the second-most in a season by a freshman in program history. His three-point field goal percentage of .483 currently stands as the fourth-highest single-season total in program history, regardless of class.
 

HIGH ON MAKES AND PERCENTAGE

This season the Redbirds rank 26th in the NCAA in three-point field percentage (.375) and 24th in three-pointers per game (10.0). There are just 10 other schools to sit in the top-25 in both categories, and the Redbirds have faced off against three of them this season. 
 

LOW TURNOVERS

This season, through 33 games, Illinois State has 13 games with single-digit turnovers. Since 1988-89, this season's total is the most in a season, and recently bested the previous record of 12 set last season.

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 EFFICIENCY 

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 111.9, 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 113.7 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 21 games overall, with the No. 20 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 22nd highest. ISU's win over UAB is the only game in the top-30 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. 

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.