NORMAL, Ill. - The Illinois State men's basketball team returns home on Sunday afternoon to take on the Southern Illinois Salukis.

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 .111 percentage points and currently rank ninth in the country in three-point field goal percentage
• Illinois States +9 assist-to-turnover margin against UIC on December 29 is the largest by the Redbirds against a NCAA Division I opponent since the team had a +18 margin at home against Evansville on January 21, 2022.
• Illinois State is one of three schools in NCAA Division I basketball to rank inside of the top-40 in field goal percentage, three-point field goal percentage, and free throw percentage
• If maintained, ISU's .403 three-point field goal percentage is on pace to be the fourth-best single-season average in school history
• ISU out-rebounded Northern Illinois by 20 on December 18, which is the sixth-largest rebounding margin against a Division I opponent since the 2009-10 season
• Malachi Poindexter has made 86.8 percent of his free throw tries over his three-year Redbird career, which is the 26th-highest active career percentage in the NCAA
• This season the Illinois State Redbirds have had seven different players lead the team in scoring through the opening 14 games of the season
• 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 four schools in the country to rank inside of the top-25 in the NCAA in both three-point field goals per game (10.4 - 22nd) and three-point field goal percentage (.403 - 9th)
• Ty Pence is one of seven players since 1980-81 to have played at least 350 minutes with shooting percentages of .545 / .400 / .885
• This season Illinois State has a KenPom adjusted offensive percentage of 110.3, 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
• ISU's Chase Walker ranks ninth in the country in the KenPom stat Offensive Rebounding Percentage
• Six times this season, ISU has had games with shooting splits of at least .500/.400/.750. No other team in school history has had more than four such game splits in a single season, and the Redbirds are tied for the most in the NCAA

SCOUTING SOUTHERN ILLINOIS

Southern Illinois enters the Sunday afternoon match-up looking to snap out of a three-game losing skid with losses to High Point, Northern Iowa, and Evansville.

In the 68-53 loss at home to the Aces, SIU got 19 points and 10 rebounds from Kennard Davis Jr., while Ai Dibba scored a dozen points and Antwaun Massey eight. Davis' reboundin total was a game-high, as the Salukis out-rebounded Evansville 36-to-34. Drew Steffe gave out a game-high four assists, while Dibba's two steals and Jarrett Hensley's two blocked shots were tops on the squad.

For the season Dibba leads the team in scoring, averaging 15.1 points per game, while Davis averages 14.2. Elijah Elliott averaged 14.0 points per game before suffering a season-ending injury five games into the year. Hensley, at 10.3 points per game, is the fourth and final Saluki player to average in double-figures for the year. 

Hensley's 6.2 rebounds per game leads the team, as Davis Jr. (33) and Steffe (30) are battling for the team lead in assists. Davis Jr.'s 25 steals lead the team, as does Hensley's dozen blocked shots.

SHOOTING STARS

Illinois State is one of three schools in the country to rank inside of the top-40 in field goal percentage, three-point field goal percentage and free throw percentage. The sum of ISU's three rankings is 63 (35th in FG%, ninth in 3FG%, 19th in FT%), and is the second-lowest sum in the country.

REBOUNDING MARGIN

Against Northern Illinois on December 18, the Redbirds had a +20 rebounding margin, which is the highest by a Redbird team against a NCAA Division I opponent since November 29, 2014 against Youngstown State. There have been just five games with a larger margin for ISU since the 2009-10 season.

FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK

Adding to his strong freshman season, ISU first-year forward Jack Daugherty was named the MVC Freshman of the Week after his 16-point performance on the road at Cornell in which he made 4-of-7 of his three-point attempts, pushing his season percentage to an even .500 (29-of-58). He is the second Redbird in program history to earn the honor, as Johnny Kinziger won the award twice last season in the first-year of the Freshman of the Week award.
 

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Behind his strong performance against Saint Louis, Illinois State sophomore Chase Walker was named the MVC Player of the Week. The Columbus, Ohio, native scored a career-high 27 points against the Billikens, making 10-of-15 shots from the field, both of his three-point tries, and 5-of-7 shots from beyond the arc. He added eight rebounds – four offensive – with an assist and a blocked shot. Walker earns his first career MVC honor and is the first Redbird to be named MVC Player of the Week since Johnny Kinziger earned the honor on February 19 after ISU wins over Indiana State and Evansville.
 

HIGH ON MAKES AND PERCENTAGE

This season the Redbirds rank ninth in the NCAA in three-point field percentage (40.3) and 22nd in three-pointers per game (10.4). There are just five schools in the country who rank inside of the top-25 in each category, including 2024-25 Redbird opponents North Dakota State and Bradley.

ONE OF A FEW

This season, Redbird sophomore Ty Pence is one of seven players in the country since 1980-81 who have played at least 350 minutes with shooting percentages of .545 or better from the field, .400 or better from long range (on at least 30 attempts), and at least .885 from the charity stripe.

NEAR-CONFERENCE RECORDS

In ISU's win over Trinity Christian, the Redbirds made 20-of-40 three-point field goals, which is tied for the third-most in a game in conference history. Against Belmont, Illinois State's 18 made three-pointers are the second-most in a MVC game in conference history

OFFENSIVE REBOUNDING PERCENTAGE

Through 14 games of the season, Illinois State forward Chase Walker ranks ninth in the country in the KenPom statistical category Offensive Rebounding Percentage. The statistic is the percentage of possible offensive rebounds a player gets, and the denominator is scaled based on the percentage of a team's minutes played by the player.

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 110.3, which is the highest total for ISU in the history of the KenPom ratings, which date back through the 1996-97 season.

PERCENTAGES ACROSS THE BOARD

Six 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 also tied for the highest this season with St. Thomas.

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 10 games overall, with the No. 8 game coming from Illinois State's 84-83 win over UAB in the Virgin Islands, while the Redbird 99-97 overtime loss at Belmont are the 10th highest. 

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.