NORMAL, Ill. – For the second consecutive game the Illinois State Redbirds never trailed, jumping out to a 4-0 lead early and never looked back, shooting over 60 percent from the field in an 85-54 Missouri Valley Conference win over in-state foe Southern Illinois on Sunday afternoon.

Johnny Kinziger and Jack Daugherty each scored a game-high 17 points, while Jordan Davis scored a season-high 13 points and pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds for his first collegiate double-double. All 11 Redbirds in uniform for the game saw the scoring column, as Dalton Banks and Caden Boser each added six in the lopsided win.

Behind Davis' 10 rebounds, the Redbirds out-rebounded Southern Illinois 38-to-26. Malachi Poindexter dished out a game-high five assists, while Cade Norris and Boser had four assists apiece, a career-high for each. Banks had a season-high four steals in the win.

The Redbirds, now 10-5 on the season and 2-2 in the MVC head to Evansville, Indiana, for a January 8 battle against the Aces. ISU and Evansville are two of seven schools in the conference this season with a 2-2 record, tied for the fourth position in the standings.

ISU got a jumper from Kinziger and a steal and lay-up from Banks to quickly push the Birds ahead 4-0, as the hosts never trailed in the game. SIU got within one at 6-5 and trailed by two at 9-7. The Redbirds answered and scored nine consecutive points on two three-pointers from Daugherty and one from Kinziger, pushing the margin to double-digits. SIU closed the gap to nine 23 seconds later; however, with 9:53 to play in the first half, Daugherty's third three-pointer over a two-and-a-half-minute span pushed the margin back to double-digits, where it stayed for the remainder of the game. The Redbirds scored the final seven points of the first half to send ISU into the locker room with a 44-23 lead at the break.

In the second half the margin dipped below 20 points just once, as ISU cruised to the 31-point MVC win.

ISU was 31-of-51 from the field (60.8%), and 13-of-28 (46.4%) from long range. The Redbirds converted on 10-of-13 free throw tries, a percentage of 76.9. Southern Illinois was held to 35.7 percent shooting (20-of-56), while making 20 percent from long range (4-of-20) and 10-of-23 from the charity stripe (43.5%).

Southern Illinois had three players in double-digit scoring led by 11 points off the bench from Davion Sykes, as Sheridan Sharp and Jarrett Hensley each scored 10.

TEAM NOTES

• Illinois State used a starting lineup of 3 Dalton Banks, 4 Landon Wolf, 11 Johnny Kinziger, 22 Ty Pence, and 35 Chase Walker
  • It was the 12th time this season ISU has used this starting lineup, and ISU is now 9-3 when using that lineup
• The Salukis won the opening tip
• The first points of the game came from Johnny Kinziger on a jumper with 19:08 to play in the first half
  • It was the fifth time he scored ISU's first points of the game this season, tied for the most on the team
• The first sub for Illinois State was Caden Boser with 18:03 to play in the first half
• Illinois State led 44-23 at the half
• All 11 players that were in uniform for the Redbirds scored in the game
• The Redbirds made over half of their shot attempts for the ninth time this season, which is tied for the second-most in the NCAA this season
• The team's three-point field goal percentage of .464 is the team's 12^th game shooting .400 or better, most in the country
• Illinois State made 60.8 percent of its field goal tries in the game, which is the third-highest of the season for the Birds. ISU is now tied for the most games in the country this season (three) when shooting 60 percent or better

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• Jack Daugherty
  • Reached double-figure scoring for the sixth time this season
  • With five made three-pointers, he now has six games with 4+ made three-pointers, which is the 15th-highest total in the country this season
  • He has made 34 three-point field goals this season, the 11th-most in a season by a Redbird freshman in program history, passing Antonio Reeves' 33 made in 2019-20
• Malachi Poindexter
  • Dished out a season-high five assists while scoring five points
• Cade Norris
  • Tied a career-high with five points
  • Set a career-high with four assists
• Dalton Banks
  • Picked up a season-high four steals
• Jordan Davis
  • Reached double-figure scoring for the first time this season, and eighth time of his career
  • Pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds for his first collegiate double-double

• Johnny Kinziger
  • Got to double-digits for the 12th time this season, and 25th time in his ISU career
  • Tied for the team scoring lead for the fourth time this season and ninth time in his career
• Ty Blake
  • Recorded his first collegiate field goal against the Salukis
• Caden Boser
  • Dished out a career-high-tying four assists while scoring six points
  • Comes into ISU's next game five points away from 1,000 for his collegiate career

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