It’s the opening round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, better known as Arch Madness, coming to you from the Gateway City. The ninth-seeded Illinois State Redbirds are the “road” team as they take on the eighth-seeded Northern Iowa Panthers Thursday afternoon with the winner advancing to take on top-seeded Bradley in the quarterfinals. Illinois State comes in off a 72-53 win at home over Evansville Sunday afternoon, covering the line as a 10-point favorite, in their previous contest. Northern Iowa fell 83-75 at home against Belmont in their regular season finale Sunday, failing to cover as a three-point underdog. In the all-time series between the teams, the Panthers own a 43-38 advantage and have won the last nine meetings. That includes a 65-63 home win in the most recent meeting on January 18.
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Illinois State snapped a six-game slide as they took down Evansville in their regular season finale Sunday afternoon. The Redbirds enter the conference tournament 11-20 overall and went 6-14 in the conference during the regular season. Against Evansville, Illinois State trailed 6-0 90 seconds into the game before regrouping to lead by three at the half. The Redbirds pulled away in the second half, outscoring the Purple Aces by a 41-25 margin, to earn the victory. Illinois State shot 52.9% from the field, including nine of 19 from three-point range, and controlled the boards by a 36-21 margin to offset turning the ball over 15 times in the game. Seneca Knight led Illinois State with 26 points, five rebounds and four assists in the win.
The Redbirds put up 66.6 points a night so far this season, which is 311th in the nation in scoring offense. Illinois State collects 32.6 rebounds and dishe s out 10.5 assists per game this season. The Redbirds are an average team on the defensive end of the floor this season, ranking 194th in scoring defense by allowing 70.3 points per game. Darius Burford leads the team with 12.8 points per game this season. Seneca Knight (12.1 points, 5.9 rebounds), Kendall Lewis (10.7 points, 7.3 rebounds) and Malachi (11.8 points) are solid scoring options. Luke Kasubke, Liam McChesney, Colton Sandage, Harouna Sissoko, Joe Petrakis and Jayden Johnson are all looked to for solid minutes this season. The Redbirds shoot 43.4% from the field as a team this season. Illinois State connects on 7.3 three-pointers a night while shooting 33.6% from beyond the arc. The Redbirds are terrific at the charity stripe, hitting 79.5% of their chances this season, which is fourth in the nation.
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