Two Missouri Valley Conference rivals face off on Saturday when the Illinois State Redbirds (11-13, 5-8 MVC) visit Carbondale and the Banterra Center for a battle with in-state rival the Southern Illinois Salukis (15-9, 7-6 MVC). Illinois State was defeated by UIC 61-56 on Wednesday. The Redbirds have lost two straight and three of the last four. Southern Illinois was defeated by Drake in overtime 92-88 Wednesday. The Salukis have lost two of the last three. Illinois State does not have any players listed on its injury report, while Southern Illinois will play without Cade Hornecker.
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Illinois State is scoring only 65.4 points per game which is 341st in the nation and much of that is due to poor shooting. The Redbirds are 332nd in shooting overall at 40.9% and 353rd in shooting from 3 point territory at 27.8%. The Redbirds are making 70.1% of their free throws which is 247th. Darius Burford is the leading scorer for Illinois State with an average of 13.2 points per game and Myles Foster is second at 11.1 points per game. Illinois State does not have any other players averaging double figures in scoring. Dalton Banks is the leader in assists with an average of 3.6 dishes per game.
Illinois State is allowing an average of 67.5 points per game which is 71st. The Redbirds are allowing opponents to shoot 44.6% overall and 34.5% from 3-point land which are 245th and 267th respectively. Illinois State averages 35.1 rebounds per game led by Foster with an average of 7.3 per contest. Foster is also the rim protector with an average of 0.6 blocked shots per game and Burford is the leader in steals with an average of 1.0 per game.
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