Know Thy Opponent: Illinois State Redbirds

  • 11/23/2007 9:51 am in

th_23666_knowthyopponent_122_866lo.jpgNo. 8 Indiana continues play in the Chicago Invitational Challenge tonight against Illinois State of the Missouri Valley Conference.

This is the fourth meeting all-time between the schools with the Hoosiers holding a 3-0 lead in the series. The Redbirds have three wins against top 10 teams in their history.

The teams share a common opponent in UNC Wilmington. Indiana defeated Wilmington 95-71 and Illinois State won 89-73.

The Redbirds are 3-0 on the young season and were picked to finish fifth in the MVC behind Southern Illinois, Bradley, Missouri State and Creighton.

Tim Jankovich is in his first season as the head coach at Illinois State. Jankovich spent the past four seasons as an assistant to Bill Self at Kansas. Jankovich has also coached at Illinois, Vanderbilt, North Texas, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Colorado State and Texas.

The primary focus for Indiana will be stopping guard Osiris Eldridge, a 6-3 sophomore guard who is averaging 21.7 points per game.  Eldridge scored 30 points against UNC Wilmington and was the MVC Freshman of the Year last season.

Other Redbirds to watch include: Anthony Slack (14 ppg), Dom Johnson (9.7 ppg), Brandon Holtz (8 ppg) and Levi Dyer (8 ppg).

To learn more about the Illinois State program, click here.

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