Illinois State faces Southern Illinois following Pence’s 21-point game

By Canadian Press on December 18, 2025.

Illinois State Redbirds (8-3) at Southern Illinois Salukis (6-5)

Carbondale, Illinois; Thursday, 9 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Illinois State visits Southern Illinois after Ty Pence scored 21 points in Illinois State’s 83-78 loss to the Utah State Aggies.

The Salukis have gone 4-0 in home games. Southern Illinois ranks second in the MVC with 26.5 defensive rebounds per game led by Rolyns Aligbe averaging 4.3.

The Redbirds are 1-1 on the road. Illinois State ranks fourth in the MVC shooting 36.4% from 3-point range.

Southern Illinois scores 80.6 points, 13.1 more per game than the 67.5 Illinois State allows. Illinois State has shot at a 48.8% rate from the field this season, 7.3 percentage points above the 41.5% shooting opponents of Southern Illinois have averaged.

The Salukis and Redbirds square off Thursday for the first time in MVC play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Quel’Ron House is scoring 14.5 points per game and averaging 2.9 rebounds for the Salukis. Davion Sykes is averaging 9.6 points and 5.1 rebounds over the last 10 games.

Johnny Kinziger is shooting 45.9% and averaging 13.0 points for the Redbirds. Ty’Reek Coleman is averaging 11.6 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Salukis: 5-5, averaging 80.4 points, 35.4 rebounds, 15.0 assists, 7.8 steals and 3.1 blocks per game while shooting 49.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 76.6 points per game.

Redbirds: 8-2, averaging 82.5 points, 35.1 rebounds, 14.5 assists, 6.2 steals and 2.4 blocks per game while shooting 49.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.0 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

The Associated Press