Illinois State takes on Drake following Burford's 23-point game

Published Feb. 21, 2023 3:43 a.m. ET

Associated Press

Illinois State Redbirds (10-19, 5-13 MVC) at Drake Bulldogs (23-6, 14-4 MVC)

Des Moines, Iowa; Wednesday, 8 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Illinois State faces the Drake Bulldogs after Darius Burford scored 23 points in Illinois State's 80-64 loss to the Indiana State Sycamores.

The Bulldogs have gone 13-1 at home. Drake is the MVC leader with 33.8 rebounds per game led by Darnell Brodie averaging 7.2.

The Redbirds have gone 5-13 against MVC opponents. Illinois State is sixth in the MVC shooting 33.5% from deep. Alex Kotov leads the Redbirds shooting 50% from 3-point range.

The Bulldogs and Redbirds match up Wednesday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Tucker DeVries is scoring 19.2 points per game with 5.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists for the Bulldogs. Roman Penn is averaging 13.3 points and 4.9 rebounds while shooting 49.0% over the last 10 games for Drake.

Kendall Lewis is averaging 10.8 points and 7.3 rebounds for the Redbirds. Burford is averaging 13.2 points over the last 10 games for Illinois State.

LAST 10 GAMES: Bulldogs: 9-1, averaging 80.7 points, 33.5 rebounds, 14.6 assists, 5.5 steals and 2.7 blocks per game while shooting 48.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.5 points per game.

Redbirds: 2-8, averaging 68.0 points, 27.6 rebounds, 10.3 assists, 5.7 steals and 2.8 blocks per game while shooting 44.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 74.9 points.

___

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