Indiana State University Athletics

ST. LOUIS -- One day after being named to the All-Missouri Valley Conference Second Team, Indiana State sophomore Jordan Barnes has picked up MVC Most Improved honors and is the team captain, according to a release today by the league office. This award is voted on by the league's beat writers.

Barnes is joined on the team by Aaron Cook (Southern Illinois), Clayton Custer (Loyola), Sean Lloyd (Southern Illinois), Nick McGlynn (Drake) and Dru Smith (Evansville). As the top vote getter for this award, Barnes has been named the Missouri Valley Conference's Most Improved Player in 2017-18.

Jordan Barnes picked up his first All-Missouri Conference honor earlier this week, one season after being named to the MVC All-Freshman Team. He has hit 112 3-pointers this season which is a new single-season school record and is the fourth-most ever in the history of the MVC. That total ranks third-best in the nation. From January 17 through February 17, Barnes connected on 29 free throws in a row – the most by a Sycamore in over three seasons. He ranks third in the MVC with a 17.2 ppg average while his 3.6 assists per game is sixth in the league.  He hits 85.6 percent of his free throws to rank third while he is connecting on 41.8 percent of his 3-point attempts which is ninth-best in the conference.
 
Barnes leads the Missouri Valley Conference with 3.7 made 3-pointers per game which ranks fourth-best nationally. He owns a 1.3 assist-to-turnover ratio which ranks eighth in the MVC and his 33.5 minutes per game which is fourth-best in the league. Barnes was third in the conference only scoring rankings as he also averaged 17.2 ppg in league games. His 86.4 free throw percentage in league games was third-best in the MVC. He averaged 3.5 trifectas per game to lead the league.
 
He enjoyed a four-game stretch of scoring over 20 points in a game which was the longest such streak by a Sycamore since Greg Thomas did it during the 1992-93 campaign. He scored 25 points and hit six 3-pointers against Air Force and then posted 25 in the next game at North Texas on the strength of five 3-pointers and an 8-of-9 showing at the free throw line. Barnes hit a career-high seven 3-pointers -- the most by a Sycamore in five seasons -- en route to scoring 23 points against Indianapolis and finished the string with 22 points to lead ISU to a victory over Green Bay.
 
Barnes connected on five 3-pointers to post a career-high 27 points while pulling down a career-best nine rebounds in the home victory over Northern Iowa. He led the Sycamores with 19 points, hitting five 3-pointers and a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line in the home win over Evansville. He finished the regular season with a team-leading 13 points in the road victory over Bradley.

The Sycamores used a thrilling 66-64 victory at Bradley last Saturday to secure the league's No. 6 seed at the upcoming State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. ISU will take on No. 3 Illinois State this Friday, March 2 at 9:30 p.m. (ET) in a game that will be televised on the Missouri Valley Conference TV Network (namely, Fox Sports Indiana Plus, NBC Sports Chicago, Fox Sports Go, ESPN3).

Tickets are still available through the Hulman Center Box Office for this week's tournament games. Fans may stop by in person or call 1-877-ISU-TIX for pricing and options. Once again, the team's headquarter hotel is the Downtown Hilton by the Arch at 400 Olive Street and is also the host of the Sycamore Basketball Pregame Party. Beginning at 6:30 p.m. (Central) on Friday, March 2, fans will be entertained in the hotel lobby and will have the chance to send the team off to Scottrade Center for their quarterfinal matchup against Illinois State. The Sycamore Basketball Pregame Party is sponsored by ISU Credit Union, Sycamore Athletics and the ISU Alumni Association.