The Basics ? Indiana State looks to make it a perfect 2-0 this weekend in The Sycamore Holiday Showcase with Friday night's victory over Eastern Illinois and Saturday night's contest against nationally-ranked Kansas State. The Sycamores and Wildcats have never faced off against each other on the hardwood.  ISU downed No. 17 nationally-ranked Vanderbilt at home last season.

Kansas State Series Notes ? Saturday night represents the first meeting between the two schools in the history of the program. The Sycamores are 1-4 all-time against members of the Big XII Conference, with that victory coming over Nebraska in 1994.

On The Air ? Saturday night's contest can be heard live on WSDM 92.7 FM in the Wabash Valley. Brent Holl calls the action while Vaso Michals provides color commentary. The game can also be heard live via the internet at crock927.com and GoSycamores.com. The Jim Wiedie Coaches' Show airs on Thursday nights during the non-conference portion of the schedule, with the next broadcast coming on December 18 live on ESPN Radio 1300 AM at 6:00 p.m. The Jim Wiedie Coaches' Show will move to Tuesday nights beginning December 30 and will air at 6:30 p.m.

About The Indiana State Coach ? Indiana State head coach Jim Wiedie is in his ninth year at the helm of the Sycamore women's basketball program. The 2003 and 2006 Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year, Wiedie led the Sycamores to the conference's outright regular season championship in 2006 and has guided ISU into the postseason in three of the last five years. He is 144-98 at Indiana State, and is facing Kansas State for the first time in his career. Additionally, this matchup against the Wildcats is Wiedie's first versus a member of the Big XII Conference.

About The Kansas State Coach ? Kansas State is led by 13th-year head coach Deb Patterson who is going for her 250th career victory on Saturday night against Indiana State. Patterson is 249-138 as a collegiate head coach. She is facing Indiana State for the first time in her career. She was an assistant coach at Missouri Valley Conference member Southern Illinois during the 1991-92 season in which the Salukis reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Patterson is 14-3 all-time against members of the MVC.

Wiedie In Non-Conference Games ? The Sycamores have compiled a 50-29 record in regular season non-conference games under Jim Wiedie, including a 24-6 mark in regular season non-conference games played at Hulman Center.

Wiedie In Conference Games ? 2008-09 will mark the ninth conference season for Jim Wiedie at the helm of the Sycamores. In The Valley, Wiedie is 86-58, highlighted by his 16-2 championship season in 2005-06 as well as a pair of 13-5 finishes in 2002-03 (shared regular season title) and 2004-05. At Hulman Center, Wiedie is nearly unstoppable, boasting a 54-17 mark in regular season home MVC games, including three 8-1 seasons. In two of the past three seasons, Wiedie led the Sycamores to back-to-back eight win conference home records. Wiedie's 86 Missouri Valley Conference victories are the most conference triumphs by a Sycamore head coach, and are also the most by any active coach in the league. His 86 career MVC victories rank eighth all-time in Valley history. He needs two more Valley victories to tie Eastern Illinois' Barbara Hilke for seventh.

Quick Hits ? Junior Kara Schilli is playing her 100th career game against Kansas State ... Kelsey Luna needs just two points versus the Wildcats to reach 800 for her career ... ISU defeated nationally-ranked Vanderbilt, by a 77-72 count in overtime last season at Hulman Center ... With its 64-51 victory over Eastern Illinois, the Sycamores improved to 2-0 on the season when leading at the half ... The Sycamores are 0-4 this season when shooting less than 40 percent from the field ... ISU is 0-5 when the opposition shoots for a higher field goal percentage ... ISU is looking for its first victory on a Saturday this season (is currently 0-3) ... Leah Phillips and Kelsey Luna both tied their career-highs for assists in Friday night's victory over Eastern Illinois (Phillips with six, Luna with five).

Need Offense? It's Cool! ? Sophomore Kelsie Cooley has posted career-high scoring totals in two of the last three games, including Friday night's 64-51 victory over Eastern Illinois. Cooley recently posted 16 points at Tulane two weeks ago, but bested that mark versus the Panthers with a 24-point effort. Cooley hit 12-of-16 shots from the field and added four rebounds in the winning effort. Her shooting effort was so strong against Eastern Illinois that he season field goal percentage improved to 56.5 and is now the best so far this season in the Missouri Valley Conference.

This Defensive Effort Ends Better ? The Indiana State Sycamores have held two opponents to 51 points or less this season. The first time the Sycamores accomplished that feat, it wasn't very pretty as ISU still was defeated by New Orleans by a 42-31 count, but Friday night's defensive effort versus Eastern Illinois bore fruit as the Sycamores earned a 64-51 rivalry victory over the Panthers.

Breaking The Streak ? Indiana State had dropped each of their last four contests prior to Friday night's victory over Eastern Illinois, which tied the longest losing skid for the Sycamores under head coach Jim Wiedie. ISU had dropped four in a row for just the fifth time under Wiedie, but has never lost five in a row. ISU improved to a perfect 5-0 under Wiedie when falling in the four previous contests with a 64-51 win over Eastern Illinois.

The Sycamore Holiday Showcase ? Saturday night's game against Kansas State ends a two-day, three-game basketball adventure at Hulman Center called The Sycamore Holiday Showcase. The weekend featured a women's victory on Friday night against Eastern Illinois, a men's contest earlier Saturday versus Depauw followed by this women's game versus nationally-ranked Kansas State.

Sycamores Received National Attention Against Eastern Illinois ? Friday night's game against Eastern Illinois kicked off the NCAA Double A Zone's Indiana Extravaganza, where NCAA staff members Howard Smith and Ryan Powell are attending and covering 11 different basketball games in the state of Indiana between Friday and Monday. The duo covered the battle between the Sycamores and Panthers on their live blog located at:
www.doubleazone.com/2008/12/indiana_college_basketball_extravaganza_11_games_four_days_ncaa.php
Following the four-day tour, Smith and Powell will create a video journal of their adventures on NCAA.com and there will be a feature article published about their trip in an upcoming edition of the NCAA News.

Starting Five Leading The Way ? Throughout the first nine games of the season, Indiana State has used the same starting five in each contest; Kelsey Luna, Leah Phillips, Kelsie Cooley, Deja Mattox and Kara Schilli. Those are five of the top six scorers on the team so far. In fact, the ISU starting five has scored all but 123 of the Sycamores points this season. In the Sycamores' three victories, the starting five has connected on 51.7 percent of their shots (62-of-120) while those same five have shot just 36.5 percent from the field (95-of-260) in six defeats. From 3-point range in the two victories, the Sycamores are 37 percent (20-of-54) while they are just 30.0 percent in the five defeats (33-of-110).

Jarrett Is Jarring ? Freshman Bianca Jarrett posted a career-high 15 points off the bench as the Sycamores battled Ball State last week. Jarrett hit 5-of-12 shots from the field, including one 3-pointer and was 4-of-6 from the free throw line. She also dished out an assist in 22 minutes of action against the Cardinals. With the Sycamores trailing by three points on two separate occasions with six minutes left in the game, Jarrett hit running jumpers twice to pull Indiana State within a point twice.

The Fresh Faces Making An Impact! ? Indiana State's roster features seven freshmen this season and they are making an immediate impact on the Sycamore women's basketball program. Paced by Deja Mattox, who is averaging 8.3 points as well as 4.5 rebounds per game, the freshmen have accounted for 155 of ISU's 502 total points scored, or 30.9 percent.

Kelsey Is Tops Twice ? Junior Kelsey Luna tops the Missouri Valley Conference statistical rankings in a pair of categories. She is connected on 3.3 3-point field goals per game, which is the best in the league and ranks seventh nationally while her 2.8 steals per game as also a MVC standard and rank 61st in the nation. She also appears in two other statistical rankings in the Valley as her 15.1 ppg average is fourth while her blazing 39.7 percent clip from 3-point range is ninth. That 39.7 shooting percentage from long range ranks 70th-best in the NCAA.

TAG! You're It, No, You're It! ? Senior Leah Phillips and junior Kelsey Luna are both climbing the Sycamore record book in career 3-point field goals made. Luna holds a slight lead over Leah Phillips after connecting on three triples in the Sycamores' last contest against Eastern Illinois. Luna now has 170 career 3-pointers and stands in fourth place while Phillips is now in sixth with 162. Phillips is chasing April Kirby for fifth place (166) and Luna (170) for fourth, while Luna's next record book target is Hazel Olden, who hit 180 3-pointers during her career.

Freaky 13 ? Ninth-year Indiana State head coach Jim Wiedie enters Saturday night's contest against Kansas State with 144 career victories, needing just 13 more to catch Edith Godleski for the school record to become the school's all-time winningest coach by both total wins and percentage. Catching Godleski would be no small feat, as she will be inducted into the Indiana State Athletics Hall of Fame this winter. Godleski coaches the Sycamores for the first 11 seasons of the program from 1971-82.

Leah Phillips Named MVC Player of the Week ? Indiana State senior guard Leah Phillips was named the Missouri Valley Conference's Player of the Week for the first time in her career for efforts in road victories over Detroit and Southeast Missouri State. Phillips scored a career-high 27 points, hitting 9-of-12 shots from the field, including a sparking 6-of-8 mark from behind the 3-point line to lead ISU to a thrilling 75-72 victory over SEMO. Phillips added a pair of steals in 37 minutes of action. She hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the first half to help ISU erase an early 10-point deficit and another triple with under four minutes left in the game which knotted the score. Against Detroit, she hit three 3-point field goals en route to 15 points in the ISU win. Phillips was a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line and pulled down four rebounds, dished out four assists and recorded a steal against Detroit, which had just beaten No. 23 Georgia only four days earlier. For the week, Phillips hit 13-of-22 shots from the field (59.1 percent) and connected on 9-of-17 shots from long range (52.9 percent). She was 7-of-8 from the free throw line (87.5 percent) and pulled down 2.5 rebounds, dished out 2.0 assists and recorded 1.5 steals per game. The honor for Phillips is the first weekly plaudit in her Sycamore career. She is the first Sycamore to earn Valley Player of the Week honors since Kelsey Luna did so following the ISU victory over nationally-ranked Vanderbilt last year.

Academic Run Continues ? For the seventh consecutive season, the Indiana State women's basketball program was noted for its high academic achievements under head coach Jim Wiedie. The Sycamore women's basketball team finished ranked third in the most recent Women's Basketball Coaches Association Top 25 Team Honor Roll for NCAA Division I in team grade point average with a stellar mark of 3.59.

The Last Time Out ? The Indiana State Sycamores (3-6) stepped onto the Nellie & John Wooden Court at the Hulman Center Friday night in an attempt to avoid their first-ever five-game losing streak under Head Coach Jim Wiedie.  The Sycamores did just that in the opening game of The Sycamore Holiday Showcase against the Eastern Illinois Panthers (8-4) winning 64-52 behind a career-high 24-point effort from Kelsie Cooley.  The Sycamores have lost four in a row on six different occasions under Wiedie but have won the fifth game every time to avoid the five-game losing streak.

The first five points of the game belonged to the Panthers until Kelsie Cooley made it 5-2 when she drove to the basket and laid the ball in for the first Sycamore bucket.  Kelsey Luna followed with a three-pointer shortly after to tie the game at 5-5 with 17:00 on the clock.  The tie was short-lived as Cooley sunk a long jumper on the next Sycamore possession to put the home team ahead 7-5.

The Panthers went on an eight-point run to take a 15-9 lead with ten minutes remaining thanks to a couple free-throws and two-point baskets by Ellen Canale, Rachel Galligan, and Maggie Kloak.

The Sycamores cut the lead down when Luna stole the ball and fed Kara Schilli for a breakaway layup.  Another Sycamore steal off the ensuing inbounds pass by Kayla Mullins led to a layup for Cooley to put the score at 15-13 in favor of the visiting Panthers with just over eight minutes to go in the first half.

After Canale put her team up by four by draining a long two-point basket on the subsequent Panther possession, the Sycamores went on a 16-3 run to end the first half with a 29-21 advantage.  In that time, Leah Phillips converted a three-point play after being fouled on a drive to the basket in which she made the layup and drained the resulting free-throw.

Shannon Thomas contributed four points of her own after going 2-for-2 at the free-throw line followed by a layup.  Luna scored the next five Sycamore points after knocking down a short jumper and a three-pointer right after.

The Panthers had a chance to cut the lead to six when Galligan found herself alone under the basket but missed a wide-open layup at the buzzer.

Cooley and Luna led the Sycamores in first half scoring with eight points each.  The home team shot 41% from the field and also held a 21-12 advantage in rebounding.

For the visiting Panthers, Kloak led her team in the first half scoring seven points.  Canale chipped in six.

With the Sycamores up by eight to start the second period, Cooley continued her hot shooting first by converting a layup, then by nailing two consecutive jump-shots to put the Sycamores up 35-21 less than four minutes into the game.

The Panthers didn't score a basket until 16:19 showed on the clock when Megan Edwards made a layup for her first points of the game.

Cooley, who already scored the first three baskets for the Sycamores, made good on her next layup attempt for her eighth straight point to give her team a 14-point cushion, 37-23, with 16 minutes to go in the game.

The Panthers wouldn't go down easily as they fought to cut the lead to eight three minutes later topped off by a Canale layup, the team's leading scorer.

After head coach Jim Wiedie called a timeout, Luna hit her third shot from behind the arc and Cooley drained yet another jumper to put the score at 44-31 in favor of the home standing Sycamores.

After fighting their way back into it yet again, the Panthers were only down seven after Canale hit a three-point basket from the top of the arc with 9:41 remaining.

Five consecutive points by the Sycamores including a three-pointer by Brittany Schoen, her first of the game, and another basket by Cooley put the home squad back up 49-37 with about nine minutes to go.
Both teams continued to trade baskets until the Panthers clawed their way to within five, with just under five minutes to go.  However, the Panther's hopes of making a comeback were shattered by Cooley who made two more baskets to finish with a career-high 24 points (12-16 from the field).

The Sycamores emerged victorious, 65-51, over the Panthers for the seventh straight time and now lead the all-time series 31-22.  Following Cooley in scoring was Kelsey Luna who finished with 13 points, six rebounds, and five assists while battling the flu.

Up Next ? The busy pre-Holiday schedule continues for Indiana State as the Sycamores travel to historic Hinkle Fieldhouse on Monday, December 22 to face off against Butler. Tip-off is slated for Noon (EDT).