TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - A lot is at stake Wednesday as the Valley's top-ranked team Indiana State hosts the league's current second-ranked team Southern Illinois at Hulman Center for a 7 p.m. tip. The Sycamores will be looking to remain perfect in Valley play by winning their fifth straight game and securing the season series sweep against the Salukis.
 
Wednesday is Indiana State's first Blackout Cancer Game of the season. The Sycamores will wear special black jerseys with pink striping and a percentage of the proceeds from the overall ticket sales will be donated toward the Rich and Robin Porter Cancer Research Center. The game has been dubbed a "black out" and fans are encouraged to wear black to support the cause.
 
With the 80-60 win against UIC Saturday at home, the Sycamores are 6-0 in Valley play for the first time since Larry Bird's National Championship Runner-Up team in 1978-79. The last time the Sycamores were 6-0, in Valley play, they defeated SIU at Hulman Center to improve to 7-0 in league play.
 
At 13-4, head coach Josh Schertz has already surpassed last season's amount of total (11) and Valley (4) wins. Only four ISU coaches have improved win totals from year one to year two.
 
In Saturday's win, Courvoisier McCauley posted his second double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 rebounds, a high in a Sycamore uniform for the grad transfer. He hit three triples in a game for the fourth consecutive time, and he has posted double digits in nine straight games.
 
When the Sycamores gave up two straight threes to open the game against UIC, that was the first time Indiana State has trailed in a Valley game since the 6:58 mark of the second half at Southern Illinois Dec. 7. It was also Indiana State's largest deficit in a Valley game this season. The Sycamores have only trailed by a total of 12:29 in Valley play this season.

SERIES HISTORY
SIU leads the all-time series 90-52 dating back to 1916. Indiana State is 36-32 at home against the Salukis and has won three of the last four meetings on home court. The Sycamores dropped their most recent home meeting against SIU on Feb. 19, 2022 by a score of 76-72, and they will be looking for their first win against SIU at Hulman Center since Jan. 26, 2021.
 
Indiana State won its first meeting against the Salukis this season, 74-71 on the road back on Dec. 7, 2022. The Sycamores are looking for their first season series sweep against SIU since Jan. 25, 2021-Jan. 26, 2021.

LAST GAME AGAINST THE SALUKIS
The Indiana State Sycamores finished off a Valley thriller by outlasting the Southern Illinois Salukis for a 74-71 road win Dec. 7 of this season. The Sycamores led by 14 in the first half and wound up down by two late in the second half, but held off the late push from the Salukis to take their fifth straight win.
 
Cameron Henry was two assists shy of a triple-double, tying his career-high of eight assists alongside 15 points and a season-high 12 rebounds. He also swiped three passes in the game. Courvoisier McCauley led the Sycamores with 16 points in the game, and Robbie Avila and Jayson Kent each shot over 66 percent from the field for 12 and 10 points, respectively.
 
Henry opened the game with back-to-back layups as part of a 6-0 run for the Sycamores who built up to an early 11-2 lead and forced SIU to play its way out of a hole the entire half.
 
SIU went on a 17-3 second half run spanning over five minutes to take its first lead of the game at 58-56 with 8:54 to play. That lead did not last long as Robbie Avila laid in a basket and then set McCauley up for another triple at 6:22 that gave ISU a 61-58 lead. The Sycamores went on a 12-3 run in the last five minutes to get their lead back up to an eight-point cushion at 72-65 with 25 seconds remaining, which was enough to hold on for the win after two Saluki triples in the last nine seconds.

LAST TIME OUT
Indiana State men's basketball accomplished something Saturday afternoon that has not been done since the Larry Bird Era. With an 80-60 win against UIC at home, the Sycamores have started off 6-0 in Missouri Valley Conference play for the first time since 1978-79 when Bird's team made it to the NCAA National Championship game.
 
Courvoisier McCauley notched a double-double and Julian Larry paced all Sycamore scorers with 18 points to help Indiana State win its fourth straight game and improve to 7-1 at home this season.
 
UIC (9-8, 1-5 MVC) opened the game with back-to-back triples, and after Indiana State (13-4, 6-0 MVC) caught up with a 10-2 run to take a 10-8 lead at 15:33 in the opening frame, the Flames and Sycamores went back-and-forth with neither team gaining more than a three-point lead until 7:17 when UIC hit three free throws and then a layup to take a 23-19 lead.
 
After UIC led 23-19 at 7:17, the Sycamores went off on a 20-2 run and never trailed again in the game. That run lasted nearly the last six minutes of the first half, and Indiana State shot 8-of-10 from the field in that span while holding UIC to 1-of-9 including 0-of-3 from three with two turnovers.
 
Larry launched a shot from the logo at the buzzer that went in to give Indiana State a 42-28 lead at halftime, and he was shooting a perfect 4-of-4 from the field at the break.
 
McCauley pushed Indiana State's lead to 51-32 at 16:51 in the second half on back-to-back triples, and a Jayson Kent and-1 extended the lead to 20 at 63-43 with 10:49 left in the game. The Sycamores reached their largest lead of the game at 22 points with a Cooper Neese jumper at 9:20 that made it 67-45.
 
The lead hit 22 points once again on a 10-0 Sycamore run that was capped by a no-look pass from Robbie Avila to Kent who finished with a layup to get himself in double figures on the scoresheet. The Flames would get one bucket back a few seconds later to close out the scoring in the game.

FOLLOW THE SYCAMORES
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