TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Three road games remain for Indiana State this season beginning with a trip to Cedar Falls Saturday for the second matchup against Northern Iowa this season. The Sycamores will be looking for their fifth straight win and third season series sweep as they tip off against the Panthers at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN3 Saturday, Feb. 11.
 
Eight different Sycamores hit a three for the second game in a row Wednesday while ISU was just two triples shy of tying the program record set in the last game with 17 in an 84-62 win against Valpo at home.
 
Cooper Neese has hit three 3-pointers in his last three games to bring his career total to 206. He is 10 3-pointers away from moving into sole possession of fourth place on ISU's all-time list of career 3-point leaders.
 
The Sycamores now have 17 overall wins for just the second time in nine seasons, and Josh Schertz is one of four ISU coaches all-time to improve win totals from year one to year two.
 
It's no secret the Sycamores have struggled to put together 40 solid minutes in a game throughout the season, mainly with second-half struggles, but ISU has turned that around recently. In their last five games dating back to Jan. 24 at Drake, the Sycamores are outscoring their opponents in the second half by 87 (+17.4 scoring margin) compared to being outscored by 49 (-3.5 scoring margin) in the 14 games before that.
 
In their last two games, both 20+-point Valley wins at home, the Sycamores are averaging 18 threes, 24.5 assists, and 5.5 turnovers. Eight different players hit a three in both games, and Julian Larry has totaled 16 assists with just two turnovers in those two games.
 
With five games remaining on the regular season schedule, the Sycamores are one game out of first place, tied at 10-5 for fourth place with Belmont. There is currently a three-way tie for first place with Drake, Southern Illinois, and Bradley all sitting at 11-4.

SERIES HISTORY
Indiana State and Northern Iowa will meet for the 66th time Saturday afternoon. ISU leads the all-time series 34-31 dating back to 1992, but the Sycamores trail 21-11 in Cedar Falls. The series is tied 5-5 in the last 10 meetings, and ISU took the most recent meeting on Jan. 28, 2023, 79-71, at home to break a three-game skid against the Panthers and also kickstart the current four-game win streak after dropping the last five games before that.
 
A WIN WOULD...

• Extend ISU's win streak to five games.
• Give the Sycamores their third season sweep of the year.
• Give ISU 18 overall wins for the second time in nine seasons and six overall road wins for the first time since 2013-14.
• Give ISU five Valley road wins for the second time in nine seasons.
• Give ISU 11 Valley wins for the third time in eight seasons including three of the last four.

 
LAST GAME AGAINST THE PANTHERS
Five different Sycamores scored in double figures as Indiana State got back on track with a 79-71 win over Northern Iowa at Hulman Center in front of a loud home crowd that included men's basketball alumni dating back to 1948.
 
In a game that saw 10 lead changes and six ties, the Sycamores led by just two points at 70-68 with just 2:00 to go in the second half. Indiana State took advantage of late free throws, shooting 6-of-6 at the line down the stretch with four straight stops to end the game.
 
Xavier Bledson led the Sycamores in scoring off the bench with 20 points while Cameron Henry posted a double-double with 14 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Cooper Neese and Zach Hobbs added 14 points each while Robbie Avila posted 10 points.
 
With his 10th rebound at 9:42 in the second half, Cameron Henry notched his third double-double of the season and first since Dec. 7 against Southern Illinois. His 12 rebounds tie a season-high while his 14 points mark his 12th double-digit scoring game of the season.
 
Xavier Bledson came off the bench to play a season-high 31:11 and tied the game-high of 20 points for his second 20+-point effort of the year.
Zach Hobbs shot 4-of-5 from three for a season-high 14 points.

LAST TIME OUT
The threes were falling inside Hulman Center once again Wednesday night as the Sycamores defeated Valparaiso 84-62 for their fourth straight win. Eight different Sycamores hit a three for the second game in a row while Indiana State was just two triples shy of tying the program record set in the last game with 17 tonight.
 
ISU allowed Valpo the first bucket of the night, but after taking the lead with a Julian Larry triple a minute and a half later, the Sycamores would not allow the Beacons another lead in the game.
 
After leading by just one point at 11-10 with 15:50 to go in the opening frame, the Sycamores went on an 8-0 run and never looked back. They went 3-of-3 from three in a span of less than a minute and later pushed the lead to 10 points at 25-15 with a Zach Hobbs triple at 10:40.
 
By halftime, all nine Sycamores who had seen action were on the scoresheet. Eight of those nine attempted at least one 3-pointer while seven of them made at least one 3-pointer. As a team, the Sycamores had 11 3-pointers and 13 assists on 17 buckets in the first half and held a 46-39 lead at the break.
 
The Indiana State lead hit a game-high 25 points midway through the second frame after back-to-back triples from Cooper Neese and Larry followed by a layup from Trenton Gibson that made it 73-48 with 7:02 to go. Jayson Kent joined in as the eighth Sycamore with a 3-pointer at 4:55 and he added his second trey to close the scoring for Indiana State with 2:21 remaining.
 
SYCAMORES SHOW OUT ON NATIONAL STAGE
Saturday's 43-point win over Murray State on CBS Sports Network is Indiana State's largest margin of victory against a Valley team in program history, breaking the previous margin of 36 points against Evansville Feb. 21, 2001.
 
The Sycamores committed just four turnovers against Murray State Saturday, the least amount of turnovers against a Valley team since Jan. 18, 2012 when ISU committed four against Illinois State.
 
SHARING IS CARING
Indiana's State's 27 assists against Murray State Saturday is an all-time program second-best, behind the program record of 34 set in 1983 against West Texas State. Julian Larry led the way Saturday with a career-high nine assists in the game.
 
ISU leads the Valley in assists per game and assist-to-turnover ratio while Julian Larry and Cameron Henry rank top-10 in the Valley in assists, assists per game, and assist-to-turnover ratio.
 
The Sycamores are 14-0 this season when they dish out 15 or more assists.
 
Cameron Henry is four assists away from 100 this season and would be the first Sycamore with 100 assists in a season since Jordan Barnes in 2019-20.
 
RAININ' THREES
Indiana State set a single-game program record for 3-pointers in a game with 19 against Murray State Saturday, breaking the previous record of 18 vs. Arizona State Dec. 2, 1988. Those 19 3-pointers are the most all-time in a game between two Valley teams.
 
ISU was two triples shy of tying that program record Wednesday against Valpo.
 
Eight different Sycamores connected on a three in each of the last two games. ISU is 9-1 this season when six or more players hit a three in a game and 10-1 when making 10 or more threes as a team.
 
ISU is averaging over 15 3-pointers a game across the last three wins, and the Sycamores are 20 triples away from tying the season program record of 270 for the second straight season.
 
MCCAULEY EARNS SECOND NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK HONOR
Courvoisier McCauley was named the MVC Newcomer of the Week for the second time this season on Feb. 6. He averaged 20.5 points and 8.5 rebounds on the week to help the Sycamores to back-to-back double-digit wins. He posted an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double Wednesday at Evansville before scoring a game-high 23 points while hitting five of ISU's program-best 19 3-pointers against Murray State Saturday.
 
POWERED BY THE BENCH
Bledson posted a team-high 20 points against UNI for his second 20+-point outing this season, and Hobbs nailed four triples for a season-high 14 points. Those 34 points are tied for ISU's second-most bench points against DI opponents this season, even with 34 bench points against Drexel when Bledson had an ISU career-high 22 points off the bench, and behind 38 bench points against Evansville when 12 different Sycamores made it on the scoresheet. ISU ranks second in the Valley in bench points this season.

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