TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The Indiana State Sycamores are seeking their sixth straight win and fourth season series sweep Wednesday night when they head to the Windy City for a matchup against UIC. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. ET on ESPN+ from Credit Union 1 Arena.
 
Indiana State is coming off its fifth straight win and fourth straight double-digit win after defeating UNI 80-62 on the road Saturday.
 
The Sycamores lead the Valley in scoring with 78.9 points per game, and they are 12-2 when scoring 80 or more points this season.
 
The Sycamores now have 18 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.
 
Cooper Neese is 10 3-pointers away from moving into sole possession of fourth place on ISU's all-time list of career 3-point leaders.
 
Robbie Avila is two points away from passing Tyreke Key and moving into sole possession of 10th place on ISU's all-time freshman scoring list.
 
The Sycamores were plagued with second-half struggles early in the season but have recently turned that around. In their last six games dating back to Jan. 24 at Drake, the Sycamores are outscoring their opponents in the second half by 90 (+15 scoring margin) compared to being outscored by 49 (-3.5 scoring margin) in the 14 games before that.
 
With four games remaining in the regular season, the Sycamores remain just one game out of first place in the MVC standings. Drake and Bradley sit at the top tied at 12-5 while there is a three-way tie among Southern Illinois, Belmont, and Indiana State at 11-5.


SERIES HISTORY
Saturday will be just the fourth all-time meeting between Indiana State and first-year Valley member UIC. The two teams met once in 2001 and once in 2002 and then did not meet again until Jan. 8 earlier this year when the Sycamores won 80-60 at home. Indiana State leads the all-time series 2-1 but has yet to win against the Flames in Chicago.
 
A WIN WOULD...

• Tie ISU's season-best six-game win streak.
• Give the Sycamores their fourth season sweep of the year.
• Give ISU 19 overall wins for the first time since 2013-14.
• Give ISU seven road wins for the first time since 2013-14.
• Give ISU 12 Valley wins for the first time since 2013-14.

 
LAST GAME AGAINST THE FLAMES
With an 80-60 win against UIC at home earlier this season, the Sycamores started off 6-0 in Missouri Valley Conference play for the first time since 1978-79 when Larry 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 ISU win its fourth straight.
 
After UIC led 23-19 at 7:17, the ISU 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 ISU 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.
 
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.

LAST TIME OUT
The Indiana State Sycamores extended their win streak to five games Saturday afternoon with a statement win on the road at Northern Iowa, defeating the Panthers 80-62 for their fourth straight double-digit win.
 
Courvoisier McCauley paced all scorers in the game with 21 points including a game-high five 3-pointers. Julian Larry posted his third double-figure scoring outing in four games with 17 points alongside four rebounds, three assists, and three steals.
 
Iowa native Cade McKnight rounded out the Sycamores in double figures with 11 points and a tied team-high seven rebounds. He shot a perfect 3-of-3 from the field with a triple and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.
 
The Sycamores gave up the first basket of the day but held control of the game from start to finish. The first 10 minutes saw four ties and three lead changes, but UNI never led by more than two points and after 12:57 in the first half, never led again in the game.
 
It took nearly two minutes for either team to get on the board, and things were even at 4-4 with 15:55 to go in the opening frame until a pair of free throws and a layup from Cameron Henry put the Sycamores up 8-4 at 15:26. Back-to-back Sycamore threes pushed ISU's lead to 20-14 with 9:47 left in the half, and Jayson Kent put ISU up by 10 with a three before Larry scooped up a loose ball and took it all the way in for a slam dunk to make it 26-16 at 6:29.
 
The Panthers responded with an 8-0 run to cut their deficit to four points and force a Sycamore timeout with 3:39 left in the half, but ISU came out of that timeout with two straight threes to go back up by 10 at 35-25 with 2:49 to go. Xavier Bledson notched his team-high fourth assist in the game when he fed McCauley for a three to close out the first half and put ISU up by 15 at 44-29 going into the break.
 
Indiana State went off on a 13-0 run with three triples early in the second half to reach its largest lead of the game, 28 points at 59-31 with 16:20 to go. UNI would come within 16 points in the final minute, but that's as close as the Panthers would get.
 
CHARITY SUCCESS
Indiana State shot 95.8% (23-of-24) from the free throw line in Saturday's 18-point win at UNI, marking the third-best percentage in program history (minimum 10 FT made) and the best percentage since 1993. The program record is 100% (31-of-31) against Wichita State Feb. 18, 1991.
 
Nine different Sycamores made two or more free throws in the game, led by Cade McKnight and Julian Larry who each made 4-of-4.
 
MCCAULEY EARNS B2B NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK HONORS
Courvoisier McCauley was named the MVC Newcomer of the Week for the second and third time this season on Feb. 6 and Feb. 13.
 
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.
 
Feb. 13: He led the Sycamores to two double-digit victories this week to extend their win streak to five games. He averaged 18 points with a team-high 15 points against Valparaiso alongside six rebounds, three triples, a block, and a steal in the game. Saturday at Northern Iowa, McCauley paced all scorers in the game with 21 points and a game-high five triples for his eighth 20+-point outing this season.
 
This marks the second time ever and first time since Manny Arop in 2012 that a Sycamore has earned back-to-back MVC Newcomer of the Week honors, and McCauley joins Brenton Scott and Jake Odum as the only three Sycamores to earn the award three times in one season.
 
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, assists per game and assist-to-turnover ratio while Julian Larry and Cameron Henry rank top-10 in the Valley in all three of those categories.
 
The Sycamores are 14-0 this season when they dish out 15 or more assists.
 
Cameron Henry is two 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, and the 36 triples between those two games are the most in a two-game stretch in Valley history.
 
Eight different Sycamores connected on a three in those 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 13.8 3-pointers a game across the last five wins, and the Sycamores are 11 triples away from tying the season program record of 270 for the second straight season.

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