TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Riding a six-game win streak, Indiana State looks to keep its streak alive and pick up its fifth season series sweep Saturday when the Sycamores host Illinois State at the Hulman Center for a 2 p.m. tip on ESPN3.
 
Saturday is the second Black Out Cancer game of the season. The Sycamores will be wearing special black uniforms, and a percentage of ticket proceeds will go to the Rich and Robin Porter Cancer Research Center.
 
Saturday has also been dubbed "Be Like Robbie" day, and the first 2,500 fans in attendance will receive a free pair of goggles courtesy of Labor Link. The first 3,500 fans will receive a free rally towel courtesy of Wright's Pool Service.
 
Cameron Henry hit the 100 assists mark with his second assist of the night at UIC. He becomes the first Sycamore since Jordan Barnes in 2019-20 to record 100 assists in a single season.
 
Robbie Avila posted 12 points at UIC to move into ninth place on ISU's all-time list of points as a freshman with 261 points so far this season.
 
Courvoisier McCauley posted his second-straight 20+-point performance and third in his last four games at UIC. He nailed five triples in the game for the seventh time this season and is now just five triples away from ranking second on ISU's all-time list of 3-pointers in a single season.
 
With eight triples at UIC, the Sycamores are just three 3-pointers away from tying the program record of 270 3-pointers in a single season for the second year in a row.
 
With 19 wins this season compared to 11 last season, Josh Schertz has led ISU to its best-ever turn around for a head coach from year one to year two.
 
The Sycamores remain one game out of first place in the Valley with three regular season games to go. Drake and Bradley are tied for first place at 13-4 while ISU joins Southern Illinois and Belmont in a three-way tie for third at 12-5.


SERIES HISTORY
Saturday will be the 132nd meeting between Indiana State and Illinois State, and the Sycamores trail 62-69 in the overall series dating back to 1914. Indiana State holds a 41-20 mark against the Redbirds in Terre Haute and won the first meeting of the season against Illinois State, 76-67, Jan. 4 on the road.
 
A WIN WOULD...
» Give ISU its first 20-win season since 2013-14 and its eighth total 20-win season in the Valley era dating back to 1976.
» Give the Sycamores 13 Valley wins for the first time since 1999- 2000 when they won the Valley with a 14-4 league record.
» Give ISU 11 home wins for the first time since 2019-20.
 
LAST GAME AGAINST THE REDBIRDS
Indiana State was without its leading scorer, but that did not matter as the Sycamores defeated Illinois State, 76-67, for their fifth straight Valley win and second straight Valley win on the road. The Sycamores remained perfect in Valley at 5-0 with the Jan. 4 win over Illinois State.
 
After finding out Courvoisier McCauley was unavailable due to illness right before tip-off, several Sycamores stepped up in his absence as Julian Larry and Cameron Henry were part of four Sycamores in double figures with 18 points each.
 
The Sycamores did not trail the at any point in the game, though it got close at the end. Indiana State led by as many as 21 points in the first half, but Illinois State cut its deficit to just five points with 35 seconds to go in the second half. Indiana State got a couple crucial stops and took advantage of a pair of late trips to the line, hitting four free throws in the last half minute of the game to help secure the win.

LAST TIME OUT
The Sycamores went on the road Wednesday searching for their sixth straight win and fourth season series sweep, and they found that in a 79-60 win against UIC inside Credit Union 1 Arena for their first-ever win against the Flames in Chicago. Indiana State's last five wins have all come by double digits.
 
Courvoisier McCauley led all scorers in the game with 26 points and five triples, with 21 of those points and four of those 3-pointers coming in the first half to help the Sycamores hold a 22-point lead over the Flames at the break. Cameron Henry dished out six assists in the game, and with his second assist of the night, became the first Sycamore since 2019-20 to record 100 assists in a single season.
 
The two teams opened up in back-and-forth fashion, and with ISU trailing 8-7 with 14 minutes left in the first frame, Henry dished his 100th assist to McCauley who played through contact and complet- ed the and-one to put the Sycamores up 10-8 and give the lead to ISU for the rest of the game.
 
The Sycamores went on a 13-0 run with the first 11 points coming from McCauley including three straight triples followed by a Robbie Avila layup to cap the run and give ISU a 41-19 lead with 1:32 remaining in the opening frame. Avila sent ISU into halftime with a 43-21 lead.
 
UIC went on an early 8-0 run in the second half to chip away at its deficit, but Henry swiped a pass and laid it in before later swiping another ball and connecting on a triple to make it 65-49 at 6:25. The Flames continued to claw their way back into the game, cutting their deficit to 10 points at 65-55 and force an ISU timeout with 4:43 to go.
Gibson came out of that timeout with a layup to get into double figures, and then Jayson Kent slammed home a pass from Henry to make it 69-55 with 3:53 to go. McCauley sparked a 10-0 run for the Sycamores with his fifth 3-pointer of the night, and the run was capped by a Masen Miller three to push the ISU lead back past 20 points at 79-58 with less than a minute to play. The Flames got a bucket back with 18 seconds left.
 
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 notched his 100th assist this season at UIC and becomes 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 3 triples away from tying the season program record of 270 for the second straight season.

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