Northern Iowa Panthers (10-9, 6-3 MVC) at Illinois State Redbirds (11-9, 5-4 MVC)
Normal, Illinois; Thursday, 7 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Illinois State plays Northern Iowa after Doneelah Washington scored 30 points in Illinois State’s 85-69 win against the Indiana State Sycamores.
The Redbirds have gone 9-0 at home. Illinois State has a 0-1 record in games decided by less than 4 points.
The Panthers are 6-3 in MVC play. Northern Iowa has a 5-7 record against teams over .500.
Illinois State makes 44.5% of its shots from the field this season, which is 6.2 percentage points higher than Northern Iowa has allowed to its opponents (38.3%). Northern Iowa averages 65.8 points per game, 3.4 fewer than the 69.2 Illinois State gives up.
The Redbirds and Panthers square off Thursday for the first time in conference play this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Trista Fayta is averaging 10.5 points, 5.6 assists and 1.5 steals for the Redbirds. Washington is averaging 20.5 points and 8.4 rebounds while shooting 56.3% over the last 10 games.
Ryley Goebel is shooting 57.4% and averaging 13.1 points for the Panthers. Jenna Twedt is averaging 14.8 points over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Redbirds: 6-4, averaging 79.8 points, 31.9 rebounds, 18.3 assists, 7.5 steals and 3.1 blocks per game while shooting 48.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 74.2 points per game.
Panthers: 6-4, averaging 72.3 points, 34.8 rebounds, 14.6 assists, 7.3 steals and 3.5 blocks per game while shooting 44.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.9 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.