Illinois State downs Redmen in NCAA-CIS hoops opener
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(Sophomore Shawn Bowen shared the ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ team lead
in scoring with 13 points. PHOTO BY ANDREW
DOBROWOLSKYJ)
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MONTREAL -- Jackie Carmichael, a 6-foot-9, 240-pound ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ from Manhattan, KS, scored a game-high 22 points and pulled down five rebounds as the Illinois State Redbirds defeated ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ 90-66 in men's preseason basketball at Love Competition Hall, Friday.
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Simon Bibeau of St. Bruno, Que., and Montrealer Shawn Bowen tallied 13 points apiece to lead the Redmen in a game that marked the 111th season-opener for ±«ÓãÖ±²¥. Illinois State finished their four-game swing of eastern Canada with a 2-2 record. They opened the tour with losses to a Montreal collegiate all-star squad (86-68) and Carleton (90-80), followed by victories over UQAM (94-52) and the Redmen, who fielded a lineup that featured six freshmen, five sophomores, two juniors and a senior.
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"We had a great game but athletically, we're probably superior to (±«ÓãÖ±²¥)," said Tim Jankovich, in his fifth season at Illinois State. "But they've got a heck of a team, unbelievably well-coached and I was really impressed. I loved ±«ÓãÖ±²¥'s systems, they were very difficult to guard. I know that they have a lot of young guys that don't have as much game experience as we have had but I love what they do."
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Carmichael shot 8-for-12 from the floor and made six of nine free-throw attempts. Teammates Tyler Brown and Jordan Threloff added 19 and 10 points, respectively.
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Winn Clark, a junior guard from Mission Hills, KS, contributed nine points for ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ and freshman point-guard Vincent Dufour of Smiths Falls, Ont., had eight points with three rebounds.
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Illinois State led 34-17 after the opening quarter and 48-26 at the half but ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ rallied somewhat after intermission and narrowed the gap to 68-50 after three quarters.
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"After we got through some first-quarter jitters, I thought that we played particularly well over the last three quarters," said second-year ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ head coach David DeAveiro. "I don't think (we) stopped playing, so credit goes to our kids for continuing to play hard. We tried some different combinations and tried to give everybody an opportunity to play, so I was quite pleased with our effort."
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±«ÓãÖ±²¥ shot 46 per cent from the floor, 39.1 from three-point range and 73.3 from the line, compared to Illinois State, which connected on 51.7, 52.6 and 81.8, respectively. The Redmen had a 28-22 edge in rebounding but were pressured into committing a whopping 27 turnovers, compared to 15 by the Redbirds.
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"They're a very good defensive team and we're not going to see a team in our conference that plays defence like they do," added DeAveiro. "So to put up 66 against those guys was respectable and we probably could've had a little more. We just have to take care of the ball a little bit better. We had a lot of turnovers but a lot of that was our young guys who weren't sure what to do in certain situations and they tried to do too much. We'll get better over time."
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±«ÓãÖ±²¥ will host Central Florida, on Saturday (7 p.m.) and the University of Akron on Sunday at 4 p.m. Saturday's contest against the UCF Knights will feature a lineup with Marcus and Jeff Jordan, both sons of NBA legend Michael Jordan.
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SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
±«ÓãÖ±²¥ Athletics & Recreation
514-398-7012
earl.zukerman [at] mcgill.ca