Illinois State hosts Casey and Evansville

By Canadian Press on December 31, 2025.

Evansville Purple Aces (4-10, 0-3 MVC) at Illinois State Redbirds (11-3, 3-0 MVC)

Normal, Illinois; Thursday, 3 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Evansville visits Illinois State after AJ Casey scored 21 points in Evansville’s 76-68 loss to the Bradley Braves.

The Redbirds have gone 6-0 at home. Illinois State is 1-0 in games decided by less than 4 points.

The Purple Aces are 0-3 in conference matchups. Evansville averages 12.1 turnovers per game and is 2-3 when turning the ball over less than opponents.

Illinois State’s average of 8.9 made 3-pointers per game this season is just 0.2 more made shots on average than the 8.7 per game Evansville allows. Evansville has shot at a 41.8% rate from the field this season, 0.5 percentage points higher than the 41.3% shooting opponents of Illinois State have averaged.

The matchup Thursday is the first meeting of the season for the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Chase Walker is averaging 12.7 points and 5.2 rebounds for the Redbirds. Ty Pence is averaging 13.1 points over the last 10 games.

Connor Turnbull is shooting 50.4% and averaging 13.4 points for the Purple Aces. Alex Hemenway is averaging 1.6 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Redbirds: 9-1, averaging 83.3 points, 35.1 rebounds, 16.0 assists, 6.9 steals and 2.3 blocks per game while shooting 52.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 62.7 points per game.

Purple Aces: 2-8, averaging 67.9 points, 28.0 rebounds, 12.1 assists, 5.4 steals and 4.4 blocks per game while shooting 41.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 76.7 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

The Associated Press

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