Top-seeded Auburn heads to Indianapolis on Thursday for a semifinal matchup in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) against an unfamiliar opponent in Illinois State.
"It's good to still be playing basketball," Auburn head coach Steven Pearl said. "We're excited about going up to Indy... I'd rather be doing this than sitting around doing nothing."
Pearl seems excited for this matchup against a talented, under-the-radar Illinois State squad, which sits at 23-12 overall and finished third in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC). The MVC is one of the mid-major conferences in the country that produced four teams in the NIT. The conference also put one team into the Big Dance, as Northern Iowa participated in March Madness, while Belmont, seen by many as a prototype Cinderella team, was upset in the MVC Tournament.
The Redbirds are led by 6-foot-8 junior big man Chase Walker, who averages 13.7 points per game. He is accompanied by a plethora of smaller guards and wings who can all shoot and handle the ball. Four of these players average over nine points per game, including 5-foot-11 junior guard Johnny Kinziger, who averages 11.7 points and 3.3 assists per game.
As a team, Illinois State shoots 35.2% from 3-point range, and every player on the floor has the ability to knock the long ball down if left open. The Redbirds have three players who shoot over 39% from deep, and eight of their nine rotation players shoot over 30% from downtown, excluding only their backup 7-foot center.
"Gotta go with a hand up," Pearl said. "Look at the kid from Duke, having his hand down there. We always talk about contesting shots, even when you're late. Last night was a great example of that."
So far in the NIT, the Redbirds defeated Kent State in the first round 79-58, hung on to beat Wake Forest at their place 78-75 and lastly beat Dayton 61-55 to make it to Indy. In the first two games, Illinois State hit 29 combined 3-pointers before a slow-paced, bruising game against Dayton, in which they went 6-for-16 from deep.
The Redbirds have played a few high-major and NCAA tournament teams this year. They went 1-2 in those games, with the most notable game being a five-point loss to Utah State back in December.
Illinois State's style of play is a slower brand of basketball, and it ranks 228th in the country in terms of pace/tempo, according to EvanMiya.
Pearl and his Auburn squad are poised for a different type of game than they're used to. The Redbirds rank 203rd in the country in points scored per game with 74.9 to add to their slower style. They are also 147th in adjusted offensive efficiency per 100 possessions and 61st in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom. To put it into perspective, Auburn is ranked 12th in the country offensively and 117th defensively.
"They're really good defensively," Pearl said. "Play hard. Try to make things difficult for you, play physical and limit you to one shot."
Overall, the Redbirds are a tough team that looks to slow the game down and grind it out defensively. They try to limit the opponent to difficult shots and control the pace. They are a very solid shooting team and look to play through their big man Walker.
Auburn and Illinois State tip off in Indianapolis at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Thursday night at 8:30 p.m. CDT on ESPN.
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