Illinois State Redbirds men's basketball

The Illinois State Redbirds men's basketball team represents Illinois State University, located in Normal, Illinois, in NCAA Division I basketball competition. They are currently led by head coach Ryan Pedon and play their home games at CEFCU Arena as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference. They have the distinction of earning the most National Invitation Tournament berths (14) without making the semifinals, and also have the longest current NCAA tournament drought (26 seasons) among Missouri Valley Conference members. The Redbirds have appeared in the NCAA tournament six times, most recently in 1998.

Illinois State Redbirds men's basketball
2024–25 Illinois State Redbirds men's basketball team
University	Illinois State University
All-time record	961–713 (.574)
Head coach	Ryan Pedon (3rd season)
Conference	Missouri Valley Conference
Location	Normal, Illinois
Arena	CEFCU Arena (capacity: 10,200)
Nickname	Redbirds
Colors	Red and white[1]
Uniforms
Home Away
NCAA tournament Final Four
1967*
Other NCAA tournament results Elite Eight 1967*, 1969* Sweet Sixteen 1967*, 1968*, 1969* Appearances 1957*, 1962*, 1967*, 1968*, 1969*, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1990, 1997, 1998
Conference tournament champions
1983, 1990, 1997, 1998
Conference regular-season champions
1930*, 1931*, 1932*, 1935*, 1936*, 1941*, 1942*, 1943*, 1984, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2017
* at Division II level

Season-by-season records

NCAA Division I

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Will Robinson (Conference of Midwestern Universities) (1970–1972)
1970–71	First	16–10	3–5	4th
1971–72	Second	16–10	6–2	2nd
Will Robinson (Independent) (1972–1975)
1972–73	Third	13–12
1973–74	Fourth	17–9
1974–75	Fifth	16–10
Will Robinson:		78–51 (.602)	9–7 (.563)
Gene Smithson (Independent) (1975–1978)
1975–76	First	20–7
1976–77	Second	22–7			NIT Quarterfinal
1977–78	Third	24–4			NIT First Round
Gene Smithson:		66–18 (.786)
Bob Donewald (Independent) (1978–1981)
1978–79	First	20–10
1979–80	Second	20–9			NIT Second Round
1980–81	Third	16–11
Bob Donewald (Missouri Valley Conference) (1981–1989)
1981–82	Fourth	17–12	9–7	5th
1982–83	Fifth	24–7	13–5	2nd	NCAA First Round
1983–84	Sixth	23–8	13–3	T–1st	NCAA Second Round
1984–85	Seventh	22–8	11–5	T–2nd	NCAA Second Round
1985–86	Eighth	15–14	9–7	4th
1986–87	Ninth	19–13	7–7	4th	NIT Quarterfinal
1987–88	Tenth	18–13	9–5	3rd	NIT First Round
1988–89	Eleventh	13–17	6–8	T–5th
Bob Donewald:		207–122 (.629)	77–47 (.621)
Bob Bender (Missouri Valley Conference) (1989–1993)
1989–90	First	18–13	9–5	T–2nd	NCAA First Round
1990–91	Second	5–23	4–12	T–8th
1991–92	Third	18–11	14–4	T–1st
1992–93	Fourth	19–10	13–5	1st
Bob Bender:		60–57 (.513)	40–26 (.606)
Kevin Stallings (Missouri Valley Conference) (1993–1999)
1993–94	First	16–11	12–6	4th
1994–95	Second	20–13	13–5	T–2nd	NIT Second Round
1995–96	Third	22–12	13–5	2nd	NIT Quarterfinal
1996–97	Fourth	24–6	14–4	1st	NCAA First Round
1997–98	Fifth	25–6	16–2	1st	NCAA Second Round
1998–99	Sixth	16–15	7–11	7th
Kevin Stallings:		123–63 (.661)	75–33 (.694)
Tom Richardson (Missouri Valley Conference) (1999–2003)
1999–2000	First	10–20	5–13	T–8th
2000–01	Second	21–9	12–6	T–2nd	NIT First Round
2001–02	Third	17–14	12–6	3rd
2002–03	Fourth	8–21	5–13	10th
Tom Richardson:		56–64 (.467)	34–38 (.472)
Porter Moser (Missouri Valley Conference) (2003–2007)
2003–04	First	10–19	4–14	10th
2004–05	Second	17–13	8–10	6th
2005–06	Third	9–19	4–14	T–9th
2006–07	Fourth	15–16	6–12	T–7th
Porter Moser:		51–67 (.432)	22–50 (.306)
Tim Jankovich (Missouri Valley Conference) (2007–2012)
2007–08	First	25–10	13–5	2nd	NIT Second Round
2008–09	Second	24–10	11–7	3rd	NIT First Round
2009–10	Third	22–11	11–7	3rd	NIT First Round
2010–11	Fourth	12–19	4–14	T–9th
2011–12	Fifth	21–14	9–9	T–3rd	NIT Second Round
Tim Jankovich:		104–64 (.619)	48–42 (.533)
Dan Muller (Missouri Valley Conference) (2012–2022)
2012–13	First	18–15	8–10	6th
2013–14	Second	18–16	9–9	T–4th	CBI Semifinal
2014–15	Third	22–13	11–7	T–3rd	NIT Second Round
2015–16	Fourth	18–14	12–6	T–2nd
2016–17	Fifth	28–7	17–1	T–1st	NIT Second Round
2017–18	Sixth	18–15	10–8	3rd
2018–19	Seventh	17–16	9–9	7th
2019–20	Eighth	10–21	5–13	9th
2020–21	Ninth	7–18	4–14	10th
2021–22	Tenth	11–15	4–9
Dan Muller:		167–150 (.527)	89–86 (.509)
Brian Jones (Missouri Valley Conference) (2022–2022)
2022	Interim	2–5	1–4
Brian Jones:		2–5 (.286)	1–4 (.200)
2021–22		13–20	5–13	8th
Ryan Pedon (Missouri Valley Conference) (2022–present)
2022–23	First	11–21	6–14	9th
2023–24	Second	15–16	9–11	T–7th
2024–25	Third	22–14	10–10	T–5th	CBI Champions
Ryan Pedon:		48–52 (.480)	25–35 (.417)
Total:		962–713 (.574)	420–368 (.533)
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

Source^[2]

Postseason

NCAA Division I

The Redbirds have appeared in six NCAA Tournaments. Their combined record is 3–6.

Year	Seed	Round	Opponent	Result
1983	#6	First Round	#11 Ohio	L 49–51
1984	#8	First Round Second Round	#9 Alabama #1 DePaul	W 49–48 L 61–75
1985	#9	First Round Second Round	#8 USC #1 Oklahoma	W 58–55 L 69–75
1990	#14	First Round	#3 Michigan	L 70–76
1997	#11	First Round	#6 Iowa State	L 57–69
1998	#9	First Round Second Round	#8 Tennessee vs. #1 Arizona	W 82–81 OT L 49–82

Source^[3]

NCAA Division II

Illinois State made the NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament five times and had a combined record of 6–7.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
1957	Round of 32	Evansville	L 96–108
1962	Regional Semifinals Region Third Place	Concordia (IL) Kentucky State	L 61–79 L 72–77
1967	Regional Semifinals Regional Finals Elite Eight Final Four National Third Place	Parsons Louisiana Tech San Diego State Southwest Missouri State Kentucky Wesleyan	W 72–68 W 89–66 W 77–76 (2OT) L 76–93 L 73–112
1968	Regional Semifinals Regional Finals	DePauw Indiana State	W 83–81 L 93–98
1969	Regional Semifinals Regional Finals Elite Eight	North Park Valparaiso Ashland	W 87–82 W 103–87 L 35–41

NIT results

The Redbirds have appeared in 14 National Invitation Tournaments (NIT). Their combined record is 11–14.

Year	Bid	Regional	Seed	Round	Opponent	Result
1977				Regional Round Quarterfinal	at Creighton vs. Houston	W 65–58 L 90–91
1978				First Round	at Indiana State	L 71–73
1980				First Round Second Round	West Texas State at Illinois	W 80–63 L 65–75
1987				First Round Second Round Quarterfinal	Akron at Cleveland State at La Salle	W 79–72 W 79–77 L 50–70
1988				First Round	at Cleveland State	L 83–89
1995				First Round Second Round	Utah State Washington State	W 93–87 L 80–83
1996				First Round Second Round Quarterfinal	Mount St. Mary's at Wisconsin at Tulane	W 73–49 W 77–62 L 72–83
2001				First Round	at Purdue	L 79–90
2008	At-large	Ohio State	(2)	First Round Second Round	(7) Utah State (3) Dayton	W 61–57 L 48–55
2009	At-large	San Diego State	(5)	First Round	at (4) Kansas State	L 79–83 OT
2010	At-large	Illinois	(6)	First Round	at (3) Dayton	L 42–63
2012	At-large	Arizona	(7)	First Round Second Round	at (2) Ole Miss at (3) Stanford	W 96–93 OT L 88–92 OT
2015	At-large	Old Dominion	(4)	First Round Second Round	(5) Green Bay at (1) Old Dominion	W 69–56 L 49–50
2017	Automatic	Illinois State	(1)	First Round Second Round	(8) UC Irvine (4) UCF	W 85–71 L 62–63

Source^[3]

CBI results

The Redbirds have appeared in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) twice. Their combined record is 5–1. They turned down a bid in the 2015–16 season and again in the 2017–18 season. They were the 2025 champion.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
2014	First Round Quarterfinal Semifinal	Morehead State Texas A&M at Siena	W 77–67 W 62–55 L 49–61
2025	First Round Semifinal Final	vs. Presbyterian vs. Incarnate Word vs. Cleveland State	W 78–70 W 78–73 W 79–68

Source^[3]

Players

Doug Collins is the only Redbird whose number has been retired.

Retired numbers

Main article: List of NCAA men's basketball retired numbers

Illinois State has retired only one number in program history, that of first-team All-American and Olympian Doug Collins.

Illinois State Redbirds retired numbers
No.	Player	Career	Ref.
20	Doug Collins	1970–1973	[4]

Redbirds drafted into the NBA

Draft Year	Player	Position	Round	Overall	NBA Team
1973	Doug Collins	SG	1	1	Philadelphia 76ers
1975	Robert Hawkins	SF	3	51	Golden State Warriors
1977	Jeff Wilkins	C	2	37	San Antonio Spurs
1999	Rico Hill	SF	2	31	Los Angeles Clippers

Redbirds in international leagues

• Jackie Carmichael (born 1990)
• Daishon Knight (born 1991)
• Nic Moore (born 1992)
• Zach Lofton (born 1992)
• DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell (born 1993)
• Deontae Hawkins (born 1993)
• Nick Banyard (born 1994)
• Kaza Kajami-Keane (born 1994)
• Reggie Lynch (born 1994), for Bnei Herzliya of the Israeli Basketball Premier League^[5]
• Paris Lee (born 1995)
• Elijah Clarance (born 1998)

Rivalries

The I-74 Rivalry is the rivalry between Illinois State and Bradley.

Plane crash

On April 7, 2015, while flying home from the NCAA Tournament Final game in Indianapolis, a plane carrying Illinois State assistant coach Torrey Ward and six others crashed just outside Bloomington, Illinois, leaving no survivors.