Valparaiso hosts Walker and Illinois State

Illinois State Redbirds (12-3, 4-0 MVC) at Valparaiso Beacons (7-8, 1-3 MVC)

Valparaiso, Indiana; Wednesday, 8 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Illinois State takes on Valparaiso after Chase Walker scored 22 points in Illinois State’s 73-47 win against the Evansville Purple Aces.

The Beacons are 6-3 on their home court. Valparaiso is fifth in the MVC at limiting opponent scoring, giving up 69.7 points while holding opponents to 42.3% shooting.

The Redbirds have gone 4-0 against MVC opponents. Illinois State is third in the MVC scoring 79.9 points per game and is shooting 49.7%.

Valparaiso is shooting 40.0% from the field this season, 0.7 percentage points lower than the 40.7% Illinois State allows to opponents. Illinois State scores 10.2 more points per game (79.9) than Valparaiso gives up to opponents (69.7).

The Beacons and Redbirds face off Wednesday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Owen Dease is scoring 12.7 points per game with 3.4 rebounds and 1.0 assist for the Beacons. JT Pettigrew is averaging 12.4 points and 6.7 rebounds while shooting 36.1% over the last 10 games.

Walker is scoring 13.4 points per game with 5.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists for the Redbirds. Ty Pence is averaging 12.9 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Beacons: 3-7, averaging 71.3 points, 34.2 rebounds, 12.0 assists, 5.5 steals and 4.1 blocks per game while shooting 40.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 68.8 points per game.

Redbirds: 9-1, averaging 81.3 points, 33.9 rebounds, 15.6 assists, 7.2 steals and 2.0 blocks per game while shooting 51.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 62.6 points.

___

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