Missouri State visits Knudsen and Illinois State

Missouri State Bears (16-4, 8-1 MVC) at Illinois State Redbirds (13-7, 7-2 MVC)

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

BOTTOM LINE: Illinois State plays Missouri State after Elyce Knudsen scored 25 points in Illinois State's 78-60 victory against the Southern Illinois Salukis.

The Redbirds have gone 7-3 in home games. Illinois State is fifth in the MVC in team defense, giving up 67.6 points while holding opponents to 40.2% shooting.

The Bears have gone 8-1 against MVC opponents. Missouri State ranks second in the MVC with 11.2 offensive rebounds per game led by Sarah Linthacum averaging 2.4.

Illinois State makes 49.0% of its shots from the field this season, which is 8.8 percentage points higher than Missouri State has allowed to its opponents (40.2%). Missouri State has shot at a 44.7% rate from the field this season, 4.5 percentage points above the 40.2% shooting opponents of Illinois State have averaged.

The Redbirds and Bears match up Sunday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Knudsen is shooting 40.6% from beyond the arc with 2.4 made 3-pointers per game for the Redbirds, while averaging 14.2 points. Shannon Dowell is shooting 48.1% and averaging 16.8 points over the past 10 games.

Lacy Stokes is averaging 12.8 points, 3.9 assists and 2.3 steals for the Bears. Linthacum is averaging 12.3 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Redbirds: 7-3, averaging 77.2 points, 34.0 rebounds, 17.6 assists, 5.5 steals and 2.9 blocks per game while shooting 49.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 68.6 points per game.

Bears: 9-1, averaging 75.4 points, 37.1 rebounds, 16.7 assists, 9.2 steals and 2.6 blocks per game while shooting 46.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 58.2 points.

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