Illinois State Redbirds men's basketball

Illinois State Redbirds men's basketball
Illinois State Redbirds men's basketball
	2025-26 Illinois State Redbirds men's basketball team
University	Illinois State University
Head coach	Ryan Pedon (4th season)
Location	Normal, Illinois
Arena	CEFCU Arena ; (capacity: 10,200)
Conference	Missouri Valley Conference
Nickname	Redbirds
Colors	Red and white;
All-time record	985–726 (.576)
NCAA Division I tournament Final Four
	1967*
Elite Eight	1967, 1969
Other NCAA Division I 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
Uniforms
Home	Away
	* at Division II level

UniversityIllinois State University

Head coachRyan Pedon (4th season)

LocationNormal, Illinois

ArenaCEFCU Arena
(capacity: 10,200)

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 had the distinction of earning the most National Invitation Tournament berths (14) without making the semifinals, and also have the longest current NCAA tournament drought (27 seasons) among Missouri Valley Conference members. The Redbirds have appeared in the NCAA tournament six times, most recently in 1998.

[1]

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 Champion
2025–26	Fourth	23–13	12–8	T–3rd	NIT Semifinal
Ryan Pedon:		71–65 (.522)	37–43 (.463)
Total:		985–726 (.576)	432–376 (.535)
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

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

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
1957	Round of 32	Evansville	L 96–108
1962	Regional Semifinal Region Third Place	Concordia (IL) Kentucky State	L 61–79 L 72–77
1967	Regional Semifinal Regional Final 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 Semifinal Regional Final	DePauw Indiana State	W 83–81 L 93–98
1969	Regional Semifinal Regional Final Elite Eight	North Park Valparaiso Ashland	W 87–82 W 103–87 L 35–41

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
2026	Exempt	Winston-Salem	(4)	First Round Second Round Quarterfinal Semifinal	Kent State at (1) Wake Forest at (2) Dayton vs. (1) Auburn	W 79–58 W 78–75 W 61–55 L 66–88

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

Illinois State Redbirds men's basketball

NCAA Division I

Postseason

NCAA Division I

NCAA Division II

NIT results

CBI results

Players

Retired numbers

Redbirds drafted into the NBA

Redbirds in international leagues

Rivalries

Plane crash

References

External links

Related Articles

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

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

v t e Illinois State Redbirds men's basketball
Venues	John W. Cook Hall (1898–1925) McCormick Gymnasium (1925–1963) Horton Field House (1963–1988) CEFCU Arena (1989–present)
Rivalries	Bradley
Culture & lore	Reggie Redbird "Go, You Redbirds"
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26

v t e Illinois State University
Academic colleges	Applied Science and Technology Business Education Fine Arts
Athletics	Men's basketball Women's basketball Fight song Football Reggie Redbird
Facilities	Duffy Bass Field Fell Arboretum Hancock Stadium John W. Cook Hall Horton Fieldhouse CEFCU Arena University High School Watterson Towers
News and radio	The Vidette WGLT WZND-LP
Related	List of Illinois State University alumni

v t e Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball
Teams	Belmont Bruins Bradley Braves Drake Bulldogs Evansville Purple Aces Illinois State Redbirds Indiana State Sycamores Murray State Racers Northern Iowa Panthers Southern Illinois Salukis UIC Flames Valparaiso Beacons
Tournament & awards	MVC Basketball Tournament MVC Coach of the Year Larry Bird Player of the Year
Seasons	1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26