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Team: Illinois State Redbirds
Home Games: Redbird Arena
Head Coach: Dan Muller
Conference: Missouri Valley Conference
Conference Titles: Six regular season titles and four tournament titles
NCAA Tournament: Six appearances
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The Redbirds have been delivering exciting court action to their fans for many decades. A dominant force in basketball, the team is a member of the Missouri Valley Conference. The team is coached by Dan Muller, who has led the Redbirds to many successful seasons, including winning the MVC regular-season title in 2017. The Redbirds' basketball team plays its home games at the
Redbird Arena
, a large and comfortable facility located in Normal, Ill. Fans can always count on an intense and tough schedule every season, and families enjoy the antics of Reggie Redbird, the Redbirds' mascot, on the court during pauses in the games. Each year, the Redbirds vie with
Bradley
, a longtime rival, and in 2017, the two teams began competing for the honor of winning the Battle for Illinois game series. Grab your Illinois State Redbirds' tickets at StubHub.
''Dan Muller came to Illinois in 2012 to take over the Redbirds. Under his coaching, the Redbirds gained a share of the MVC regular-season title for 2017, the first title for the Redbirds since 1998. The Illinois State Redbirds have also garnered two National Invitation Tournament appearances and one College Basketball Invitational appearance under Muller, and he was named the 2017 MVC Coach of the Year. Muller has a record of 139 wins and 96 losses through his first seven seasons, and he is the first coach in Illinois State basketball history to win against four Top 25 teams in his first four seasons.'
'The Redbird Arena opened in 1989 and has a seating capacity of 10,200. The Redbird Arena is home to the men's and women's basketball teams and the women's volleyball team, and it also hosts various other events like shows and concerts. The venue is the state's second-largest university arena, and it has a portable wooden floor over a concrete deck with seating that can be folded. There are special lighting features for event productions. The unique roof of 24 Teflon and fiberglass fabricated panels let in light for a bright appearance inside and out.'
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The Redbirds have a long-standing rivalry with Bradley, going back more than 100 years. The competition really heated up after Illinois State joined the Missouri Valley Conference in 1981. As of 2019, Illinois has a 44–36 record against Bradley. A new rivalry series was instituted in Illinois in 2017 for four in-state university basketball programs, entitled the Battle for Illinois. The respective schools are Bradley, Illinois State,
Southern Illinois
and
Loyola Chicago
.
''The Illinois State Redbirds' basketball team is currently a member of the Missouri Valley Conference, which has 10 teams.'
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The Redbirds' basketball team always has a tough schedule, and the 2019-2020 season is no exception. These are some of the teams that the Redbirds will face:
UCF
,
Morehead State
,
Northern Kentucky
,
Truman State
,
Arkansas-Little Rock
,
Missouri State
,
UNI
, Southern Illinois,
Indiana State
, Loyola Chicago and Bradley.
''Reggie Redbird is the Redbirds' mascot. Reggie has undergone many styles and looks over the years from feathers to plush. Reggie's ancestor first appeared in the 1960s, and Reggie officially acquired the name Reggie in 1981 when he was so named in recognition of baseball great Reggie Jackson. Reggie lives in his nest above the scoreboard in Redbird Arena, and he loves to stir up the crowd and mingle with the fans. He even has Twitter and Facebook accounts.'