JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The University of North Florida men’s basketball team fell to Illinois State 71-55 Saturday, Nov. 21, at Doug Collins Court in Redbird Arena in Normal, Ill.
North Florida falls to 1-2 on the year, while Illinois State improves to 2-0.
Senior guard Stan Januska led the Ospreys with 13 points, while junior guard Brad Haugabrook dropped in nine. Januska was 5-8 from the field and 3-5 from 3-point range.
Illinois State, picked to finish third in the tough Missouri Valley Conference, was led by MVC preseason player of the year Osiris Eldridge. Eldridge finished with 24 points, five assists four steals and three rebounds.
North Florida battled the Redbirds tough early on but a big run midway through the first half gave ISU a 42-17 cushion at the break. It was 16-12 Illinois State with 11:22 left in the first half as ISU then went on a 12-0 run to stretch its lead to 28-12 and ended the half on a 26-5 run.
The Ospreys out-scored the Redbirds 38-29 in the second half as nine different UNF players scored.
Eleven players in all scored for UNF as the Ospreys shot 49 percent (21-43) from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range (6-12). Illinois State shot 59 percent (29-49) for the game and 50 percent (8-16) from 3-point range.
“We came out focused and on point down four at the under-12 media timeout,” said head coach Matthew Driscoll. “They ended the half 26-5 and really dominated both ends causing us to turn the ball over 14 times. We challenged our guys in the second half to play five media timeout games, erasing the score at the end of each one. We won that series 3-2. Our three non-conference games have really gotten us ready for the start of conference play this coming Friday and we look forward to the challenge of starting on the road at Campbell and ETSU.”
This was the first meeting all-time between the schools.
