ISU's offense was clicking early in the game as they scored 24 points in the first 12 minutes.However they managed only 4 over the final 8 minutes of the first half.The Birds led by as many as 9 before crawling to a 28 all tie at the half.The second half was closely contested as neither team led by more than 4.There were 11 lead changes and 10 ties in the game.

Dan Muller lead the team through the entire game scoring 19 points (8-10),handing out 5 assists and grabbing 5 rebounds and 4 steals.Kyle Cartmill had several big plays and was a big spark off of the bench scoring 11 points.Rico Hill who had the flu earlier this week struggled most of the game from the field scoring 9 points (3-11) although he played well defensively especially on the boards with a team high 6.LeRoy Watkins scored 9 points and grabbed 5 rebounds.LeRoy played an excellent defensive game however he aggravated his shoulder injury in the second half of play.Jamar Smiley scored 7 points to go along with 4 assists and 2 steals while Skipp Schaefbauer scored 6points,grabbed 3 rebounds and handed out 4 assists.ISU's full court defense was very effective against Pacific.It led to several steals and kept them out of their offensive flow through most of the second half.Pacific's Michael Olowokandi led all players with 20 points and 14 rebounds.

PACIFIC (63)
          fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Anders          34   2-7   1-3   1-5  0  3    6
Williams        23   3-7   0-2   1-7  5  3    6
Olowokandi      35  8-13   4-7  5-14  3  4   20
Clark           23   1-3   0-0   1-4  2  4    3
Jacobsen        38   4-9   2-2   0-1  5  1   13
Thomason         8   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
McKnight         5   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  1    0
Woliczko        12   3-6   2-2   0-0  0  0   11
Mahaffey        22   1-4   1-2   0-1  0  0    4
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 22-50 10-18  8-32 15 16   63
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.440, FT-.556. 3-Point Goals: 9-21, .429 (Anders 1-1, Williams 0-1, Clark 1-3, Jacobsen 3-7, Thomason 0-1, Woliczko 3-6, Mahaffey 1-2). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 3(Olowokandi 2, Anders). Turnovers: 19 (Anders 5, Olowokandi 3, Williams 3, Clark 2, Jacobsen 2, Woliczko 2, McKnight, Thomason). Steals: 8 (Jacobsen 3, Anders 2, Clark 2, Williams).

ILLINOIS ST (64) fg ft rb min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp Gibbons 13 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 3 0 Muller 37 8-10 1-1 0-5 5 0 19 Watkins 31 4-9 1-2 0-5 1 3 9 Hansell 20 1-1 1-4 0-0 1 3 3 Smiley 26 2-3 3-4 0-0 4 4 7 Schaefbauer 32 2-7 0-0 1-3 4 2 6 Cartmill 14 4-7 1-1 0-2 0 0 11 Hill 27 3-11 2-2 2-6 1 4 9 _______________________________________________ TOTALS 200 22-53 13-19 3-21 21 23 64 _______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.415, FT-.684. 3-Point Goals: 7-14, .500 (Muller 2-3, Schaefbauer 2-6, Cartmill 2-3, Hill 1-2). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: None. Turnovers: 16 (Hill 6, Muller 3, Cartmill 2, Gibbons, Schaefbauer, Smiley, Watkins). Steals: 10 (Muller 4, Hansell 2, Smiley 2, Cartmill, Hill). __________________________________ Pacific 28 35 - 63 Illinois St 28 36 - 64 __________________________________ Technical fouls: None. Attendance: 6,422. Officials: Mike Sanzere, Eric Harmon, John Higgins.