NORMAL — When Illinois State's basketball team walked out of JQH Arena in Springfield. Mo., on Feb. 5, the season couldn't end soon enough.
Missouri State blitzed the Redbirds, 80-60, in a game that wasn't as close as the final score. ISU dropped to 2-9 in the Missouri Valley Conference. The only reason the Redbirds weren't in last place was because Evansville was winless in the league.
While ISU didn't make a dramatic turnaround and sweep its final seven games, the Redbirds showed progress. They went 3-4 with two of the losses coming at league-champion Northern Iowa and second-place Loyola where they were close in both games until late.