Illinois State Men’s Basketball Opens Season at Saint Mary’s
Written by Jack Polkow on November 1, 2026
Image courtesy of Illinois State athletics
NORMAL, Ill. — Illinois State men’s basketball will travel to California to take on Saint Mary’s Monday night at 9 p.m. to tip off the 2026-27 season.
The Redbirds come into the season opener retaining four players from last year’s roster, Chase Walker, Johnny Kinziger, Mason Klabo, and Ty Blake. There will be some familiarity in the starting lineup as Walker, Kinziger, and Klabo are all expected to start on Monday.
The rest of the Redbird’s roster are either freshmen or transfers. Against Northwestern, Noah Cleveland and Demarion Burch filled in the final two starting spots. Cleveland, coming over from Illinois Wesleyan University, will likely compliment Chase Walker at the power forward position. Burch, who transferred from Bradley, is expected to start as a guard.
Other transfers that are expected to play big roles in Monday night’s season opener are Malik Messina-Moore, Zaxton King, and Deng Garang. Messina-Moore seems to be a three level scorer, bringing experience as a 5th year senior from Xavier. King is a three-point specialist from Missouri State. Garang is an athletic guard transferring from Le Moyne.
Saint Mary’s comes into the season having made March Madness five seasons in a row, but this year could look a little different. Randy Bennett, who coached the Gaels for 26 years from 2002 until 2026, took the Arizona State job with a number of players following him from Saint Mary’s to ASU.
This year, the Gaels will be led by Mickey McConnell in his first ever head coaching job at the college level. McConnell was named head coach this past March after he served as an associate head coach at Saint Mary’s since 2019. He is a former player at Saint Mary’s.
The Redbirds will go into the Bay Area trying to spoil Mickey McConnell’s coaching debut with the Gaels in what will be a highly anticipated season for both squads. Ryan Pedon’s Redbirds are picked second in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll and the Gaels are picked second in the West Coast Conference preseason poll.
For all things Redbird basketball, be sure to stay tuned to wznd.com.
