The road to March hasn’t always been a smooth one for this year’s Illinois State University Redbird men’s basketball team, but junior guard Darius Burford said now is not the time to give up on the possibilities that come with postseason play.
“Things aren’t always going to go your way,” Burford said. “But you can’t get too down on yourself because you never know when the tide will change. We’ve showed that we can beat some of the top teams in the conference, and playing on a neutral court, we can give teams some trouble.”
The 2023 Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament, set for March 2-5 at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, gets started Thursday, March 2, at noon with the No. 9 seed Redbirds matched up against No. 8 Northern Iowa in the opener. There’s a lot on the line as Sunday’s champion earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The Redbirds (11-20 overall, 6-14 in the conference) are coming off a win in the regular season finale against Evansville. Burford, a 6-foot junior guard and the team’s leading scorer at 12.8 points per game, said he and his teammates continue to battle.
“I feel like we have a real resilient group,” he said. “We have great energy around the team and around the locker room. You feel it from the coaches, the managers, and the players—one through 15. We all have the same joy for it.”
First-year head coach Ryan Pedon said he and his coaching staff take a different approach with their players when March rolls around.
“I think at this time of year you’ve got to be able to coach their spirits and their hearts as much as anything,” Pedon said. “Being able to play inspired, relentless basketball in March is necessary to win this time of year.”
Those efforts are appreciated by Burford and his teammates.
“We get great energy from our coaching staff,” he said. “They work their tails off every second for us.”
A transfer from Elon University in North Carolina, Burford is a Bolingbrook native and known for working hard himself. He’s also plenty tough.
In late January, he broke bones in his nose and near his eye after colliding with teammate Kendall Lewis as Lewis set a screen for him in practice. Burford only missed one game. Since the injury, he’s played while wearing a protective mask. It hasn’t bothered his play as he finished the season scoring in double-figures in eight straight games.
“I really don’t think about the mask too much,” he said. “I just put it on and play basketball, lock in, and mask up!”
His coach appreciates that attitude and what he brings to the floor in physical ability and maturity.
“Darius is a game changer for a lot of reasons,” Pedon said. “His natural speed, quickness, and athleticism are tremendous and can affect the game in a lot of ways. His growth has been really important, and he’s really found his way in our offensive system.
“We would not be the same without him. I love everything about him, and he’s been extremely coachable from start to finish. For all those reasons, he’s very important to us.”
Burford was one of the first players to commit to Pedon when he was hired last year. Burford said he wanted to be closer to home and family, but he also had a connection to Andrew Dakich, a former Big 10 player, who is one of Pedon’s assistant coaches.
“Andrew was a coach at Elon, and he worked with me closely there,” Burford said. “I have complete trust in him, and he told me he was coming here and how it was going to be. Plus, you know what a great basketball town this is, so it was a no-brainer.”
Burford said he loves being here, and his parents—who attended all his games at Elon—were a big part of his decision. Being only 100 miles or so from home is working out for everyone.
“Yeah, they’re happy,” Burford said. “They were like: ‘Instead of flying, now we can drive.’”
His cheering section at Arch Madness will include the whole family: his mother Zarinah; his father Daniel; and his older siblings, sister Samirah and brother, Daniel Jr. Samirah, now on active duty in the Navy, played basketball at the University of Southern Mississippi, and Daniel Jr. played at Cornell.
Burford described his game as trying not force the action and taking whatever the opponent gives.
“If that means helping my teammates get easier shots, I’m going to do that,” he said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to get the win.”
He sang the praises of his teammates, saying he could go through the entire roster and talk about each player and their value to the team.
“I love playing with my guys,” he said. “Liam (McChesney) is almost a 7-footer who can stretch the floor. Seneca (Knight) is a great scorer and defender, and ‘K-Lew’ (Lewis) is a great rebounder. We have great guys on this team.”
Burford hopes talent mixed with a bit of team chemistry will translate to some Redbird March Madness in the days ahead.
“There’s a connective energy with this team,” he said. “We’re all playing hard, so why not us?”
Redbird fans heading to St. Louis Thursday, March 2, are invited to attend a Redbird Rally at the Budweiser Brew House inside Ballpark Village, starting at 10:15 a.m., before Illinois State tips off Arch Madness Thursday at noon against Northern Iowa. Thursday’s game will be televised on the MVC TV Network and broadcast on WJBC AM 1230 / FM 93.7 / The Varsity Network.
