Fayne, Yarbrough earn MVC honors

Posted on March 5, 2019
Phil Fayne (left) and Milik Yarbrough are in their final season with the Redbirds. (GoRedbirds.com)

By Greg Halbleib

NORMAL – Illinois State has placed two players on the Missouri Valley Conference post-season men’s basketball squads.Phil Fayne is on the Valley’s first team while Milik Yarbrough earns second team honors.

Fayne averages 15.8 points and 6.2 rebounds per game and leads the team with 36 blocked shots and 32 steals. He is one of just 16 student-athletes in the country this season to have at least 30 steals, 30 blocked shots, and make more than half of his shots from the offensive end.

Yarbrough leads the Redbirds in scoring with an average of 16.8 and rebounding at 7 per game and is also the team’s assist leader. Yarbrough is on pace to become the first Redbird since Tarise Bryson in 1999-00 to lead ISU in all three categories. He is one of only seven student-athletes in the country to have scored at least 520 points, recorded at least 215 rebounds, and given out at least 95 assists. He has scored 1,052 points over his two years at ISU, the most of any player in their first two years since Doug Collins scored 1,590 over his first two seasons in a Redbird uniform.

The Redbirds face Evansville on Thursday at 8:30 in the first round of the Valley tournament in St. Louis.

Greg Halbleib can be reached at [email protected]. 

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