Illinois State coach Tim Jankovich hopes a lot of students get back to campus early on Sunday and head out to Redbird Arena for the Redbirds’ 3:30 p.m. game against UC Santa Barbara. Jankovich thinks the Redbirds need the energy the students can provide, especially considering his team is almost running on fumes with its sixth game in nine days.

Saturday’s 53-33 victory over Winston-Salem State was a real snoozefest, plain and simple. Winston-Salem State made it that way, running down the shot clock before attacking the basket. ISU struggled with its shooting, and one of the most boring basketball games you’ll ever want to see unfolded. Jankovich said that’s when the lift the student crowd can provide is needed the most, and it was definitely missing.

The Redbirds (6-0) were never in real danger of losing to Winston-Salem State. Now, ISU needs to get ready to play an athletic UC Santa Barbara team that won’t be milking any shot clock. The Redbirds are glad for that. That’s what they saw last weekend in Dallas, and ISU thrived on it.

Jankovich knows his team desperately needs to get back to practice after back-to-back three-game weekend tournaments. The ISU coach said it sounded like a good idea at the time they did the schedule, but he won’t put the players through it again in the future.

“The team we’re seeing right now is not the team I think we’ll see or have seen,” he said. “We don’t have a lot in the tank. There are no excuses. Santa Barbara certainly doesn’t care, but I think it’s a matter of fact. I’m proud that they are finding a way to reach down and find enough to get it done.”

ISU probably never has to worry about losing Jankovich to the pros.

“I’ve had a great deal of respect always, but now more than ever for NBA players and more so for NBA coaches,” he said. “That’s a lot of games to prepare for in a short amount of time.”

HALFTIME REPORT

This hasn’t been the most exciting half of basketball for Illinois State this season. Actually, it’s the worst. Good thing for the Redbirds they’re playing one of the worst teams in the country. It has been a snoozer at Redbird Arena on Saturday night as ISU leads Winston-Salem State 22-17 at the break.

The Redbirds don’t have any life offensively, while the visiting Rams just don’t have any offense. Winston-Salem State is content to dribble out front for about 25 seconds before looking for a shot. ISU fired up a couple quick 3-pointers to start the game, missing six straight after Champ Oguchi made a 3 to start the game. After that, ISU tried to take the ball inside but didn’t have much success there, either. ISU’s previous first-half low was 34 points against SMU.

ISU shot 28 percent in the first half (7 of 25), while Winston-Salem State hit 26.9 percent (7 of 26). Ugh. Osiris Eldridge is the high scorer at halftime with eight points, but he went up for a pull-up 16-footer late in the half and shot a bad air ball. About the only positive for ISU is Dinma Odiakosa has only one foul.

Redbird coach Tim Jankovich talked Friday night about the need for his team to get back in the gym and practice, practice, practice. With back-to-back weekends of three-game tourneys, ISU seems to have hit a wall.

The Redbirds should be able to take care of Winston-Salem State in the second half. Jankovich will make a couple adjustments in the locker room and ISU will probably assert itself early. But the Redbirds will need to find their rhythm quickly on Sunday as the World Vision Invitational comes to an end. UC Santa Barbara has some skilled athletes and won’t be a pushover.