NORMAL - A couple professional scouts watched Sunday's game at Redbird Arena, presumably to check out North Carolina-Wilmington seniors T.J. Carter and Vladimir Kuljanin. | Photo Gallery

Undoubtedly, another name topped the reports written for their teams by Ronnie Lester (Los Angeles Lakers) and Brad Lohaus (San Antonio Spurs).

Illinois State sophomore guard Osiris Eldridge showed everyone who was the best player on Doug Collins Court. Eldridge poured in a career-high 30 points and helped shut down Carter in the second half as ISU improved to 3-0 for the first time in 11 years with an 89-73 victory in the Chicago Invitational Challenge.

"A lot of certain players have a lot of hype. Hopefully down the line, I'll have that same hype," said Eldridge, who has scored 57 points the past two games. "The time is now to build that up playing against players like that (Carter). It makes you raise the level of your game up to play against a good player like that."

Eldridge really gets a chance to make a name for himself the next time out when the Chicago Invitational Challenge shifts north. ISU faces eighth-ranked Indiana and freshman phenom Eric Gordon at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates.

Carter, who scored 14 points in the first half to give the Seahawks a 41-36 lead, was impressed with Eldridge.

"He's really talented. He plays hard. I think he has a really good future," said Carter, who scored five points after the intermission. "I think he'll end up making money playing this game."

Eldridge, who also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, had plenty of help in the second half when ISU shot 55.2 percent from the field while holding N.C.-Wilmington to 31.4 percent.

Dom Johnson finished with 17 points and six assists as he ran the team from the point most of the second half. Anthony Slack contributed 15 points, five rebounds and four blocks, while Levi Dyer shook off a cold first half to score 12 points.

"I need to work on my pregame talk. We're not getting out of the gate defensively," said ISU coach Tim Jankovich. "I would like to take credit for adjusting (at halftime), but it was our guys making up their mind to stay in stance, get down, scratch around and fight with a little different energy level."

ISU got off to its best start this season, making its first three shots to take an 8-2 lead as the crowd of 4,433 thought this might be easy.

It wasn't.

Carter, a 6-foot-3 fifth-year senior guard who sat out last season after hernia surgery, and Daniel Fountain combined for 24 first-half points. Fountain's 3-pointer gave the Seahawks a 41-32 lead with 1:08 left until intermission.

"When things go against this team the tendency they have is to take it upon themselves to right it quickly. That's exactly the opposite way I want them to think," said Jankovich. "When things go poorly, we need to work like crazy to get a good shot and not let momentum continue to build."

ISU regained the momentum in the final 40 seconds. The Redbirds converted two N.C.-Wilmington turnovers into an Eldridge dunk and a Mike Vandello tip-in to draw within five at the break.

"The end of the first half was critical to the rest of the game. We broke down defensively plus we broke down offensively," said N.C.-Wilmington coach Benny Moss. "We did not understand time and score."

The 6-foot-10, 265-pound Kuljanin was quiet in the first half with four points. He began backing down ISU early in the second half, and his spin move inside put the Seahawks ahead 55-46 with 14:14 left.

ISU's defense turned things around. Dyer's 3-pointer started a 15-2 run that gave the Redbirds the lead for good. Carter's three free throws trimmed the margin to 66-64 with 6:36 left before 3-pointers by Dyer, Eldridge and Brandon Holtz in an 11-2 spurt put the game away.

"I think us running our offense wore down their big kids," said Johnson. "I looked over at a couple of the players on their team and they were hugging their shorts."

Eldridge sank 5 of 6 attempts from outside the arc as ISU went 10 of 18. The Redbirds have scored 179 points in the past two games, their most in back-to-back efforts since January 1998.

ISU could have used junior forward Brandon Sampay to help guard Kuljanin, who finished with 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Sampay was in California after the death of his great-grandmother, but he is expected back against Indiana.

"The last I checked Indiana has some large guys, too," said Jankovich.

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