Gary Friedman’s office is a no-frills place free of clutter and pretense. Eight months into the job, it looks much like the day he moved in. The walls are mostly bare and the desk in order. It’s his office, but it’s not about him.

None of this is really.

Illinois State’s first-year athletic director is a lot more interested in you. So as the ISU basketball team readied for tonight’s home game against No. 23-ranked Creighton, and only 400 tickets remained, Friedman and his staff were still working Thursday to make it better.

Better for ISU’s coaches and players, certainly, but also for you.

“People will see some things (tonight) that have never been done here before,” he said, without tipping his hand. “At the end of the day it has to be fun. I think there’s going to be a lot of energy in the stands. I think the building is going to be rocking.”

You can point to several reasons the Redbirds will nearly double this season’s attendance high (5,333).

There is carryover from Jackie Carmichael’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer Saturday against Evansville, which ranked No. 1 on ESPN’s Top 10 Plays of the Day.