By Mark Bennett
With his foot planted and his hand held high,
Terence Avery signaled from his spot under the Hulman Center
basket for a pass from Indiana State teammate Djibril Kante.
Kante lofted the basketball over the defense
and into the hands of Avery, who spun and hit a layup in the
first half of ISU's 71-66 victory Wednesday night over Bradley.
It was a rare, but welcome moment. The chemistry
of using two players of similar size - Kante is 6-foot-8 and
245 pounds, and Avery is 6-9, 240 - on the court together hasn't
always mixed well this season. "Sometimes it's hard, because
with two big guys in there, you can get in each other's way,"
Kante explained.
As a result, the two seniors have started
together only four times since New Year's Day.
They'll most likely do it again tonight, when
the ninth-place Sycamores (5-18 overall, 3-11 in the Missouri
Valley Conference) play 10th-place Evansville (5-18, 2-12) at
8:05 in Roberts Stadium. The Kante-Avery starting combination's
success in the past two games - a 67-61 loss to Illinois State
last Saturday, and a 71-66 win over Bradley on Wednesday - could
indicate the Sycamores' have mastered the situation.
Could.
Kante worked to avoid playing too closely
to Avery on offense, which tends to clog the lane with post defenders.
Instead, he floated around the court and even hit a pair of 3-pointers.
Kante scored a career-high 21 points. Avery added 11. The game
before, both also scored in double figures.
"We've tried to isolate the post man
a little bit more," Coach Royce Waltman said before Friday's
practice.
Defense could change the situation tonight,
though, if Evansville's 6-10 center Dan Lytle starts the game
hot. Kante could wind up at center again, with Avery working
the same spot in reserve.
"Guarding Lytle without fouling is important,
and we've not been a good post-defense team all year," Waltman
said. "And I think Lytle is probably better than most post
players we've seen."
A knee injury kept Lytle out of the Jan. 5
meeting of the two teams, a low-scoring game won by the Sycamores
45-40. But ISU was also missing senior guard Kelyn Block because
of knee injury then too. Now that both teams' leading scorers
are back, the rematch could feature more offense.
Especially if the Kante-Avery duo clicks again.
"With Terence and I on the blocks, [defenders]
just come and double-team hard. And it's hard for us to get any
offense going, because we can't score in the post with the double-teams.
So with me staying high, I have no choice but to hit shots,"
Kante said. "If they're sagging off me, I can't get the
ball into Terence. So I have to hit those big shots."
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| Tribune-Star/Bob
Poynter |
| Down, but not out: ISU's
Djibril Kante (sitting) gets lots of attention from the Sycamore
training team in the second half of ISU's game against Illinois
State last weekend. |
Wednesday, he did. And now his scoring average
has hit double digits at an even 10 points per game. Avery adds
9.4 points per game. A broken bone in his hand that kept Avery
out of two games, and then a thumb injury left him sore for a
few games.
The mix suits Kante, who admits he enjoys
playing forward more than the pivot.
"I like playing facing the basket more,
I won't lie to you," he said. "[But] If I have to play
with my back to the basket, I think I can do that too."
The key is for Kante and Avery not to invade
each other's space on offense.
"We kind of co-exist like that - I don't
have to be in his way, and he doesn't have to be in my way,"
Kante said. "And it's working."
Now all three seniors seem strong, and sophomores
Berry and Marcus Howard have hit a groove, Waltman said. Berry
is averaging 10.7 points over the last three games. And though
Howard hasn't scored in double figures since a 17-point game
at Wichita State on Feb. 3, other parts of his game have been
solid. Against Bradley, Howard had five assists and just one
turnover, as well as five rebounds.
And in the Bradley win, Berry and Howard combined
to score ISU's final 14 points.
Waltman is glad to see the sophomores' progress.
"They've been making positive steps for
a while now," he said. "Granted, they've been baby
steps, but they're starting to play like guys who started and
played last year. And both hit big baskets."
Perhaps the most impressive statistic from
the Bradley victory was a 22-for-25 free throw performance.
"We came out today with the winning mentality,
knowing that we can hit our free throws and we can hit our shots,"
said Berry, who went 4 for 4 at the line. "And it worked
for us."
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