By Mark Bennett
Those 18 offensive rebounds by Illinois State
hurt the Indiana State Sycamores.
So did missing 10 of 16 free throws. Twelve
inaccurate 3-point shots in 14 attempts didn't help the Sycamores
either.
But the most damaging statistic hung like
a millstone from their shoulders Saturday night in Redbird Arena
-- 11 losses and just three victories after a 68-56 thumping
from Illinois State.
The game was close for 24 minutes. But that
37-37 tie with 16 minutes to play was deceptive, Indiana State
Coach Royce Waltman said. The Redbirds' crushing 11-0 run and
his Sycamores' seemed inevitable.
"I just thought our effort wasn't very
good in the first half," Waltman said, "and it caught
up to us."
Terence Avery had just slam-dunked an alley-oop
pass from Indiana State teammate Marcus Howard with 16:31 left
to play, tying the score at 37-37, when Illinois State ended
the drama. Five different Redbirds scored in the next three minutes
without a Sycamore answer.
With Illinois State (6-10 overall, 2-3 in
the Missouri Valley Conference) now leading 48-37 and their crowd
screaming for a national television audience, the game had essentially
ended for the Sycamores (3-11, 1-4).
"We saw some of their players put their
head down on that run we had," Redbird guard Randy Rice
said. "So we just kept playing the way we wanted to play."
The run was indeed deflating, Waltman said.
"Once it happened, our body language
was that we were really defeated by it," he said. "And
that comes from losing."
Indiana State has now lost seven of its last
eight games. Illinois State had lost six of its last seven.
"They're a lot like us," Redbirds
Coach Tom Richardson said. "They hit a wall."
The Sycamores came as close as eight at 53-45
with 10:29 to go, when freshman Jake Sams scored on an assist
by reserve point guard Batiste Haywood. But Illinois State responded
with another 11-2 run, capped by a deep 3-pointer from Shawn
Jeppson.
"Once they started making a couple shots,
it was like a domino effect," Avery said, as his sore thumb
was taped in the visitors' lockerroom.
The 6-foot-9 senior scored 22 points, stole
the ball three times and blocked two shots. Howard added 11 points.
And for the second consecutive game, the Sycamores shot a season-high
49 percent.
That statistic told Waltman that his team's
problems run deeper than its erratic shooting through the first
12 games. The Sycamores shot well but lost a 71-70 heartbreaker
to Northern Iowa on Thursday. They shot well again but lost to
Illinois State.
Saturday's problem was the Redbirds' 20 points
generated by their 18 offensive rebounds.
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| Bloomington
Pantagraph/Jeff Tavares |
| Shove: Illinois State guard
Randy Rice (15) tries to push his way past Indiana State guard
Lamar Grimes during Saturday's game at Normal, Ill. |
"It's really just a lack of effort,"
said Avery. He and teammate Matt Broermann had five rebounds
each, while Djibril Kante led the Sycamores with seven. "I
had my hands on a few [rebounds] and didn't pull them in, and
other guys had the same situation."
Illinois State's 6-9 center Baboucarr Bojang
capitalized most, getting 15 points and 11 rebounds. Jeppson
and Shedrick Ford added 11 points each, and Rice scored 10.
The Sycamores have yielded points from offensive
rebounds before, particularly in losses to Illinois-Chicago and
Wyoming. But they've also lost because of missed shots, missed
free throws and turnovers.
Blaming one aspect oversimplifies the situation,
Waltman said.
"It's a variety of things," he said.
"It's like you don't have enough fingers to put in the holes
in the dike when you're losing."
They've mounted to a point that Indiana State
must go 11-2 the rest of the regular season to finish above .500.
And Waltman has finished below that point only once in his 15-year
head coaching career. And that was a 13-14 mark in his first
year at the University of Indianapolis, when the 1992-93 Greyhounds
won more Great Lakes Valley Conference games than ever before.
"We've never had a team that pays so
little attention to detail, that concentrates so poorly on their
assignments," he said. "None of them are selfish. None
of them are defiant. That comes with fear, lack of confidence
and anxiety about your own game, and you can't concentrate on
the details of what you're trying to do.
"So one night it might be shooting from
the field. The next night it's free throws. The next night it's
rebounds," Waltman added. "It's the result of our lack
of mental toughness, which is not a knock on our kids. It will
happen to us all if we fail enough. It's going to take patience
and effort to try and get out of it."
Their next chance to do that comes in a 7:05
p.m. MVC game Wednesday against Wichita State in Hulman Center.
"If we want to win," Avery said,
"we've got to do the little things."
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