By Mark Bennett
Lamar Grimes is a mere 18-year-old freshman
who hasn't yet played his first college basketball game.
And yet he's somewhat of a source of advice
for his Indiana State Sycamore teammates this weekend. They'll
open their 2001-02 season at 6:05 p.m. today in the heart of
Grimes' hometown, Chicago, where ISU plays Illinois-Chicago in
the UIC Pavilion.
As a high-scoring star at Chicago Gage Park
High School, Grimes played against several Flames players --
Cedrick Banks and Martell Bailey of Westinghouse, Armond Williams
of Austin and Aaron Carr of Lincoln Park, among others. Grimes
knows their style.
"They like to do a lot of running, because
they've got real quick guards," Grimes said before practice
last week in Hulman Center.
It's a rare debut for Grimes. In his first
college game, he'll start at point guard for the Sycamores in
the city where he grew up. After racking up 26 points a game
at Gage Park last season, Grimes isn't aiming to dazzle the crowd
in the Pavilion tonight. He'd just like to quiet his old Flames
acquaintances from Chicago. They'd mentioned this matchup to
Grimes during the offseason.
"I just want to get a win," Grimes
said. "They've been doing a lot of talking about what they're
going to do to us. I just want to get a win."
The Flames and Sycamores arrive here on different
paths. UIC struggled through an 11-17 season in 2000-01, with
Banks and Bailey sidelined by ineligibility and 6-11 center Thor
Solverson lost to a knee injury. All three Flames will start
today. Meanwhile, ISU recovered from a late-season slump to win
the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament and a first-round NCAA
Tournament game against 13th-ranked Oklahoma, led by seniors
Michael Menser and Matt Renn. Their record was 22-12.
Now, for the first time since Royce Waltman
took over as ISU's head coach in 1997, he'll be without Renn
and Menser. Instead, the Sycamores will start with Grimes at
Menser's point guard spot and either sophomore Matt Berry or
junior Matt Broermann at Renn's swingman position. Sophomore
guard Marcus Howard, whose scoring averaged climbed to more than
10 points per game in the 2001 postseason as a starter, should
be available for reserve duty after missing all of the preseason
with a stress fracture in his foot.
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file/Joseph C. Garza |
| In the middle: Indiana State's
Terence Avery (31) first played college basketball in the Chicago
area at Northwestern University. |
This season's leaders are seniors Kelyn Block,
a preseason all-MVC choice at guard, Djibril Kante at power forward
and Terence Avery at center. In their 85-68 exhibition victory
over Pella Windows on Nov. 9, that trio accounted for 40 points
and 23 rebounds. Of course, Grimes, Broermann and freshman Jake
Sams also scored in double figures.
All of that worries Flames Coach Jimmy Collins.
"We need to be able to stop their penetration,"
Collins said Thursday. "But they also have big guys who
can pop up and shoot."
Shooting accuracy will be a factor tonight.
The Sycamores hit just 25 percent of their shots in a 57-51 exhibition
loss to the University of Indianapolis on Nov. 3. They improved
to 45 percent against Pella. As for the Flames, they hit 46 percent
from the field in an exhibition victory over Marathon Oil on
Tuesday, up from 37 percent in their first exhibition victory
over BC Albacomp.
The presence of Banks and Bailey makes a difference
in the Flames, Waltman said.
"As they work those guys in the lineup,
they'll be back to pressing and running," Waltman said.
But he'll also be concerned with his own Sycamores'
ball-handling and decision making. Last season, Menser led the
nation in assist-to-turnover ratio. Regaining that sharpness
will be a season-long pursuit.
"The last couple years, what has been
good about our team, is we almost never have a loose possession,"
Waltman said after the Pella win. "Almost every possession
at both ends of the floor, we were locked in. And now, to win
on our schedule, we've got to get there. And we're not there."
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