CARBONDALE, ILL. —
Defense wins championships. So what does lack of defense do?
Much to its dismay, Indiana State men’s basketball team continues to find out as it tumbles down the Missouri Valley Conference standings.
Host Southern Illinois shot 51 percent from the floor and came out red-hot against a limp ISU defensive effort. Though ISU fought back to tie the game in the second half, the inability to stop the Salukis proved fatal as ISU fell 73-67 at SIU Arena on Friday.
ISU fell to 2-4 in the MVC. With MVC co-leaders Wichita State visiting Hulman Center on Sunday and with road trips to Illinois State and Creighton after that, the Sycamores have some quick soul searching to do to get back to the top-level league status expected of them.
Defense is where it starts. SIU (6-11, 3-3) became the third MVC team in as many ISU trips to shoot 50 percent or better from the field.
“You can’t win games that way. It’s not like we don’t work on defense. We work on it non-stop,” ISU coach Greg Lansing said. “We tried to tell our guys at Drake. We tried to tell them at Northern Iowa. We tried to tell them here. They’re not listening enough and I have to find a way to get them to listen better.”
Though ISU’s defense was not up to snuff, there was another troubling aspect to ISU’s defeat.
Jake Odum led ISU with 15 points and 12 rebounds. R.J. Mahurin chipped in 14 off the bench. Though Myles Walker and Jordan Printy each scored 10, is it hard for the Sycamores to find somebody other than Odum they can rely on?
“It is,” Lansing said. “A common theme in our losses is Myles getting 15 minutes or less. He has to find a way to play hands-free. We’re a team with two good defenders — Myles and Steve [McWhorter] — but the rest of the guys struggle to keep the ball in front of them and in helping and recovering. We have to play better team defense.”
To a degree, all of ISU’s seniors struggled. Carl Richard had four points and three turnovers. Walker got into foul trouble in both halves, played just 15 minutes, and ultimately fouled out. Dwayne Lathan was 1 for 10 from the field with three turnovers. Printy was 2 of 8 from 3-point range.
The die was cast from the beginning for the Sycamores. The Salukis scored on five of their first six trips down the floor and took a 13-5 lead. The Salukis hit three 3-pointers during the fast start, all on open shots.
ISU would cut its deficit to three, but a four-minute dry spell just after the 10-minute mark — during which ISU scored just two points — proved problematic as SIU pushed its lead to double digits.
“It’s really frustrating. Our goal is to be one of the best field goal defenses in the league. It’s not there yet,” Mahurin said. “We’re not getting it done right now.”
An 8-2 SIU run would put ISU down 39-26 with 2:27 to go in the half. ISU trailed by eight at halftime.
An 11-3 run got ISU within a point with 12:41 to go, but it also started a frustrating pattern. ISU turned it over on a possession where it could have taken the lead. That scenario would play out twice more later in the second half. At 54-all, Printy missed a 3-point attempt, and at 57-all, Lathan missed a bucket.
“We missed a lot of layups. We got to the basket a lot. We shot 20 threes and only made five,” Lansing said. “But the bottom line is that you can’t let a team score half the time. You’re going to lose.”
Walker fouled out with 2:38 left and his presence might have helped on the bucket that turned the game. A Printy 3-pointer with 2:02 left made it 66-63, and that score held with 47 seconds left when SIU’s Treg Setty forced a 3-pointer near the end of the shot clock. Setty’s shot was an air ball, but Jeff Early was all alone underneath to retrieve the errant shot and put it in for an easy layup to make it 68-63.
ISU would not get within a possession of the lead for the remainder of the contest.
• ISU hosting White Out – ISU next plays host to Wichita State at 8 p.m. on Sunday. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU, it is the first time one of the primary ESPN networks has televised a game from Hulman Center since 2002.
Fans are encouraged to wear white as the university is promoting the game as a White Out.
INDIANA STATE (67) — Richard 1-5 2-4 4, Walker 3-4 4-5 10, Odum 5-10 4-5 15, Lathan 1-10 2-2 4, Printy 4-10 0-0 10, Kitchell 0-0 1-2 1, Eitel 2-2 0-0 5, Gant 0-0 0-0 0, McWhorter 2-3 0-0 4, Mahurin 5-12 3-4 14. Totals 23-56 FG, 16-22 FT, 67 TP.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (73) — Seck 5-9 6-6 16, Daniels 2-3 1-1 5, Brown-Surles 3-6 2-2 11, Lindsay 4-7 2-3 13, Early 3-7 2-6 8, Drinkard 1-2 0-0 2, Goff 1-4 0-0 2, Swan 2-2 1-2 5, Bocot 0-2 0-0 0, Setty 5-9 0-0 11. 26-51 FG, 14-20 FT, 73 TP.
Halftime score – SIU 39-31. 3-point goals – ISU 5-20 (Printy 2-8, Mahurin 1-6, Odum 1-1, Eitel 1-1, Richard 0-1), SIU 7-20 (Brown-Surles 3-6, Lindsay 3-5, Setty 1-4, Early 0-2, Goff 0-2, Bocot 0-1). Rebounds – ISU 34* (Odum 12, Lathan 8, Richard 3, McWhorter 3, Eitel 2, Mahurin 2, Team RB 2*, Walker, Kitchell). SIU 32* (Seck 7, Brown-Surles 5, Early 4, Swan 4, Setty 4, Lindsay 3, Team RB 3*, Daniels, Bocot). Assists – ISU 8 (Lathan 3, Odum 2, Printy, Eitel, Mahurin), SIU 14 (Seck 3, Brown-Surles 3, Goff 2, Bocot 2, Lindsay, Early, Swan, Setty). Steals – ISU 9 (Mahurin 3, Odum 2, McWhorter 2, Richard, Lathan), SIU 7 (Lindsay 3, Setty 2, Daniels, Early). Blocks – ISU 0, SIU 6 (Daniels 3, Early 3). Turnovers – ISU 14 (Richard 3, Lathan 3, Odum 2, Mahurin 2, Walker, Kitchell, Eitel, McWhorter), SIU 14 (Swan 4). Total fouls – ISU 22, SIU 21. Fouled out – Walker, Daniels. A – 3,151.
Next — ISU (11-6, 2-4) plays host to Wichita State and SIU (6-11, 3-3) plays at Creighton on Sunday.
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