By Todd Golden
TERRE HAUTE — What's worse than a worst case scenario?
On Thursday, the Indiana State men's basketball team got injury news that certainly qualified.
ISU guard Harry Marshall injured his right foot with 18.8 seconds left in the Sycamores' 72-65 victory over Illinois State on Wednesday and was hopeful that X-rays taken Thursday would be negative. However, the X-rays revealed that Marshall suffered a stress fracture. He will be out four-to-six weeks.
But wait ... depressingly for ISU ... there's more.
It was revealed Thursday that Dwayne Lathan was also injured during Wednesday's game. He injured his left hand on a drive to the basket during his brief two-minute appearance in the first half. X-rays taken on the hand revealed that three bones were broken, one shattered, and that Lathan will also be out for four-to-six weeks.
ISU is hoping to have both players back for the Missouri Valley Conference tournament ... if rehabilitation goes well.
The injuries are a devastating double-blow just after the Sycamores (14-9, 6-6) reached the .500 mark in conference play. ISU has only eight healthy bodies to complete the six remaining games on the conference schedule and its BracketBusters game at Wisconsin-Green Bay. ISU begins its short-handed journey with a trip to Wichita State on Saturday.
Between Marshall, Lathan and Jake Kelly -- who tore his ACL on Dec. 29 at Southern Illinois -- the Sycamores have their top three of their top four leading scorers in dry dock.
"It's very unfortunate. Dwayne's trying to come back his ankle injury and that happens. Me and him and Jake are just going to have to be supportive of our teammates," Marshall said.
Marshall, who is a senior and who had just surpassed the 1,000 career points in the Illinois State game, was obviously disappointed, but took the misfortune in stride as he watched ISU's practice on Thursday.
"When it happened, I felt something pop, I heard something pop and I kind of knew in the back on my head, but I was trying to stay positive at first. But then I got the news today," Marshall said. "It was an accident, its basketball, it happens. All I can do is support my teammates for the rest of the season and hopefully get healthy."
Marshall's injury occurred when he collided with Illinois State's Osiris Eldridge while trying to haul in a long lobbed inbounds pass, possession of which would have all but clinched the Sycamores' victory over the Redbirds. Eldridge fouled Marshall on the play and Marshall made the two free throws, but hobbled off the floor shortly after. Marshall was hopping around on one foot as he watched practice on Thursday.
As for Lathan, he had no inclination as to the extent of his hand injury when it happened. He played just two minutes in ISU's game and it was presumed at the time that he left because of the effects of the high ankle sprain suffered against Bradley on Jan. 6.
"I was driving and I lost my footing and I kind of fell on it. I didn't think anything of it when it happened. [The athletic training staff] told me I actually put in back in place when I was still in the game, I had no idea," Lathan said.
With ISU main cogs out of action, it's wagon-circling time for everyone involved with the Sycamores. The coaches are going to have to devise a battle plan to best take advantage of the healthy bodies left. The players will have to maintain confidence and take advantage of the much-increased playing time many of them will now get.
"Wichita State, Creighton, the rest of the teams on our schedule don't care about what our situation is. You can't worry about things that aren't in your control," ISU coach Kevin McKenna said. "I feel bad for Harry, Dwayne and Jake, especially with Harry's senior year winding down and him playing so well. But we have to deal with it."
McKenna accentuated the positive to the team and made it clear to them that while the injuries are a blow, it creates an opportunity for the players who will be playing.
"Our mental approach is really important with the guys that are healthy. Just compete, scratch out as many wins as we can, and hopefully Dwayne and Harry will get healthy and at the end of the season, we'll be strong," McKenna said. "If we feel sorry for ourselves, we'll never bounce from it."
ISU senior guard Rashad Reed, who will move over from shooting guard to take over point guard duties from Marshall, is one of those players who will have to be productive for the Sycamores to survive.
"For Jake, Harry and Dwayne, they're all my buddies and I love them all. It's unfortunate for Harry, it's his senior year. I just think now that they're gone, I need to step up, Josh [Crawford], also a senior, needs to step up, and we need to take more of a leadership role. A.C. [Aaron Carter] is an upperclassman, he'll have to take on more of a leadership role. We all have to come together as one," Reed said.
Given the paucity of available bodies, McKenna was asked if he would consider activating one or more of ISU's redshirts -- Jake Odum, R.J. Mahurin, Logan Eitel and Lucas Eitel. But with the regular season coming to a close, it would be hard to cede a year of eligibilty for the sake of seven remaining games.
"It's probably too late for that. I don't think those guys would want to do it at this point and I haven't talked to them about it. I wouldn't really be fair at this point," McKenna said.
