Kevin McKenna’s weekend got a little nicer Saturday night, when the Indiana State basketball coach got a telephone call and a verbal commitment from Jake Kitchell.
Kitchell, soon to be a four-year starter for South Central (Union Mills), will be a first-team all-state selection of Hoosier Basketball Magazine for a second consecutive year, publisher Gary Donna confirmed Sunday evening, and will also be one of the players pictured on the magazine’s cover.
He’s 6-foot-8 — “That’s barefoot,” Kitchell said in a telephone interview Sunday. “You play in your shoes, so some people say I’m 6-9, but I always say 6-8” — and 225 pounds, and averaged 20 points, 14 rebounds, six assists and six blocks per game for a team that was 17-5 during the 2008-2009 high school season.
The Sycamore recruit anticipates that he’ll be used at either forward position for Indiana State.
“Whatever the team needs,” Kitchell said. “In high school, you’ve got to do more to help the team … but my AAU team [SYF from Gary] had bigger guys, so I played more outside.”
If that sounds like the description of a very recent Sycamore, it wouldn’t be the first time the comparison has been made.
“The coaches [at Indiana State] showed me video of [2009 ISU graduate] Jay Tunnell, and they said they thought I could be that kind of player,” Kitchell said Sunday. “I thought that was great, because Jay was a great player.”
Kitchell said he was most proud of his assists totals last season.
“A lot of them were from perimeter passing, and some were out of the post,” he explained. “In [Class] A I get double- and triple-teamed a lot, so that left a lot of other guys open for layups.”
Although he’s from a small school that hasn’t won a sectional during his three seasons as a starter, that doesn’t mean Kitchell — a member of the Indiana Junior All-Stars during the past spring — hasn’t faced tough competition.
“Every year I’ve been in the sectional the team that won our sectional has either won the state [Oregon-Davis in 2007, Triton in 2008] or got to the state finals [Triton in 2009],” Kitchell said.
With four starters back for South Central’s Satellites and a couple of newcomers on the team, “We’re hoping to add to that stat [ourselves] this year,” he added.
Indiana State came out ahead of Western Michigan and Valparaiso in Kitchell’s recruitment, the player said Sunday. Other schools involved in his recruitment earlier were Ball State, Oregon State and Xavier.
Kitchell can sign his national letter of intent in early November.
College
ISU men's basketball gets verbal from 6-foot-8 forward
South Central’s Jake Kitchell says he’ll play for Sycamores
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Sycamore women looking to snap six-game losing streak
The Indiana State women’s basketball team is in dire need of a victory in Hulman Center this weekend.
Bradley visits Terre Haute tonight looking to sweep the season series from the Sycamores, who are in jeopardy of the program’s first seven-game losing streak since the 1995-96 season.
“I think it should [add to motivation]. There’s no doubt that group in the locker room in there is very disappointed,” Coach Teri Moren said. “As I keep saying, we’re in a rough patch right now, and there’s no group of kids that wants to get right back on track more than they do.” -
Leonard dominates in first half, but IU, Zeller earn the victory
The first half belonged to Illinois’ Meyers Leonard.
The win belonged to Indiana and Cody Zeller.
The 23rd-ranked Hoosiers (19-6, 7-6 Big Ten) took advantage of a glaring free-throw discrepancy to defeat the Illini 84-71 on Thursday. -
MVC’s worst a tantalizing option for ISU
Even though the Indiana State men’s basketball team has played better of late, having won three of its last four games, there’s only one team with a worse record in the Missouri Valley Conference standings than the Sycamores.
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Sycamores can’t stop Stutz, Shockers
All or nothing. It was that kind of game for Wichita State center Garrett Stutz. Unfortunately for Indiana State’s men’s basketball team, the “all” came in the second half.
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McWhorter’s fortunes rise with ISU’s
More so than any other Sycamore, Steve McWhorter might embody the decline and the recent rise of the Indiana State men’s basketball team.
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Johnson dominates again for ISU track
Felisha Johnson continued to dominate women’s weight throw while two Indiana State hurdlers moved into today’s finals after solid performances in the preliminaries Friday at the Meyo Invitational at Notre Dame.
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Indiana State women lose at Illinois State
Playing short-handed again, Indiana State’s women suffered their sixth straight Missouri Valley Conference basketball loss Friday night, falling 78-67 to host Illinois State.
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Indiana, Purdue meet with both looking to regain momentum
Indiana University’s stint in the Top 25 may be coming to an end. Purdue is just looking for a winning streak.
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ISU women looking to end five-game losing streak at Illinois State
Within a few points in the final minutes, Indiana State had chances to win women’s basketball games at Missouri State and Wichita State last weekend.
But the Sycamores lost for the fourth and fifth straight games, also losing freshman Jessica Valley for the season at Wichita State. The promising backcourt player tore the ACL in her right knee and began strengthening exercises this week in order to make plans for surgery. -
ISU Senior Day game to be televised on ESPN
The Missouri Valley Conference announced Thursday that Indiana State’s regular season finale against No. 12-ranked Creighton on Feb. 25 in Hulman Center has been chosen as the MVC’s “wild card” game that will be telecast on either ESPN or ESPN2.
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Hoosiers load up on in-state players
With a 1-11 record in his first season as IU football coach, Kevin Wilson knew there were a lot of holes to fill in terms of personnel.
- Wabash Valley verbal commitments
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It’s on: Sycamores, Bulldogs to play at Hinkle on Feb. 18
How badly did Indiana State want to get Butler as its BracketBusters opponent?
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METRO ROUNDUP: Four from Rose receive weekly honors
Four Rose-Hulman athletes earned Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference weekly honors, the HCAC announced Monday.
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Hoosiers reclaim needed offensive momentum
Indiana hadn’t allowed an opponent to shoot better than 40 percent in three straight games heading into Sunday’s home game against Iowa.
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Sycamores will have to match Aces’ toughness
Indiana State men’s basketball coach Greg Lansing has an enduring respect for the toughness Evansville coach Marty Simmons coaxes out of his Purple Aces.
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WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ROUNDUP: Rose, The Woods post weekend victories
Rose-Hulman relied on a balanced scoring attack and a strong defensive effort to earn a 55-44 women’s basketball victory Saturday over Mount St. Joseph.
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ISU's Stacia Weatherford sets school record in 60-meter hurdles
Indiana State junior Stacia Weatherford set the school record in the women’s 60-meter hurdles, while sophomore Greggmar Swift dominated the action in the men’s 60 hurdles during competition Saturday at the Indiana Relays.
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Rose takes first in Engineer Track and Field Invitational
Rose-Hulman relied on nine event victories, 13 top-two finishes and three school records for a strong performance at the ninth annual Engineer Track and Field Invitational on Saturday.
The men’s squad captured first place honors in a meet that featured two of the nation's top 20 NCAA Division III squads and 12 institutions from seven states. The day’s competition also included 10 meet records. -
Mattox’s 31 not enough for ISU women
Indiana State pulled within 63-57 with a 6-0 run with 8 minutes, 50 seconds remaining Friday night at JQH Arena, but the Sycamores lost 84-70 to host Missouri State in a Missouri Valley Conference women's basketball game.
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Mattox, Sycamores staying positive on road trip to Missouri State, Wichita State
Indiana State seniors Brittany Schoen and Deja Mattox are within striking distance of passing 1,000 points in their women’s basketball careers, and they would join classmate Shannon Thomas in that club. Schoen needs just 16 points, while Mattox is 89 points away.
But Mattox has been on a roll of late, scoring a team-high 15.1 points through ISU’s 4-3 start to Missouri Valley Conference play. -
IU triumphs
When Indiana’s Will Sheehey left the floor after receiving his second technical foul, the Hoosier fans cheered.
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ISU women nipped at buzzer
Creighton sophomore Carli Tritz — blanketed by Indiana State senior Brittany Schoen — had just two points at halftime Friday in Hulman Center.
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ISU needs to find chip on its shoulder
When one looks back at the totality of Indiana State’s 2010-11 men’s basketball season, there’s a recurrent theme that tied together the high points in a 20-14 campaign. A recurrent theme that might give ISU a lifeline in what has been a disappointing 2012 season.
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ISU women look to reverse recent trend vs. Creighton
The Creighton women’s basketball team has won three of their last four games in Hulman Center. While the Bluejays have been one of the winningest programs in the Missouri Valley Conference — with at least 12 league wins in seven of the last nine seasons — the Bluejays’ success in Terre Haute would need to end if the Sycamores want to show that their 4-1 start to league play is not a fluke.
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Hoosiers, Buckeyes meet after suffering upsets
Ohio State standout Jared Sullinger blames himself for the fifth-ranked Buckeyes’ most recent loss.
“There were times in the Illinois game where I just kind of took a break on the defensive end instead of the offensive end and it cost us,” Sullinger said, referring to a 79-74 setback on Tuesday. -
Rose drops pair to Transylvania
Transylvania withstood a second half charge by Rose-Hulman to earn a 60-46 men’s basketball victory in a battle of Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference co-leaders Saturday.
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Bradley shoots down ISU women
The Indiana State women’s basketball team ran into a hot-shooting Bradley team on Saturday afternoon, as the Sycamores dropped a road contest 79-58 inside the Renaissance Coliseum.
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Defense fails ISU again in loss at Southern Illinois
Defense wins championships. So what does lack of defense do?
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ISU women pick up big road win against defending champion Northern Iowa
Brittany Schoen hit a 3-pointer to begin the second half that put Indiana State ahead 36-25. The senior’s shot and ISU’s stingy defense helped the Sycamores pull ahead by as many as 16 in the second half on the way to a 68-62 triumph at Northern Iowa.
Indiana State moved into a tie for first place with a 4-0 record. - More College Headlines
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Sycamore women looking to snap six-game losing streak
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