Baton Rouge, La. — Indiana State men’s basketball coach Kevin McKenna admitted that he was kicking himself in his hotel after ISU’s loss to Louisiana State on Monday.
So much emphasis had been placed on a potential win over LSU and the gold at the end of the Dick’s NIT Season Tipoff rainbow if the Sycamores had advanced to the championship round in New York. When it didn’t happen, how would the Sycamores respond in Tuesday’s consolation game?
Just fine as it turned out.
ISU’s depth and continued strong defensive effort helped the Sycamores drop Wisconsin-Milwaukee 76-63 in the second game of the Preseason NIT at the Pete Maravich Center.
“I was guilty as anyone of building all of that up. I was sitting in my hotel room last night kicking myself for putting a lot of emphasis on that game because I was worried about today’s game. I learned we have some guys who can step up and bounce back from a disappointing effort. That shows character,”
McKenna said.
ISU’s offense came back to life as the Panthers didn’t defend with anywhere near the intensity LSU had the previous night. After struggling early on, ISU turned it on, shooting 57.7 percent from the field and 60 percent from 3-point range. One heartening aspect of the shooting is that those percentages were maintained throughout the contest.
Rashad Reed led the Sycamores with 16 points — including an eight-point spurt within a three-minute span at a key juncture of the second half — and was 4 of 6 from 3-point range. Dwayne Lathan added 14 points on a perfect 7 of 7 shooting night. Lathan has not yet missed a shot as a Sycamore, making 10 of 10 in two games so far.
ISU held a team under 36-percent shooting for the second straight night as the Panthers (1-2) shot 35.3 percent from the field. The Sycamores also weren’t hurt as badly on the boards as they had been in a rebounding meltdown against LSU the night before, though Milwaukee still had a 37-31 edge.
ISU center Brant Leitnaker was a key to ISU’s defense. The junior Sycamore center spent most of his 26 minutes guarding 6-foot-7, 310-pound forward James Eayrs, Milwaukee’s leading scorer, and did a good job bodying the big man, as Eayrs was 4 of 18 from the field.
“He did a nice job. Brant’s a smart defender. He did some nice things position-wise, help-wise and he’s our best talker out there from the big guy standpoint. He kind of facilitates a lot of things out there. He’s not the quickest in the world, he’s not the best guy in the world, but he tries to get to the right spot and he sticks his nose in there. We’ll take his effort for sure,” McKenna said.
The Sycamores got off to a poor start as Milwaukee sliced through an indifferent Sycamores defense to take a 12-3 lead. ISU took care of the defensive lapse with an infusion of energy off the bench from Lathan and Koang Doluony. Shortly after, ISU found its 3-point stroke and went on a 7-0 run to tie the game. Five lead changes and four ties later, ISU had a 30-29 edge at halftime.
Milwaukee never took the lead or tied the game again, but the Panthers were within one possession of the lead as late as the 11:30 mark when ISU held a tenuous 50-47 lead.
The spark for ISU came when Aaron Carter, who didn’t play against LSU the previous night, converted a difficult reverse layup to put the Sycamores up 52-47. Carter’s conversion would begin a stretch where the Sycamores would score a bucket on five consecutive trips down the floor, capped off by a Reed 3-pointer to put ISU up 61-51 with 7:56 left in the game.
“On any given night, it could be anyone. Tonight I happened to get in the zone for a hot second,” said Reed, who later scored another 3-pointer to complete a three-minute, eight-point personal run. “It came at a good time because it gave us a good run and set us up. Our defense went from there.”
Milwaukee (1-2) stayed within range of the lead until a Lathan steal with 2:30 left sealed the Panthers’ fate. With ISU leading 68-60, Lathan jumped in front of a Jerard Ajami pass, and fed it to Leitnaker in transition, who threw down a two-handed dunk to restore ISU’s double-digit lead. After a Marshall layup made it 72-60, Jake Kelly tipped a pass by Deonte Roberts and fed it to Lathan who threw down another dunk to make it 74-60.
The bounce back from Monday’s 56-45 loss to LSU is obviously important for the Sycamores, who can go into Friday’s home game against Colorado State with a positive feeling.
“I think young people are pretty resilient and tonight they showed that. They’re pumped up about their next game,” McKenna said.
ISU should know its Preseason NIT fate and opponents for next Monday and Tuesday’s consolation round today. ISU expects to be placed at Western Kentucky, the Hilltoppers lost 71-60 to LSU in Tuesday’s South Bracket final.
Indiana State 76
min fg 3pt ft a r pf tp
Leitnaker 26 1-2 0-0 3-4 2 2 2 5
Reed 33 6-11 4-6 0-0 5 2 0 16
Marshall 25 4-6 3-3 0-0 3 3 2 11
Richard 12 1-2 0-0 0-0 3 0 3 2
Kelly 21 4-8 1-2 2-2 1 0 4 11
Doluony 20 2-4 0-0 2-2 6 0 1 6
Crawford 9 2-2 0-0 0-0 2 0 4 4
Lathan 24 7-7 0-0 0-0 4 2 0 14
Martin 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0
Printy 11 0-4 0-2 0-0 3 1 0 0
Carter 14 3-5 1-2 0-0 1 1 2 7
Totals 30-52 9-15 7-8 31* 11 19 76
UW-Milwaukee 63
min fg 3pt ft r a pf tp
Meier 22 3-6 2-5 2-2 1 3 1 10
Eayrs 28 4-18 2-5 0-2 10 1 0 10
Roberts 32 6-9 0-0 1-1 7 0 1 13
Franklin 30 2-6 1-4 0-0 4 2 2 5
Ajami 20 1-7 0-3 0-0 3 2 0 2
Walker 14 1-2 0-1 0-0 4 2 0 2
Souter 18 1-5 0-2 1-2 3 0 3 3
Tyler 5 1-4 1-4 1-2 0 0 1 4
Hill 12 2-4 0-0 2-2 0 1 2 6
Boga 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Averkamp 18 3-7 0-0 2-2 3 0 3 8
Totals 24-68 6-24 9-13 37* 10 13 63
Halftime score — ISU 38, UWM 36. FG Pct. — ISU .577; UWM .353; 3P Pct. — ISU .600; UWM .250; FT Pct. — ISU .875; UWM .692. Steals — ISU 5 (Richard, Kelly, Crawford, Lathan, Carter); UWM 10 (Franklin 3). Blocks — ISU 4 (Leitnaker, Reed, Doluony, Crawford), UWM 1 (Eayrs). Turnovers — ISU 15 (Kelly 3, Doluony 3, Lathan 3), UWM 13 (Franklin 3, Ajami 3). Team rebounds* — ISU 1, UWM 2. A — n/a.
Next — ISU (2-1) will play host to Colorado State at 7 p.m. Friday.
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ISU men bounce back to defeat Milwaukee
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