Todd Golden
Jonesboro, Ark. — It's instrumental to remember one thing when weighing the good, and the not-so-good, of Indiana State's 77-72 victory at Arkansas State on Sunday.
It was ISU's fifth win ... and it's still Thanksgiving weekend. Last year, ISU's fifth win came when everyone was making Valentine's Day plans.
The Sycamores came out of a 16-day, seven-game stretch with a 5-2 mark. Five of the games were away from Hulman Center, with two true road wins in the bunch. Obviously, it's tangible proof of the progress the ISU program feels its made in the span of a year.
"It took us a little bit of time last year to win our fifth game," said ISU coach Kevin McKenna, referring to ISU's 4-19 start last year. ISU didn't win its fifth game last season until Feb. 8. "Our guys are aware of that, they're aware of who we are. They know we're not a finished product. We've improved a great deal, even since the LSU game, it's a much different feel, it's a much better team, but by no stretch of the imagination are we done yet."
ISU had plenty to like after its second road win of the season. ISU controlled the boards, outrebounding ASU 42-29. That was primarily a product of Carl Richard's productive return from injury as had had six rebounds to go with a team-high 17 points. Richard set the tone for ISU on the boards early on, he had five at halftime.
"I took me a little while to get my breath out there, but my shoulder is feeling good, so I was able to get myself into the game," said Richard, who missed the last two games with shoulder pain.
ISU also did a good job creating good synergy between its guards and its post players, with Brant Leitnaker being the primary benefactor. ISU guards Jake Kelly and Harry Marshall both did a good job finding Leitnaker for easy opportunities near the basket as he had a career-high 11 points to go with three rebounds.
"Coach had talked about how the bigs need to step up on any given night. They had some good bigs so I just wanted to take a little pressure off the guards. I was able to find spots to get some easy two's," Leitnaker said.
Josh Crawford was also effective in the paint (six points, five rebounds) as ISU handled ASU's big front line well.
"Those guys did a good job. Carl was active inside and made a couple of shots. Josh came in and gave us a good 13 minutes. Brant plays physical, sticks his nose in there, he got us three blocks and clogged up the paint and kept their big guy [Martavius Adams] from getting going," McKenna said.
There was also plenty of things to give the ISU coaches and players pause. ISU had 19 turnovers as it is still having trouble consistently taking care of the ball.
But the major concern was ISU's inability to break a press ... a deficiency that nearly cost the Sycamores the game.
Not long after ISU had taken a 16-point lead midway through the second half, the Sycamores wilted when ASU put its press on. ISU only had three turnovers in the final seven minutes, but the press rushed ISU into bad decisions even if the press was successfully broken. ISU also managed just one field goal in the last nine minutes.
It was the second game in a row where a press nearly cost ISU a victory. Western Kentucky wiped out a nine-point deficit in the span of two minutes largely from ISU mistakes forced from WKU's press.
"We have to be patient and not force things. We can't let it speed us up, especially with a 13-point lead. To take chances with the basketball when we can be patient is something we don't want to do," Kelly said.
ISU led 72-59 with 5:20 to go, but an 8-0 run knocked the Sycamore lead down to 72-67 with two minutes to go.
ASU guard Daniel Bryant, who led the Red Wolves (3-2) with 23 points, missed a 3-pointer that could have knocked ISU's down further, but ISU gave itself a respite when Marshall made a free throw and Leitnaker got a dunk after another ASU miss to go back up by eight.
The respite was brief. Bryant hit a runner with 54 seconds left to make it 75-69. ISU broke ASU's press was some difficulty after the bucket, but Rashad Reed threw the ball away on an ill-advised outlet pass with 38 seconds to go. Bryant quickly made ISU pay with a 3-pointer to make it 75-72, and as it was at WKU, ISU unexpectedly found itself in a one-possession game after it had a big lead.
ASU put the press on again. Kelly was trapped in the corner, and only with difficulty did he find Harry Marshall in the middle, who quickly kicked it to Reed in transition. Reed was fouled and made a pair of foul shots to put the game away.
"Our guys are just a little tentative in the press. We haven't had a whole lot of practice time to work on it and gain some confidence from doing it," McKenna said. "We got sped up too much and tried to make things happen right away instead of being patient, but it doesn't overshadow that we played well for most of the game."
ISU's rebounding and 3-point shot making gave it the big lead to begin with. Leading 48-45 with 12:41 to go, ISU broke the game open with an 18-5 run. The first three buckets of the rally were 3-pointers by Jordan Printy, Richard and Reed. ISU shot 50 percent overall from 3-point range.
One factor that helped ISU was something beyond its control as ASU shot an abysmal 51.7 percent from the free throw line.
ISU's has nine days until its next game -- a Dec. 9 home game against Ball State -- as the long-running series with the Cardinals resumes after a one-year hiatus.
