There was a lot for the Indiana State men’s basketball players to be embarrassed about after its 65-59 loss to Evansville at Hulman Center on Sunday.
• The Sycamores allowed Evansville to score 43 points off turnovers and offensive boards.
• None of the Sycamores could seemingly relax and avoid mistakes to give themselves a chance to bury the Purple Aces after leading by as much as 14 in the first half and 12 in the second half.
• Not only could ISU not pull away, it blew its lead and let Evansville wrest it away from them in the final two minutes after the Sycamores had led for nearly 35 minutes.
• There was the “Go Aces Go!” chant that echoed inside Hulman Center from Evansville’s fan contingent, a rally cry that poured salt in the Sycamores’ wounds after they ran out of gas in the final minute.
A chant that contrasted tellingly against the crushing silence from ISU’s disconsolate fans, who filed out of Hulman Center with every range of emotion save happiness.
But mostly, the Sycamores were just embarrassed with themselves.
Guard Harry Marshall and center Isiah Martin were slumped in their chairs in the media room, not trying to hide their embarrassment after ISU snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
There’s no point in trying to go into any deep rationale as to why the Sycamores have struggled to a 3-11 mark, losing three games at Hulman Center by six points or less. The reasons were evident in the faces of Marshall and Martin as well as their words.
“We have to have more toughness. The bigs didn’t do anything this game. We got outrebounded by a 6-5 swingman [Nate Garner, who scored 21 with seven rebounds and four steals] who averages maybe seven points a game,” said Martin, who had five blocks. “Shy Ely had two in the first half and ends up with 24. He got layups in the paint that were uncontested, it’s just a toughness issue with the team right now. Right now, we’re not tough.”
ISU was outrebounded 42-27 and conceded 16 second-chance points to the Purple Aces, who entered the game with a 17-game Missouri Valley Conference road losing streak, and looked poised to extend it with their own unsure performance during the first 30 minutes. The Sycamores — as they did against and Murray State on Nov. 26 and Arkansas State on Dec. 1 — let Evansville off the hook and let the Aces take the fight to them and beat the Sycamores down on their home floor.
That’s unacceptable to anyone, but especially Marshall. From the coaching staff, to the fans, to his teammates, to himself, Marshall is the unquestioned leader on the team. With a 2-4 record since his return on Dec. 13, he doesn’t think he’s cutting it.
“It comes from practice and it’s falling on my shoulders right now in the leadership role for me. I’m not doing my job as a leader. I feel like the coaches tell us they feel, when someone doesn’t execute out there, it makes me feel like I’m not doing my job,” Marshall said. “When we’re on the floor, the coaches aren’t playing the games. I’m out there more than anybody and it’s my job and it’s my leadership that needs to be on the floor right now. It starts with me and it’s going to start tomorrow beginning with practice.”
As ever, ISU had stretches where it played fine, but it’s not silver-lining time, according to Marshall. It’s time to get in someone’s face and make the Sycamores find a way to do it for 40 minutes.
“We have no intensity whatsoever. When our shots are going in, we’re happy. When they’re not, we’re happy. We’ll play defense for a little bit, but we really don’t stop anybody. They’ll miss a shot or something like that,” Marshall said. “We have no defensive intensity out on the floor and that goes from guy one all the way down, starting with me. We have no defensive intensity on the floor and until we do it day in, day out. We won’t be a good team.”
The problem for ISU if one judges their first 14 games is who can Marshall, et al, depend on to impart that leadership to? How do any of the Sycamores trust each other on the floor or in practice when inconsistency on one end of the floor or both has dogged nearly all of them to a certain degree all season?
How does Marshall conjure production from players who have been unable or unwilling to strive for consistency in their own right? It’s a source of frustration for the coaches and it will be Marshall’s biggest challenge in turning the ship around as far as his motivating his teammates is concerned.
“It starts in practice, and also, the coaches give me a lot of praise, but I don’t do everything as well as they see. I think it starts with me seeing what I can do, seeing what I can get better at and pushing it down to my teammates. And also being harder on the guys. Not be as lackadaisical, or not to [have] a great time in practice. Things have to start picking it up, we have to start focusing now,” Marshall said.
Martin, seated next to Marshall, put the onus on himself and his teammates to pull their weight.
“Along with [Marshall’s] leader role, people have to want to do good. We have to know our roles and want to produce,” Martin said. “We can’t expect Harry to do everything, like coach told us, he can’t guard all five players on the court. We can’t just let Harry go out there on his own 1-on-5.”
“Other people have to be ready to play … and we haven’t been lately,” Martin added.
Todd Golden is sports editor of the Tribune-Star. He can be reached at (812) 231-4272 or todd.golden@tribstar.com. Please check out Golden’s blog at blogs.tribstar.com/downinthevalley
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