TERRE HAUTE —
With a modest winning streak — two in a row would certainly qualify as modest — the Indiana State men’s basketball team would like to move on to momentum.
Indiana State (13-9, 4-7) hopes to make it three wins in succession as they host Drake (13-9, 6-5) in a Missouri Valley Conference game at 8:05 p.m. tonight (MVC-TV/ESPN3.com) inside Hulman Center.
You might expect both teams to come in to this key Valley game a little bit fatigued, having played lengthy overtime games last weekend.
Drake toppled visiting Wichita State 93-86 in a three-overtime thriller on Saturday, handing the Shockers just their second loss in the MVC. Meanwhile, ISU was victorious in double overtime at Evansville 90-81 on Sunday.
“[Drake] had a heckuva triple-overtime win against a very good team,” ISU coach Greg Lansing said after Tuesday’s practice. “They were at home, so they didn’t have to travel and have a whole day of rest on us. Short one-day prep for us because we took [Monday] off. But we know them as well as they know us … both teams will be ready to go.”
After stumbling to a 2-7 start in the first half of the MVC race, are the Sycamores starting to turn the corner?
“I don’t know if we’ve completely turned the corner,” Lansing noted. “Things are going better. Our play’s been better at both ends of the floor. And it boils down to our practices have been better for the past two weeks. Guys have been competing harder against each other and you take that to the floor. The guys, the last two weeks, have really locked in and had great practices.
“If you’re not playing well, you’re not going to win in this league. We played well at home against Northern Iowa [59-54 win at home last Wednesday], we played pretty well against Evansville on the road. But we still have a lot of improving to do. We continue to play unselfishly on the offensive end, so if we cut down on those defensive mistakes, we’re going to be just fine.”
ISU lost at Drake in the conference opener, 79-64, way back on Dec. 27. The defeat snapped ISU’s six-game winning streak vs. the Bulldogs — the longest ISU had against any MVC opponent.
Dwayne Lathan paced the Sycamores with 24 points, a season-high at the time, in the first Drake encounter. Lathan raised his season-high mark to 27 points in the win at Evansville on Sunday.
Karl Madison and Rayvonte Rice led the Bulldogs with 24 and 22 points, respectively, just two of four players in double figures scoring in their first meeting. On Sunday, Ben Simons scored 29 points, while Rice had a double-double of 19 points, 14 rebounds vs. the Shockers.
“They just shot layups against us,” Lansing described ISU’s earlier Drake matchup. “Just did a very poor job in transition defense, a poor job in halfcourt defense. Our communication, our effort on [defense] was just not very good at all throughout the game. We turned [the ball] over a bit too much.
“They are very good. They have dynamic scorers in Rice and Simons. We didn’t do a very good job against them the first time, so we’re going to have to put out our best defensive performance of the year in order to win this game.”
As for the overall health of the team, the Sycamores are going “through the dog days of February”, according to Lansing. But the team is relatively healthy, all players participating in practice on Tuesday.
Freshman frontcourt player Justin Gant is one ISU player more visibly playing hurt, sporting a protective mask for a broken nose suffered last week.
“Myles [Walker] broke his nose, really kind of crumbled it there,” Lansing said. “Been looking for a lot of little splinters in his nose. But [Gant] did that last week and played well for us with the mask on at Evansville.”
• Butler tickets on sale — Tickets for Indiana State’s road contest at Butler as part of the 2012 Bracketbusters will go on sale at noon today at the Hulman Center Box Office. The Sycamores will play at Hinkle Fieldhouse at 2 p.m. on Feb. 18.
Tickets are $19. For more information, fans should call the ticket office at (812) 237-3737.
Indiana State University
After 2 wins, Indiana State isn’t rolling quite yet
- Indiana State University
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ISU KO’d by Evansville
Indiana State’s baseball team picked a very bad time to have its worst stretch of the 2012 season.
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Blanked by Blach: ISU drops MVC tournament opener
Things went wrong for Indiana State’s baseball team in its Missouri Valley Conference Tournament opener against Creighton, but one statistic glowed white-hot.
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MVP of the MVC: Lucas first Sycamore to earn Player of Year honors
Indiana State’s baseball team got the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season hardware last week and it’s hoping to grab more gold this week in its quest to win the Missouri Valley Conference baseball tournament.
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Sycamores try to catch Missouri Valley Conference tourney vibe
A Missouri Valley Conference championship season has bloomed for the Indiana State baseball team in 2012. The Sycamores have been dominant through most of the season.
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FROM THE PRESS BOX: Subtle switch has fostered MVC baseball parity
When Indiana State was crowned as the regular season baseball champion of the Missouri Valley Conference last Thursday, it marked the fifth different regular season champion the league has had since 2005.
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ISU surrenders series to MSU
Indiana State’s baseball team won the war this weekend against Missouri State — the Sycamores are the Missouri Valley Conference champions.
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ISU game plan isn’t executed: Sycamores fall 7-5 to Bears
The cement for Indiana State’s regular season Missouri Valley Conference championship has hardened.
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Manaea to start MVC tourney opener for ISU
Indiana State coach Rick Heller has participated in 13 Missouri Valley Conference tournaments at ISU and at Northern Iowa, his previous stop.
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FROM THE PRESS BOX: ISU has done enough to be in NCAAs
When you get older, you’re supposed to get wiser. I don’t know if I qualify, but I’m trying.
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ISU baseball in familiar territory with MVC title on line
First place is there is for the taking for Indiana State's baseball team this weekend … so is redemption.
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One out away from win, ISU falls to Boilermakers
So close, yet so close?
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Maynard to serve as interim president of ISU Foundation
The Indiana State University Foundation Board of Directors today announced the appointment of Jack Maynard to serve as the foundation's interim president. Maynard will remain provost and vice president of academic affairs for the university during his interim role with the foundation.
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Indiana State’s Rupe gets test today at No. 13 Purdue
Indiana State’s late-scheduled baseball game at No. 13 Purdue today has many benefits, not the least of which is that ISU’s NCAA Tournament chances increase merely by playing the game as the Sycamores’ strength of schedule gets a shot in the arm.
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Sycamores get brooms out: ISU needs 1 more win to claim MVC
Indiana State’s baseball team had won every Missouri Valley Conference series it had played this season, but one nagging thought was on the Sycamores’ minds as they suited up Sunday to play Southern Illinois.
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ISU rallies for 2nd straight MVC title
A strong Sunday performance lifted Indiana State’s men to a second straight Missouri Valley Conference track championship Sunday at Wichita State.
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Win over SIU puts Sycamores in first place
As Indiana State’s baseball team tried to climb to the top of the Missouri Valley Conference mountain on Saturday against Southern Illinois, it stood to reason that the air would get more rarefied as they neared the summit.
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ISU gives Bacus run support, win
Starting pitchers tread on shaky ground when the topic of run support comes up. To broach the topic if they’re not getting it can be a dicey proposition in the clubhouse.
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ISU adds showdown with Purdue
Butler’s overbooked baseball schedule is doing wonders for Indiana State’s baseball slate … and possibly … for ISU’s at-large chances for the NCAA baseball tournament.
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Metro roundup: ISU’s Lucas honored by Missouri Valley again
For the fifth time in the last nine weeks, Indiana State junior catcher Jeremy Lucas has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Week.
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Bad day at the office: Factors within & beyond Sycamores’ control conspire in loss
Indiana State’s baseball team hasn’t chalked up many bad days during a 36-12 campaign, but Sunday’s 8-2 loss to Wichita State in the series finale between the two teams would be an exception.
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Three Sycamores get wins at IU
Three Sycamores posted wins in the Billy Hayes Invitational hosted by Indiana University Friday in the Robert C. Haugh Track & Field Complex.
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Rapid response lifts Sycamores over Shockers
At some point last week, the Indiana State right fielder previously known as Robby Ort decided to shorten his chosen name and identify himself as Rob Ort.
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Pickoff move a weapon for Manaea
If all Indiana State starting pitcher Sean Manaea did right for the Sycamores was to retire batters at the plate, no one would have any complaints.
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Sycamores top Shockers in 10 innings in MVC series opener
If free baseball is what you want, Indiana State has what you need. For the sixth time in the span of a month, ISU’s series opener went extra innings.
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ISU hurdler earns MVC track athlete of week honor
Indiana State sophomore Greggmar Swift has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Track Athlete of the Week, according to an announcement from the league office Tuesday.
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Greg Goode to return to Indiana State as governmental relations director
Greg Goode is returning to Indiana State University as its executive director for governmental relations, ISU President Dan Bradley announced today.
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ISU goes to well too many times
Perhaps the most unnecessary pursuit for a Wabash Valley sports fan during the now-completed weekend was watching the first few innings of nonconference college baseball between Indiana State and visiting Nebraska-Omaha.
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What do you want to be?
For more than 43 years more than 14,000 high school students have been able to explore what their future job could be like, experience college campus life and earn university credit during one-week seminars in the Summer Honors Program at Indiana State University.
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ISU baseball living on the edge
Indiana State’s baseball team got its game against Nebraska-Omaha in Saturday between morning and evening rain showers. But in the wake of another walk-off 3-2 victory against the struggling Mavericks, one might be forgiven if they felt the Sycamores are walking between the raindrops a bit.
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Providing perspective: ISU’s vets have 2009 as window into 2012
Indiana State’s baseball team has reached dizzying heights, but if the Sycamores have any trouble keeping their feet on the ground, they can turn to three teammates who can remind them how dangerous it can be to get complacent.
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