TERRE HAUTE —
Indiana State’s men’s basketball team wanted to use its last home game of the season Wednesday as a springboard to success in next week’s Missouri Valley Conference tournament.
The Sycamores landed flat on their faces instead … on and off the court.
ISU lost 67-56 to eighth-place Drake at Hulman Center. The Sycamores played without starting forward Manny Arop. The junior was suspended due to an unspecified violation of team rules.
ISU coach Greg Lansing said he suspended Arop on Wednesday morning and alerted the team later. Arop did not attend the game. Lansing would not comment on the nature of Arop’s suspension.
“Manny Arop was not here tonight and that was my choice. He violated some team rules and I will handle it internally,” said Lansing, who added that he didn’t want Arop’s presence to be a distraction.
Lansing said that Arop’s suspension was “indefinite.” He would not confirm whether Arop would return for Saturday’s game against Evansville or whether Arop would return this season at all.
“I’ll make that decision in time. I’d say [he’s out] indefinitely,” Lansing said.
The loss was damaging to ISU (17-12, 9-8) in terms of the MVC race — the Sycamores squandered a chance to move into third place. With a win, ISU could have moved into a tie for third with Northern Iowa. The Panthers lost at Southern Illinois.
But conference ramifications were the least of the Sycamores’ worries. ISU’s lack of effort had Lansing and ISU players apologizing to the fans, who witnessed ISU’s worst effort of the season in the home finale.
“Tonight’s game was perplexing. That’s not the team I watch every day. It’s not the team we’ve had in practice the last couple of days. I have to apologize to the fans. It wasn’t a good effort on our part, from the coach on down. The season will end real quick if we compete like that,” Lansing said.
“We had lack of effort,” said ISU guard Jake Odum, who led the Sycamores with 13 points and five assists. “We looked flat and dead out there. It’s embarrassing to go out on your last home game of the year like that. We owe to our fans to do better than we did.”
Arop’s absence — he is ISU’s second-leading scorer at 12.6 points — was damaging. But even taking his absence into account, the Sycamores didn’t muster the kind of fight needed to overcome it. The Sycamores were flat and were one-dimensional on the offensive end. The Sycamores attempted 25 3-pointers, which comprised of 54 percent of their total shots.
“It was a great opportunity for our other guys when people get injured or are out. It’s the next-man-in mentality. I thought we’d really have that tonight. I was excited for some of those guys. There was 30 minutes out there that people could get. I don’t think they took advantage of them,” Lansing said.
Drake gets outrebounded by three on average, but the Bulldogs (14-15, 8-10) won the battle of the boards by a 34-29 margin Wednesday.
“We were soft. It’s something we have to fix. The big guys didn’t play well, I can speak for us. They got too many easy inside buckets. It’s not on the coaches; it’s on us,” ISU forward R.J. Mahurin said.
ISU shot 34.8 percent from the field and scored just 16 points in the paint.
“They were playing really soft on the perimeter. Teams have been doing that to us all year, so it’s nothing new,” Lansing said. “Whereas [Drake] was getting deep catches and finishing at the rim, we were getting pushed off the block, shooting off-balance shots, not finishing, and not getting to the foul line enough.”
ISU converted three of its first four 3-pointers to take a 12-6 lead, but those made 3s masked the fact that the Sycamores weren’t getting the ball inside. Despite that, ISU still led 21-16 with 4:53 left as Drake struggled from the field.
That was the high-water mark as the Sycamores wouldn’t score again for the remainder of the half. Drake finished the half on an 11-0 run and took the lead for good on a Rich Carter layup with 3:26 left in the half.
“That’s the sign of a weak team right there. We’re up four or five and then go down at the half four or five. We didn’t come to play,” Odum said.
Drake led by six at the break.
“We got off to a decent start and then I don’t know what happened. I can’t think of anybody who played well. I can’t think of anybody who competed,” Lansing said.
ISU let its defensive guard down to start the second half and Drake’s lead reached double-digits by the 17:09 mark. ISU never got off the mat, lowering its deficit to single digits just twice for the remainder of the game.
Fifteen of ISU’s 3-point attempts came in the second half. In a stretch that spanned the 16:51 to the 9:36 mark, ISU was 1 of 8 from 3-point range and only had four two-point attempts.
“Our big guys are guys who can play on the perimeter. They can do some things out there, but they do it too much. We need to attack the basket with our pick-and-roll. They need to post and post deeper. We work on it every day and will continue to work on it, but certainly didn’t see it tonight,” Lansing said.
ISU has a lot to think about before it ends the regular season Saturday at Evansville.
“I’m not happy about tonight. I’m disappointed in myself. I sit up there all the time and I take 100 percent of the blame for putting out a product like that. It is my fault, and when I say it, I mean it. I’m disappointed in how the team performs,” Lansing said.
“The coach gets credit when the team is playing good and should get blame when they’re not playing good. It was a huge game and for us to perform like that is disappointing,” Lansing added.
DRAKE (67) — Clarke 4-6 2-4 10, Simons 3-13 2-2 10, VanDeest 6-7 2-2 14, Carter 5-9 4-5 15, Hines 2-7 4-4 9, Ricks 0-2 0-0 0, Jeffers 0-0 0-0 0, Mason 3-3 0-0 8, King 0-4 1-2 1. Totals 23-51 FG, 15-19 FT, 67 TP.
INDIANA STATE (56) — Gant 1-5 1-1 3, Mahurin 4-12 2-3 12, Cummings 3-8 3-4 10, Odum 4-7 4-6 13, K.Smith 1-2 2-2 5, Kitchell 0-0 0-0 0, Eitel 2-6 0-0 6, Brown 0-1 3-5 3, R.Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Burnett 1-5 1-2 4. Totals 16-46 FG, 16-23 FT, 56 TP.
Halftime score — DU 27-21. 3-point goals – DU 6-24 (Simons 2-9, Mason 2-2, Hines 1-5, Carter 1-3, King 0-3, Clarke 0-1, Ricks 0-1), ISU 8-25 (Mahurin 2-8, Eitel 2-4, Cummings 1-5, Odum 1-3, Burnett 1-3, K.Smith 1-1, Gant 0-1). Rebounds — DU 34 (Clarke 10, Simons 7, VanDeest 6, King 5, Hines 3, Carter 2, Mason), ISU 29 (Cummings 7, Odum 4, Team 4, Gant 3, Eitel 3, Brown 2, Burnett 2, K.Smith, Kitchell), Assists — DU 16 (Carter 4, Jeffers 3, King 3, Clarke 2, VanDeest 2, Simons, Hines), ISU 13 (Odum 5, Gant 2, Cummings 2, K.Smith, Eitel, Brown, Burnett), Steals — DU 6 (Clarke 2, Carter, Hines, Ricks, Mason), ISU 6 (Cummings 3, Odum 2, Eitel), Blocks – DU 4 (VanDeest 3, Carter), ISU 2 (Mahurin, Eitel), Turnovers – DU 9 (Simons 2, Carter 2, Jeffers 2, Clarke, Mason, King), ISU 11 (Gant 2, Mahurin 2, Odum 2, Eitel 2, Kitchell, Brown, Burnett), Total fouls — DU 21, ISU 18. Fouled out — Hines. A — 5,054.
Next — ISU (17-12, 9-8) plays at Evansville and Drake (14-15, 7-10) plays host to Southern Illinois on Saturday.
Indiana State University
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Pressure: Indiana State guard Dawon Cummings stays close to Drake's Micah Mason in their Missouri Valley Conference matchup Wednesday night. (Tribune-Star/Jim Avelis)
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VIDEO: No Arop, no energy, no victory for Sycamores
- Indiana State University
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Indiana State to host 2014 MVC baseball tourney
Build it… and they will come. The Missouri Valley Conference and Indiana State University made that famous line from the movie “Fields Of Dreams” reality Thursday.
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Behind 16 hits and Manaea's pitching, ISU beats Bradley
Indiana State’s baseball team rode a wild ride of emotion on Thursday.
First came the public announcement that Bob Warn Field would host the 2014 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. Later, Sean Manaea’s availability to pitch ISU’s series opener against Bradley was in doubt. -
TODD GOLDEN: Don't give up on ISU baseball just yet
If you had to pick one word that would describe the 2013 Indiana State baseball season, it would have to be frustration.
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ISU baseball team builds on success with 14-2 rout
Indiana State’s baseball victory over Alcorn State on Friday would take on more meaning Saturday if the Sycamores could build momentum and pick up on the good work they did in Friday’s ninth-inning rally.
Mission accomplished.
The Sycamores were aggressive from the opening inning at the plate and starting pitcher Devin Moore gave them eight valuable and effective innings on the mound as ISU defeated Alcorn State 14-2 at Bob Warn Field.
“It was a really good experience for everybody. It felt great to finally come out here and put some things together. It’s also really nice when your offense puts a lot of runs on the board,” Moore said.
Moore’s eight innings of work were as valuable as gold to an ISU team that is short on quality arms due to injury and ineffectiveness. He didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning and one of the two runs he conceded was unearned. -
ISU earns badly-needed win
Alcorn State’s baseball team might be ranked in the bottom 10 in RPI and Indiana State might have never lost to a Southwestern Athletic Conference team. So it wouldn’t appear that a quality win was in the offing when Alcorn State visited Bob Warn Field on Friday.
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ISU’s Mascari and Hope win MVC track & field titles
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ISU pole vault tradition continues with help from its author
Pole vault is track and field for the adrenaline junkie, Indiana State senior Nicole Hope proclaimed during a recent practice at Marks Field.
To catapult oneself about 14 feet into the air with a large $500 fiberglass pole on a daily basis is a risky endeavor.
“We have to be fearless. You can’t be afraid at all,” said Hope, who has also catapulted herself into the NCAA’s elite in the event, ranking 15th in the NCAA with her leap of 13-feet, 9 1/4. -
Lansing looking for more home games for next fall
Indiana State’s men’s basketball team is looking for a few good games.
Home games that is.
The Sycamores have filled in most of the blanks in their nonconference schedule, but as ever, ISU coach Greg Lansing would like to visit the friendly confines of Hulman Center a bit more often. -
ISU baseball gets back into rhythm with victory
Baseball is a rhythm game. With contests every day or five times a week in the case of many college programs, you have the chance to build on success or wallow in a slump.
Mother Nature took that rhythm away from Indiana State’s team last week. After a 7-1 loss to Indiana on April 24, ISU was supposed to play a three-game series at Tennessee-Martin, but it was wiped out by rain.
So the rhythm was disturbed, but perhaps that wasn’t a bad thing.
ISU was in a five-game losing streak before its unintended vacation and the Sycamores made a move in the right direction Wednesday with a 7-0 win over DePauw at Bob Warn Field.
“It was a disappointing weekend. We went all the way down to Tennessee and didn’t get to play. We sat around in the hotel room. We came here and it was still raining. It was nice to get out and see some live pitching,” ISU center fielder Landon Curry said. -
Metro roundup: ISU hands out spring awards
The Indiana State University athletic community, along with family, friends and fans, paused Tuesday night to honor the spring sports teams at the Terre Haute Savings Bank Spring Sports Banquet.
Most of the ISU teams are still in competition with the baseball team having 13 games left of its regular-season schedule before beginning the Missouri Valley Conference tournament May 21, the softball team with just three games left of the docket this coming weekend against Southern Illinois and the track and field program with just one more meet before beginning its postseason events.
The ISU women’s golf team is the team that has ended at this time, with the group recording a sixth-place finish at the MVC championships one week ago. -
Indiana State loses 2 in MVC softball
Indiana State aspired to upset Illinois State to get at least a doubleheader split in Missouri Valley Conference softball Thursday at Price Field as the Sycamores opened an eight-game season-ending homestand.
Paige Schreiner hit a two-run blast over the left-field fence in the fifth inning and junior Shelby Wilson delivered a sizzling RBI triple down the right-field line in the sixth as ISU ended the day playing well against the league’s highest-scoring offense.
The result was still a 5-3 loss to the Redbirds (26-18, 11-6 Missouri Valley Conference) as freshman Halle Humphrey gave up four runs in the first two innings. Humphrey, called upon to pitch the opener as well — she’s the only full-time pitcher remaining on the team — gave up six runs and eight hits as the Sycamores dropped a 6-1 game to start the day. -
ISU, MVFC brace for change at FCS football level
It seemed so far-fetched.
Internet rumors circulated that Indiana State had been approached by the Sun Belt Conference to bring the Sycamores’ football team into the Sun Belt’s fold.
The Sun Belt is part of the Football Bowl Subdivision. Bowl football. Big boy football … and all it entails.
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ISU football in good spirits after healthy Spring Game
Was Saturday afternoon’s weather an omen for Indiana State football as the Sycamores wrapped up spring practice with the annual Blue-White Game at Memorial Stadium? After several practices conducted in less-than-perfect conditions, they’d like to think so.
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Loyola ready to take big step
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Sanford wraps up first spring with ISU
The final day of Indiana State football’s first Mike Sanford experience is upon the Sycamores.
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Lansing excited about Etherington's signing with Sycamores
The spring signing period for men’s basketball is usually a time to use available scholarships to load up on junior college additions and transfers.
To find a diamond-in-the-rough at the high school level who can give you four years? That’s harder to come by. -
Creighton sweep puts ISU in thick of things
In a difficult early-season Missouri Valley Conference schedule, Indiana State took its lumps. Unenviable back-to-back trips to contenders Missouri State and Wichita State had ISU reeling with five straight MVC losses eight days ago.
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Second City in the Valley: Loyola joins the MVC
For the first time in its history, the Missouri Valley Conference will have a home in the Second City.
The Chicago Tribune confirmed Saturday via a Loyola University source that the Ramblers will replace Creighton as the MVC’s 10th team. Loyola — a member of the Horizon League — will join the MVC effective July 1.
Indiana State Director of Athletics Ron Prettyman — who was part of the MVC search committee that scouted potential replacements for Creighton — confirmed Sunday that the Ramblers were in the MVC loop. -
Sycamore baseball holds off Creighton rally
By his own estimation, Indiana State baseball coach Rick Heller has been involved in close to 2,000 baseball games. If anyone has seen it all on the field, he’d be as good a candidate as any.
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Devin Moore pitches gem in 6-1 victory over Creighton
A hip injury suffered by Indiana State ace starting pitcher Sean Manaea shuffled the Sycamores’ starting rotation for the second weekend running as it opened a Missouri Valley Conference home series against Creighton on Friday.
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Sanford gets 2nd look at Sycamores
In the immediate aftermath of a practice, game, or in Friday’s case for Indiana State, a scrimmage, most football coaches defer to the film to paint a true picture of what was and wasn’t done. ISU coach Mike Sanford is no different. With the flurry of activity on both sides of the ball, it’s hard to get a true evaluation of anything watching it live.
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ISU center FN Lutz glad to be back in the middle of things
For someone who missed an entire season due to a knee injury, Indiana State center FN Lutz has certainly kept himself visible since then.
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METRO ROUNDUP: ISU's Brandon Pounds the top collegian in Sea Ray relays
Indiana State senior Brandon Pounds was the top collegian in the men’s hammer throw and fellow senior Felisha Johnson opened up the Sycamores’ three-day competition at the University of Tennessee’s Sea Ray relays with a second-place finish in the women’s hammer throw.
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Stealing records: ISU softball’s offense gaining momentum
The Indiana State softball offense is no juggernaut, but the fog may be clearing on a program that has had a long history of struggles with few signs of consistent winning.
Explosive, dedicated athletes like Morgan Allee and Megan Stone are two reasons to believe this group of Sycamores can spark a turnaround.
The Sycamores are scoring an average of 3.1 runs per game while also ranking in the middle of the Missouri Valley Conference pack in hits and batting average. But the Sycamores are on pace to break the school record for on-base percentage as they lead the MVC in walks, hit-by-pitches, sacrifice bunts and stolen bases.
Allee, with 17 regular-season games to go, broke the school record for stolen bases in a season Tuesday against IUPUI and is among the 10 best in the NCAA. Her total of 30 makes up almost half of ISU’s 74.
“I’m so big [that] they think I won’t go. It works out well,” the stocky shortstop said. -
ISU’s QB battle
Quarterback battles come in all shapes and sizes, but one could forgive Indiana State’s Mike Perish, Robert Tonyan Jr. and Trent Lancaster if they feel a bit more beleaguered than your average signal-caller.
Not only is the trio fighting for the right to be named ISU’s starter by the Sycamores’ football opener Aug. 29 at Indiana University, but all three also are trying to learn a new offense, they’re acclimating themselves to new coach Mike Sanford’s different way of running things, and they’re trying to maintain harmony amongst each other, so whoever the ultimate winner is can effectively lead the team without angst.
All of it is playing out during ISU’s spring practice, and so far, none of the quarterback candidates have separated themselves from the pack. -
Sycamores wrap up season sweep of Purdue in baseball
Jordan Pearson went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and all nine position starters for the Indiana State baseball team recorded at least one hit, leading the Sycamores to a 10-5 victory and a season sweep of Purdue in front of 679 fans Tuesday at Bob Warn Field.
ISU claimed its second consecutive game and improved to 14-13 overall, while Purdue dropped to 11-19. The Sycamores are 4-1 against the Big Ten Conference this season after sweeping their two-game series with the Boilermakers and winning two out of three at Minnesota in mid-March.
ISU and Purdue combined for nine runs over the first three innings as the Sycamores took a 5-4 lead. Pearson (single), Mike Fitzgerald (single), Tyler Wampler (one-run single), Landon Curry (single) and Cody Zimmerman (two-run single) tallied five consecutive hits with one out in the bottom of the second inning as ISU scored four runs in the frame. -
Metro roundup: ISU’s Allee breaks steals record in twinbill split
Junior Morgan Allee broke the ISU single-season stolen bases record as the Indiana State softball team split a doubleheader with the Jaguars of IUPUI Tuesday at Price Field.
ISU defeated IUPUI 7-0 in the opener and fell 17-6 in the nightcap.
“It's nice to be able to get records but it's really not that important to me,” Allee said about breaking the record. “I would rather us win every game than for me to personally break any records.”
Allee led off the bottom of the first inning of the first game with a walk and promptly stole second base to break the ISU single-season record. -
Sanford seeking more from defense
According to Indiana State football coach Mike Sanford, defense had been ahead of the offense in the eight spring practices prior to Friday’s scrimmage. And it stood to reason.
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METRO ROUNDUP: North, South well-represented on All-Star teams
Two Terre Haute schools, two Terre Haute coaches and four Terre Haute All-Stars.
When it comes to the 21st Annual North-South All-Star Classic on April14 at Rose-Hulman, it would be hard to discern any North-South bias.
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UIC snaps ISU baseball team's five-game winning streak
Indiana State’s baseball team struggled offensively and on the mound through the first 8 1/2 innings, then its two-run ninth inning fell tantalizingly short in a 6-2 loss to Illinois-Chicago on a chilly Wednesday afternoon and evening at Bob Warn Field.
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