Indiana State’s men’s basketball has put itself in an untenable position where it must win its last two Missouri Valley Conference games, starting tonight at Missouri State, to realistically avoid the black hole that is the play-in round of next week’s Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.
The hope was that the Sycamores would be able to marshal its resources — and suitably re-focus — so that it could make a run this week and end its checkered regular season on a positive note.
But sickness and health woes have provided an unwanted distraction as the Sycamores have prepared for the Bears.
A flu bag has run rampant through the team for the last week. Dwayne Lathan missed last week’s victory over Illinois State with what was thought to be food poisoning, but which might have been symptoms of the flu.
Carl Richard unexpectedly missed Saturday’s game at Butler with the flu, and now, reserve point guard Steve McWhorter has been felled by sickness as well. McWhorter has not practiced in the run-up to the Missouri State game.
“It’s still going around. Some guys are coming off of it, some guys are getting it. Steve should be able to give us something [tonight]. It's bad timing and it’s a bad deal, but everyone deals with this and we will too,” Lansing said.
It gets worse.
Lansing announced that point guard Jake Odum is suffering from a stress fracture in his left shin. The training and coaching staff has been aware of the injury, but the extent to which it has affected Odum varies. During the second half of Saturday’s game, Odum indicated to Lansing that his shin was bothering him.
Odum has also played through plantar fasciitis throughout the season.
“He’s had a stress fracture, so he’s dealing with a lot of stuff. Some days, he feels normal and feels like his old self. On Saturday, he felt terrible. He didn’t tell me until early in the second half that it was bothering him. He’s a competitor, he wants to give all he can,” Lansing said. “There isn’t anybody that’s dealt with as much pain as he has to try and help his team.”
None of this makes life easy for the Sycamores as they try to contend with the Bears, and indirectly, a dubious history of failure in the Ozarks.
ISU (16-12, 7-9) has won just once (2009) at Missouri State since the Bears joined the league in 1991. To be thrust into a must-win situation at a site where wins are extraordinarily rare for the Sycamores is not the ideal scenario.
The Bears (16-13, 9-7) are among six MVC teams with conference records ranging from 9-7 to 7-9. Missouri State could also fall into the MVC Tournament play-in, but unlike the Sycamores, Missouri State is in far better shape. With one victory, the Bears avoid Thursday night in St. Louis and Missouri State has the inside track on the MVC’s No. 3 seed.
Like the Sycamores, the Bears have been plagued by inconsistency, but coach Paul Lusk is confident in his team.
“I think we’ve been pretty consistent on the defensive end. We don’t have the ability to blow anyone out. We’re not one of those teams. We’re usually in every game, but we have to fight for our lives to win every game,” Lusk said during Tuesday’s MVC coaches’ teleconference.
Missouri State defeated ISU 69-63 at Hulman Center on Jan. 7. Unlike that matchup, the Bears will have senior center Caleb Patterson available — Missouri State’s second-leading scorer at 12.3 points.
As ever, the Bears rely on senior swingman Kyle Weems — one of the best players in Missouri State’s history. With 11 points, Weems will become the Bears’ second-leading scorer.
“It’ll be good to get Kyle out of here and graduated so we don’t have to guard him anymore,” Lansing said. “He’s a great kid and deserves all of the accolades he’s got.”
ISU also must be mindful of guard Anthony Downing, who scored 17 in the previous meeting, and who is the reigning MVC Newcomer of the Week.
Sports
ISU ailing in fight to avoid Thursday
- Sports
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Tribune-Star/Jim Avelis Winner: Northview pitcher T.J. Decker rejoices as his team records the last out in their semi-final win. The Knights defeated Terre Haute North in the first game Monday at Plainfield.
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Eaton’s pair of long balls put Linton in title game
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ISU chosen for NCAA baseball tournament
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INDY 500 NOTEBOOK: Barrichello finishes 10th in 1st oval race
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Shining Knights: Northview tops both TH teams for title
- Local Interest
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Tribune-Star/Jim Avelis Winner: Northview pitcher T.J. Decker rejoices as his team records the last out in their semi-final win. The Knights defeated Terre Haute North in the first game Monday at Plainfield.
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Shining Knights: Northview tops both TH teams for title
A high school baseball game that had been tense all the way through reached angina-producing heights at the end Monday night, as Northview ended Terre Haute South’s sectional championship run by a single run and a fraction of an inch.
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Bubble intact: ISU headed to NCAA baseball tournament
Forty-eight teams had been chosen for the NCAA Baseball Tournament Selection Show and things were getting antsy in the Indiana State clubhouse on Monday.
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Miners beat 2A newcomer for 3rd straight title
Linton and North Central were both defending high school baseball sectional champions, but the Thunderbirds’ move up to Class 2A did not go as they expected.
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South hangs on after scary moment in sectional semis
Terre Haute South’s bid for a sixth consecutive high school baseball sectional championship took a scary turn Monday afternoon.
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PREP/METRO ROUNDUP: Turkey Run rolls to title
Turkey Run routed North Vermillion 15-2 to capture the Class A Rockville Sectional championship for high school baseball Monday night.
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Shining Knights: Northview tops both TH teams for title
- High School
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Shining Knights: Northview tops both TH teams for title
A high school baseball game that had been tense all the way through reached angina-producing heights at the end Monday night, as Northview ended Terre Haute South’s sectional championship run by a single run and a fraction of an inch.
- Miners beat 2A newcomer for 3rd straight title
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- College
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Bubble intact: ISU headed to NCAA baseball tournament
Forty-eight teams had been chosen for the NCAA Baseball Tournament Selection Show and things were getting antsy in the Indiana State clubhouse on Monday.
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Indiana State’s baseball fate to be decided today
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ISU hurdler Swift becomes 5th Sycamore to make NCAAs
Indiana State sophomore Greggmar Swift became the second member of the men’s team and the fifth Sycamore overall to qualify for the 2012 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Finals at Drake University, placing second in the second heat of the 110 meter hurdle quarterfinals Saturday at the NCAA East Preliminary Round.
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FROM THE PRESS BOX: ISU baseball has pluses, minuses for tourney bid
Last Thursday, when Indiana State’s baseball jumped around in a celebratory dogpile after clinching the Missouri Valley Conference regular season championship at Bob Warn Field, no one thought that a little over a week later, the dreaded NCAA Tournament bubble would fly over Terre Haute. -
Lou Watson, former IU player and coach, dies at 88
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Bubble intact: ISU headed to NCAA baseball tournament
- Sports Columns
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KEGLER’S KORNER: New members of GTHBA Hall of Fame
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KEGLER’S KORNER: New members of GTHBA Hall of Fame
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Colts have stocked up on tight ends
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Colts have stocked up on tight ends
- Terre Haute Rex
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Rex summer league team will have almost entire new pitching staff
Perseverance was one of the stories for the Terre Haute Rex during the 2011 season as manager Brian Dorsett took the team to its first playoff berth in its second year of existence.
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Rex summer league team will have almost entire new pitching staff
- Colts
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Colts have stocked up on tight ends
Just because Dallas Clark is now in Tampa Bay and Jacob Tamme has moved on to Denver doesn’t mean that the tight end position has become any less important to the Indianapolis Colts offense.
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Colts have stocked up on tight ends
- Auto Racing
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AP/Dave Parker Dario Franchitti, center, of Scotland, leads teammate Scott Dixon, bottom, of New Zealand, and Tony Kanaan, top, of Brazil, to the finish line on the final lap of the Indianapolis 500 Sunday.
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Brick by brick: With 3rd win, Franchitti adds another layer to Indy 500 resume
Dario Franchitti won the Indianapolis 500 for the third time on Sunday and did it in dramatic fashion.
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Brick by brick: With 3rd win, Franchitti adds another layer to Indy 500 resume
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