Balanced Scoring Attack Leads Sycamores To Victory Over Winthrop

[Jason Svoboda]

The Indiana State Sycamores placed four different players in double figures scoring en route to a 66-55 victory over Winthrop in the home opener in front of 4,916 fans at Hulman Center.

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[region rat]

Odum played well, Gant played well, Mahurin shot good, as did Cummings. Did not like the defense.

 

[SycamoreStateofMind]

Odum played well, Gant played well, Mahurin shot good, as did Cummings. Did not like the defense.

You should really start expanding more... Considering last game you said that Gant "was not ready" - still feeling that way or ready to come off that boat? Probably better get off it before it's to late and you have to answer to that assertion.

I'd say through 3 games Gant has been the biggest surprise and most improved player on this team. He's going to have a monster year if he can stay healthy.

Oh and holding a team to 55 points on 32% shooting is actually pretty good statistically. I would agree that they were not perfect. Had some bad fouls late in the shot clock, got back doored a few times, didn't get a hand in the face on a few shots - things like this can be corrected. They were not great defensively, but they were not bad.

 

[meistro]

I was at the game tonight and I thought our second half defense was really good. Gant looks good and my favorite new player is K. Smith. I think he only had 4 points, but we are much better with him on the floor. He is gonna be a good one.

 

[SycamoreStateofMind]

I was at the game tonight and I thought our second half defense was really good. Gant looks good and my favorite new player is K. Smith. I think he only had 4 points, but we are much better with him on the floor. He is gonna be a good one.

Yeah he is solid - 4 more years of him is a good thing. I'm actually glad he only had 4 points - I can walk away from this game saying, "K. Smith didn't force anything in trying to add to his stat line". My point being, he played like a team player that wanted to help his team win. Most importantly, in 26 minutes he didn't turn the ball over.

 

[hans1950]

Agree that Justin is much improved so far.He looks comfortable and relaxed for the most part and can be a really good help defender around the basket.I thought the defense did a pretty good job tonight.They got some shots but we made them work deep into the clock most of the time.They got several offensive rebounds on balls that bounced deep off the rim but we contested most everything.

Pretty good rotation all night long kept everyone fresh.Thats a good sign for future games for us to keep playing good defense.I hope Arop gets better as we go along.Right now he can't seem to dribble the ball 10 feet without losing control.Hopefully this will improve.He's pretty athletic but I'm not sure how much of a scorer he's going to be.

Not a bad outing after coming back from UCLA.There is cause for optimism this year and we can surprise some people I believe as we get used to playing together.

 

[jturner38]

I already said this but I meant to post my comments here!
Here's my assessment:

Odum - He's gotta cut the turnovers and penetrate more. Now that he actually gets rest

Cummings - Great that he's not settling just being a good shooter. He needs to work on his defense as far as when to gamble for a steal and when not to because that's where he gets caught when his man cuts for a backdoor for an easy bucket

Arop - He's struggle offensively and I figured out why. His game is the post so we should run sets for him in the post and not so much the perimeter. Once het gets comfortable in post maybe he can start stepping outside.

Gant - He's really start to come around. Only thing I can say is control his shots more but that is more toward last game.

Kitchell - He cant get into foul trouble. PERIOD! And he needs to catch the ball deeper in the post in order to get baskets.

K. Smith - Provided energy on dunks and did very well defensively. He will be our go to guy I think down to road in critical situations.

Brown - That kid has the quickness and agility to blow by his defender. Needs to finish at the rim and make his free throws. I know he had some turnovers but they were just misfortune than anything one being splitting a double team which he made the right move just ball hit leg.

R. Smith - No offense to Smith but why is Lansing playing him already? I dont think he's ready mentally as in running all the plays. He didn't do bad though.

Eitel - Played good mostly...we got to give him more shots bc he is are best spot up shooter.

Burnett - I wonder why Lansing isn't using him and playing R. Smith instead? He red shirted last year so he would know and be more use to Lansing system. He's one of our bigger guards and probably could help rebound for us.

Team Overall - Good team win, we struggled a lil at the beginning but improved in the second half. We cannot get outrebounded on the offensive boards like that. Ill tell you once we click on all cylinders we are gonna be good for sure competitive.

 

[region rat]

You should really start expanding more... Considering last game you said that Gant "was not ready" - still feeling that way or ready to come off that boat? Probably better get off it before it's to late and you have to answer to that assertion.

I'd say through 3 games Gant has been the biggest surprise and most improved player on this team. He's going to have a monster year if he can stay healthy.

Oh and holding a team to 55 points on 32% shooting is actually pretty good statistically. I would agree that they were not perfect. Had some bad fouls late in the shot clock, got back doored a few times, didn't get a hand in the face on a few shots - things like this can be corrected. They were not great defensively, but they were not bad.

Don't get me wrong, Gant is a player, but he is not prime time yet. If he is still playing strong 6 games into the conference schedule I will say "he is ready". He still has a lot to fix in his game. To name one from last night, he had the rebound under our basket but rather than going straight up he bounced the ball. He made the basket but was immediately taken out of the game.

 

[SycamoreStateofMind]

Don't get me wrong, Gant is a player, but he is not prime time yet. If he is still playing strong 6 games into the conference schedule I will say "he is ready". He still has a lot to fix in his game. To name one from last night, he had the rebound under our basket but rather than going straight up he bounced the ball. He made the basket but was immediately taken out of the game.

Saw that same play and thought the exact same thing. Did he score on that play? I thought so - I'm not saying his game is beyond questioning and what not. I am saying "not ready" is incorrect. Two games in he has proved he is ready.

 

[IndyTreeFan]

Why don't our big guys dunk when they're under the basket? I can't count high enough to tally up all the lay ups our bigs miss in the course of a season. Seems like if I was that big, I'd dunk every chance I had...

 

[region rat]

Saw that same play and thought the exact same thing. Did he score on that play? I thought so - I'm not saying his game is beyond questioning and what not. I am saying "not ready" is incorrect. Two games in he has proved he is ready.

I guess it depends on how you define ready.