[January 25, 2022] Indiana State (8-10) vs Missouri State (15-6)

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SycamoreStateofMind said:
Hittle is your player of the game. Easy.
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And Larry finishes in 2nd place voting for POG honors with 8 points, 8 rebs, 5 assts and 2 steals; while playing the toughest defensive assignment in the game for THITY-SEVEN minutes. And, I don't think Julian L ever broken a sweat....and was having more fun than at the game, than anyone else in the entire Hulman Center arena.
 
You can't game plan for a player you didn't know was on the team. Hittle was the x-factor tonight.
 
hans1950 said:
Great team win in front of 3011 fans. Gonna take a while to excite Terre Haute.
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More than our last game.

And the student section looked pretty good, just annoying that they don’t stand during the game.

Wins will be coming this year and in the coming years and the people will come, Ray. People will come.
 
Great win guys! The crowd was quiet tonight, I think given our last few collapses I think people were hesitant to get excited.
 

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My thoughts:

I love this team. We all know we've been short-handed, blah blah blah. We play hard every game. (Not counting Ball State, which was years ago, or Oakland City which was a fluke.) We are in every game.

Will we be in every game? Hard to say. But at least this team doesn't have those nights where the players show up like they don't even care.

HCJS and his staff have done an amazing job with this team. The improvement since the start of the year has been amazing. Sure we have flaws and have blown some leads. But I am enjoying this season as much as any in a long time.

Other random thoughts:

We would have won much more easily tonight if we had a 13-2 assist margin in the final 20 minutes like we did in the first 20. We quit creating shots for others and drove into the lane with nothing to do with the ball far too often. Guarantee the coaches will fix that.

I'm buying everything HCJS is selling except the "not being tired at the end of the game" part. That's unavoidable, and it shows. I'd love to see what our shooting percentage is over the final 10 minutes of games compared to the first 30. I'm sure most teams are lower during that time, but I bet ours is lower than average.

Hopefully once we get Coop back, and people like Hittle keep stepping up, we can keep everyone a little fresher.

Xavier Bledson must have five or six eyes in his head. That pass he made to Hittle under the basket from in front of our bench in the second half was just magical. Not sure how he saw him.

MSU's press was effective. I'm surprised more teams don't do it. Doesn't require that much more effort.

Unsure why we didn't have people lined up while shooting free throws in the second half. If Henry had missed the second one, would have been nice to have more people there to slow down the ball.

See you in Peoria on Sunday.
 
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TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Indiana State basketball struck lightning from behind the arc -- hitting 14 3-pointers -- during a 76-72 victory over Missouri State Tuesday night at the Hulman Center. Three Sycamores scored in double-digits led by Cameron Henry's 16 points while Zach Hobbs added 15 and forward Nick Hittle put up a career-high 14 points in 15 minutes of action.

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Huff77 said:
Politely quiet
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Our game environment is awful. I don't want to bring back the tired games we did for way too many years, but we need to do something to pump up the enthusiasm. As much as Haute fans are pretty fair weather, and some are mad about Lansing not being kept, it's disappointing that more people are not giving this team a chance. Real basketball fans would quickly recognize that we are building something special here.
 
bigsportsfan said:
Our game environment is awful. I don't want to bring back the tired games we did for way too many years, but we need to do something to pump up the enthusiasm. As much as Haute fans are pretty fair weather, and some are mad about Lansing not being kept, it's disappointing that more people are not giving this team a chance. Real basketball fans would quickly recognize that we are building something special here.
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Our time-out entertainment or lack there of is atrocious. Bring back the dress like a sycamore and free throw contest etc. But most of all, play the damn fight song more, especially when we force the other team to take a timeout.
 

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In
bigsportsfan said:
Our game environment is awful. I don't want to bring back the tired games we did for way too many years, but we need to do something to pump up the enthusiasm. As much as Haute fans are pretty fair weather, and some are mad about Lansing not being kept, it's disappointing that more people are not giving this team a chance. Real basketball fans would quickly recognize that we are building something special here
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bigsportsfan said:
My thoughts:

I love this team. We all know we've been short-handed, blah blah blah. We play hard every game. (Not counting Ball State, which was years ago, or Oakland City which was a fluke.) We are in every game.

Will we be in every game? Hard to say. But at least this team doesn't have those nights where the players show up like they don't even care.

HCJS and his staff have done an amazing job with this team. The improvement since the start of the year has been amazing. Sure we have flaws and have blown some leads. But I am enjoying this season as much as any in a long time.

Other random thoughts:

We would have won much more easily tonight if we had a 13-2 assist margin in the final 20 minutes like we did in the first 20. We quit creating shots for others and drove into the lane with nothing to do with the ball far too often. Guarantee the coaches will fix that.

I'm buying everything HCJS is selling except the "not being tired at the end of the game" part. That's unavoidable, and it shows. I'd love to see what our shooting percentage is over the final 10 minutes of games compared to the first 30. I'm sure most teams are lower during that time, but I bet ours is lower than average.

Hopefully once we get Coop back, and people like Hittle keep stepping up, we can keep everyone a little fresher.

Xavier Bledson must have five or six eyes in his head. That pass he made to Hittle under the basket from in front of our bench in the second half was just magical. Not sure how he saw him.

MSU's press was effective. I'm surprised more teams don't do it. Doesn't require that much more effort.

Unsure why we didn't have people lined up while shooting free throws in the second half. If Henry had missed the second one, would have been nice to have more people there to slow down the ball.

See you in Peoria on Sunday.
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Let’s talk about “buying” and “selling” for a minute! Agree with most of this - I am however one of the few that isn’t jaded but not buying everything JS is selling… For starters we are 2 and forever in conference play I’m not buying whatever any coach sells me that is 2 and forever so just stop writing newspaper articles for two freaking seconds and get a clue Joey.

JS has clearly indicated himself that he is selling on a couple kids on this roster - fine he has that right. One in particular who is on the roster that has been out of favor saved his ass tonight. Quite frankly it’s inexcusable for Hittle to come in and have a night and for JS to have stubbornly basically said without saying enter your ass in the transfer portal you don’t belong… Why?? Because Wilbar is the same player - I’m sorry if that hurts your feelings folks… It’s actually real. So not buying on that.

Also not buying on that absolutely meltdown in the last 4 mins of the game - I’m not sure what he could have done different from the sideline. Honestly to God - I have no observation on that. But I’m not getting paid $175k to have an answer - but that was a complete meltdown and we were very lucky to win.

As a general observation with JS - I feel like I’m watching an old school coach that literally allows a guy to play himself in and out of favor. I LOVE that. Take for instance Hobbs earlier this season - granted he was coming off an injury and he’s not the best defensive player. But that dude is a knockdown shooter - he’s basically Jordan Printy (haven’t looked at the stats) and I hate comparing players beyond belief… But he’s played himself into a role. You can only hope that JS allows Hittle to get some run - he deserves it. He’s not played poorly anytime he has been in the game.

If you are selling on Hittle tonight - fine sell that stock. You better sell the Wilbar stock while your at it - two differences that you’re not ready for?!

1. Hittle is a better body and post defender. Found that out rather quickly tonight.

2. Hittle isn’t a JS guy (recruited bias) and Wilbar is… Here we are. Truth sucks… Defend his coaching decision on this go look at the stats and watch a damn game tell me JS didn’t get in his own way. He did.
 
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Last thought because no one else has anything tonight… Fun after a win.

Larry while I’ve been overly critical and he’s not good on O - he competed at a very high level vs Mosley tonight who got his but he also had 7 To’s I think. That’s not insignificant - lot of people on here in the pre game talked about that matchup specifically and he did a great job. JS talked about in the post game and his comments were really good - he has a ++ defensive effort even though Mosley got some on us.

I doubt we can count on the local kid Minnett going 0-7 next time. I doubt we can count on Mosley kicking it around 7 times next time. But hopefully we can count on Cooper back and maybe that all sort of evens out (probably not) but one can hope.

I have some offensive complaints as usual about Larry - but man he did a job defensively and he found some shooters tonight - he did if you watch back he had some really big kick outs for 3 buckets.
 
meistro said:
Our time-out entertainment or lack there of is atrocious. Bring back the dress like a sycamore and free throw contest etc. But most of all, play the damn fight song more, especially when we force the other team to take a timeout.
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Couldn't agree more. I think most of the timeouts were the "spirit squad" just standing around midcourt and casually clapping a little bit. It's a pretty boring atmosphere outside of the game action. The band isn't the same as I remember a few years ago. Most of the pregame they spend their time just standing around and the HC plays music.

But back to the game. I think it was a few of the final possessions or so for MSU and they were getting a lot of "phantom" fouls. Numerous times they flailed and got a call. A few times there was no contact at all. Refs gotta stop anticipating contact. And stop calling fouls just because the offensive player is out of control and creates the contact. And if he falls, that doesn't mean there was a foul. Overall a great game from ISU tonight. Shot the ball pretty well from beyond the arc. Prim had around 15? or so but it felt like he was pretty neutralized.
 
I'm buying (almost) all that coach is selling. I've been wanting a change for quite a while and it happened (not trying to go there, just saying). I like what I see and can envision a very positive future for ISU mens hoops in the near future as we get more talent and guys understand coach better. If that makes me jaded then I'll gladly own that.

Hittle was awesome tonite. Man I enjoyed that and I hope I get to see more. He got his chance and he delivered. Only time will tell if that leads to more minutes for him. My guess would be a resounding yes if all of the teams in the Valley had a Prim on their lineup. Prim isn't a guy who is gonna drive it, he doesn't shoot from deep, and he gets thank you cards when he takes mid range jumpers. That's the perfect matchup for Hittle. Unfortunately there aren't too many Prim's in the Valley. I'm not saying Hittle won't get or shouldn't get any run. I'm just saying. I also think its logical for coach to rely on guys he knows more and has had time with. He knows Wilbar, recruited him and at least to some level believes in him. He is just getting to know Hittle and vice versa. He learned more about Hittle tonite. We'll see where this goes.

Since this was Hittle's first significant game action I can't say that he is a far more consistent shooter. This is the first game Hittle played more than 3 minutes against a D1 opponent. And all of that (save Bradley) was garbage time. The dude hasn't had a chance to be consistent yet. Wilbar is shooting 40% from 3. That ain't bad.

I enjoyed watching Larry make Mosley work. Didn't realize he had 7 turnovers...dang. He hit some tough shots but Larry really battled.

I'm glad Minnett didn't go off on us but I hated to see him struggle out there tonite. Dude has been in a major slump all conference season. Not sure if he had covid or was injured but I know he missed a few games last month and just can't hit anything. He hasn't scored double digits in any conf games and is only averaging 4 pts in 27% shooting in Valley play. I have confidence in his work that he'll get right, but it just makes me wonder if there's a nagging injury or something. There were around a couple dozen folks in shirts with his face on the front that I'm sure left very disappointed.

When its a close game in the last 5 minutes it should be mandatory for the school song to be played at every timeout. EVERY TIMEOUT!!! There are 3 and only 3 songs that ISU fans stand up for: 1. National Anthem 2. Wabash Valley Cannonball 3. School Song. PERIOD. Keeping the energy up when the game stops is part of what makes a home field advantage. The school song does it for us. I yelled "SCHOOL SONG!!!" during a timeout with around 3 minutes left. It was so quiet that I know they could've heard me from across the HC.
 
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