[January 27, 2026] Indiana State (9-12) at UIC (11-10)

[jturner38]

Seems to be a problem during the Graves era. I think part of the problem is Graves himself was a very heady player and aware of situations so he might not emphasize it like he should because he didn’t need it as an athlete.

For me as a player, I went 100% during every drill, I never needed to be told or motivated to do that. It took me coaching a few years to realize “I need to motivate and remind these athletes before every drill to go 100%”. I think the same thing is happening on this staff. Odum for example was EXTREMELY situational (let the ball roll on the ground to get the last possession under the shot clock, I remember him missing a free throw to get the rebound and easy put-back when he saw no one paying attention, etc) the same might be happening there.

Last years team had the same issue. I specially remember making a comeback against Murray State last season. We were down maybe 6 with 2 minutes to go and K‘moni doughty made a lay-up, the ball proceeds to hit his foot on the way down and roll all the way to the other end of the court while he just casually looked at it and jogged back. It wasted about 15 seconds of game clock when we needed every second to win the game. And we wonder why “we are so close” to winning all these games….

Player A dribbles the ball of his foot, Player B throws the ball toward the opponents basket, Player C throws it to Player D 3 possessions in a row and Player D turns it over all 3 times, Player F catches the ball in the corner and steps back out of bounds. Graves has his flaws but these are just simple bone headed individual plays from the players. Now it's completely on Graves in regards to recruiting these players here. Graves can do all he can to tell the them not to turn the ball over and we still are going to make bone headed plays.

 

[bigsportsfan]

Player A dribbles the ball of his foot, Player B throws the ball toward the opponents basket, Player C throws it to Player D 3 possessions in a row and Player D turns it over all 3 times, Player F catches the ball in the corner and steps back out of bounds. Graves has his flaws but these are just simple bone headed individual plays from the players. Now it's completely on Graves in regards to recruiting these players here. Graves can do all he can to tell the them not to turn the ball over and we still are going to make bone headed plays.

We need to recruit smarter players with better fundamentals, if there are any left. We need a general manager since this staff has proven it cannot identify winnable talent. (No offense to our incoming recruits, or Kaupanger, none of whom we have seen on the court yet.) Maybe we could use some of this recent donation money to get someone qualified in that position.

 

[DyedBlue]

ISU 74 at UIC 76
5th loss this season by 5 points or less plus the Bradley game of outscored 0-15 at end to lose by 7.

Player.........................Minutes..................FG...............FT............Rbds.........TP.............A/TO...........+/-,,,,,,,,,Comments
Scott.............................27:10.....................6/6..............0/0.............4................12............3/2..............+10.........Why does one bad play at the end wipe out 27 minutes of positive?
Vorst.............................19:02.....................4/5.................0/0.........3.................8...............4/0.........-2...................Decent; need more boards
Young...........................28:50....................4/8...............2/2.............1..............14.............6/2..................+1...........Strong game again; better shooting
JVB................................12:20.....................1/4...............2/2...........2..................3.............2/2.............-13................-13 in under 13 minutes
Wagner........................21:42.....................3/8................0/0...........6...............9...............1/3.............-10.................
Alocen.........................23:58.......................2/7..............0/0...........6...............5................0/4.........................+12.........Weird; +12 team leading, but poor personal line
Nordheim......................5:30.....................1/4................0/0..........2................2..............1/0...............-7....................Offense floundered in his 5 minutes
ESB.................................22:31......................4/5...............1/4...........5..............9..............3/2.................-8......................
M. Harding...................11:17....................2/5...............0/0............4...............5..............0/3..............-4....................Three critical TO"s in short stint
Hall...................................27:40...................3/5..............1/2.............0..............7..............5/1............................+11.........Got to the rim; 5 assists, solid game. Coming back??

Offensive Output:
Player..................................MIn...........................+/-...........PPM ON.....PPM OFF....A/Min ON....A/Min OFF...........TO/min ON...........TO/min OFF...Comments
Young.................................28:50.........................+1..................1.94...........1.61........................0.76...........0.27.......................0.62..............................0.27......Good & bad in his minutes
Alocen..............................23:58.........................+12..................1.88..........1.81..........................0.54..........0.75......................0.42...............................0.69........TO's dropped a lot
JVB........................................12:20.....................-13......................1.54...........1.99........................0.65.........0.61....................0.65..................................0.47.....Low PPM;
Wagner..............................21:42.......................-10....................1.94..........1.75.........................0.65...........0.60...................0.55......................................0.49.............Near team averages
Nordheim..........................5:30........................-7......................0.91...........2.00.........................0.18..........0.70.....................0.36..................................0.55.......Offense stagnated
ESB.......................................22:31........................-8....................1.51...........2.29.........................0.49............0.81...................0.64...................................0.40...........Not good
M. Harding.......................11:17........................-4......................1.6............1.95..........................0.27............0.77....................0.53................................0.52...................Not good
Scott....................................27:10...............................+10...........2.02............1.48......................0.70............0.47.....................0.48.................................0.63...........Good in every way
Hall......................................27:40................................+11............1.99...........1.54......................0.61.............0.65....................0.47................................0.65.......Complements Scott
Vorst...................................19:02..........................-2.......................2.15...........1.57........................0.89...........0.38.....................0.47................................0.57........Really nice for Vorst

Combinations Data:
Group................................................................................................Minutes..........+/-........PPM...............PPP..............Comments
Young...........JVB.............CW................IS..................DV...................8:26................-9........1.66..................0.93.............Low Offense for extended time
YOung...Alocen..........................ESB, IS..............XH......................7:14...........+7............1.66...................1.21.............Low offense; better defense
Young,....Alocen...................................IS, XH..........DV...................5:34............+8...........2.69...................1.38..............Very good
................Alocen.......Nordheim...ESB...M. Harding...XH...........5:30...................-7......0.91.................0.54................Nordheim's minutes + MH
Alocen............CW.........M. Harding....IS.....XH.................3:29........+7...............3.16...................2.20..............Very Good
Young........JVB............CW...........ESB........................DV..................2:55...................-2.......1.71.................0.92.................
Young...........................CW.........ESB..................XH.....DV................2:07...........+1.............3.31..................2.33................Very good two minutes
............Alocen............CW..........ESB...M. Harding, XH..................1:33.................-1........1.29.................1.00.................Bad
Four Groups...........................................................................................3:12.............-6.............0.93................???..................Bad

 

[Jason Svoboda]

I'm just still in shock that a D1 basketball player would throw the ball towards the opponents rim with the game tied period.

You have the last shot. You can ONLY inbound to your side of the court. Worst case scenario is they hit a 3/4 court shot but 99% of the time you're either winning or going into OT.

There is not ONE single logical or statistical advantage for throwing it into the backcourt -- literally, it's only negative outcomes. It's either a much longer shot or a turnover. If it isn't stolen and goes out of bounds, no/little time is elapsed and then they'd get the ball at their rim.

 

[IndyTreeFan]

I'm just still in shock that a D1 basketball player would throw the ball towards the opponents rim with the game tied period.

You have the last shot. You can ONLY inbound to your side of the court. Worst case scenario is they hit a 3/4 court shot but 99% of the time you're either winning or going into OT.

There is not ONE single logical or statistical advantage for throwing it into the backcourt -- literally, it's only negative outcomes. It's either a much longer shot or a turnover. If it isn't stolen and goes out of bounds, no/little time is elapsed and then they'd get the ball at their rim.

A shocking lack of focus and good judgment from someone getting paid to play basketball...

 

[Gotta Hav]

When point shaving is done, it's never this obvious, right?

 

[BallLife]

Not trying to make any excuses for the pass Scott made but II was told that the final play was designed and drawn up to get the ball to Hall which may explain the temporary fixation. Coach should have drawn something up for Wagner Young imo.

 

[DyedBlue]

There never should have been a timeout or the inbounds pass. Fix end game issues in practice. Why enable the opponent to substitute and set up the defense.

 

[BallLife]

There never should have been a timeout or the inbounds pass. Fix end game issues in practice. Why enable the opponent to substitute and set up the defense.

I understand in hindsight but I can't say I thought the TO wasn't warranted.

 

[BallLife]

There were several turnovers committed coming out of timeouts during the game.

 

[DyedBlue]

While I wasn't a Bobby Knight fan, I did watch his coach's show with Chuck Marlow.

He actually spent about 5 minutes on some aspect of coaching basketball, and since I was a youth coach at the time, I thought it was a good investment of my time.

One time, the topic was why he never called a timeout in end-of-game situations. With his usual charm and grace towards Chuck, he explained that you can coach end-of-game score situations, EOG FT or opponent field shot situations, and who happens to be on the floor. Basically, he said if I cannot coach that in practice, then I am not doing my job properly. Why hand the advantage to the defense??? I never forgot that point.

 

[bigsportsfan]

While I wasn't a Bobby Knight fan, I did watch his coach's show with Chuck Marlow.

He actually spent about 5 minutes on some aspect of coaching basketball, and since I was a youth coach at the time, I thought it was a good investment of my time.

One time, the topic was why he never called a timeout in end-of-game situations. With his usual charm and grace towards Chuck, he explained that you can coach end-of-game score situations, EOG FT or opponent field shot situations, and who happens to be on the floor. Basically, he said if I cannot coach that in practice, then I am not doing my job properly. Why hand the advantage to the defense??? I never forgot that point.

Those shows were awesome! Someone should put them on YouTube or somewhere and have our players watch them.

 

[sycamore tuff]

While I wasn't a Bobby Knight fan, I did watch his coach's show with Chuck Marlow.

He actually spent about 5 minutes on some aspect of coaching basketball, and since I was a youth coach at the time, I thought it was a good investment of my time.

One time, the topic was why he never called a timeout in end-of-game situations. With his usual charm and grace towards Chuck, he explained that you can coach end-of-game score situations, EOG FT or opponent field shot situations, and who happens to be on the floor. Basically, he said if I cannot coach that in practice, then I am not doing my job properly. Why hand the advantage to the defense??? I never forgot that point.

His buddy Tates Locke famously asked one of his ISU players at a quiet Hulman Center, "Who the F told you to call a timeout".

 

[TreeTop]

Remember when Ian Scott threw the ball into the opponent's court, in the closing seconds, with the game tied, and we thought it was one of the worst plays/decisions in D1? And in all fairness, it was terrible.

Nice to see the #1 team in the country make a similar play but worse decision in the closing seconds of an Elite 8 game, with the lead, and a trip to the Final Four all but clinched.