Indiana State Sycamores (8-6, 2-1) vs. Evansville Purple Aces (5-9, 2-1)
Ford Center - Evansville, IN
Saturday, January 4th, 2025
Tip: 2:00pm EST
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[January 4, 2025] Indiana State (8-6) at Evansville (5-9)
- Thread starter Jason Svoboda
- Start date
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Indiana State Sycamores (8-6, 2-1) vs. Evansville Purple Aces (5-9, 2-1)
Ford Center - Evansville, IN
Saturday, January 4th, 2025
Tip: 2:00pm EST
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Based on the weather forecasts I'm glad this is on Saturday and not Sunday
They still got a program down there?
We need to win this. They’ve won 2 straight, but are not good. Hope we come out pissed and beat the other IN schools back to back. We will be at 4-1 going into our hardest 3 game stretch of the season.
This should be an interesting game.
They’ve won two in a row, but it has been against Missouri State and Southern Illinois (both of whom will battle for last place in the league). State has lost two in a row, but it has been at Ohio State and against the team everyone picked two win the conference.
If (and it’s a decent sized IF) we play up to par we should win this game. Evansville is not overly athletic and not a great scoring team. But if we shoot the ball like we did in the first half against Bradley we could be in for a loss.
This is a game Harding has to find some points. It should be a better matchup for him than Ohio State or Bradley. Need to stop Haffner and Comer in the backcourt.
The X factor is how do the guys respond to the tough loss last night. Do they put it behind them and take care of business? Or do they dwell on it and let it lead to another loss?
They’ve won two in a row, but it has been against Missouri State and Southern Illinois (both of whom will battle for last place in the league). State has lost two in a row, but it has been at Ohio State and against the team everyone picked two win the conference.
If (and it’s a decent sized IF) we play up to par we should win this game. Evansville is not overly athletic and not a great scoring team. But if we shoot the ball like we did in the first half against Bradley we could be in for a loss.
This is a game Harding has to find some points. It should be a better matchup for him than Ohio State or Bradley. Need to stop Haffner and Comer in the backcourt.
The X factor is how do the guys respond to the tough loss last night. Do they put it behind them and take care of business? Or do they dwell on it and let it lead to another loss?
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I have liked our defensive intensity thr last handful of games. Usually that translates well to a well played game over all. It seemed during the Schertz years is was 50/50 if we wanted to play tough defense. Seems more of a focus with this coaching staff which gives me hope that we will come out and at least compete night in and night out
While I agree our intensity has been better, our actual defense hasn't been good. We get out of position a lot and overhelp. We are sometimes slow on switching and sag off too much at times. The guys are playing hard defensively, just making too many mistakes and over pursuing run outs and helping too much. With the vast improvements we have seen in a fairly short period of time, it gives me some confidence we will improve some on defense.
bent20
The Odum Level
Just stop it! We're going to lose to Evansville and we all know it. I appreciate some of the guarded optimism being expressed here but it's clear that our team really sucks. We're being deceived. They're losing and that's all that really matters, collapsing and what not. I wouldn't steal our coaches or players, if I had the money. If you're a school with money snooping around and using our board as a summation of Google reviews, we're 2.2 on this bunch at best. Terrible! You should move on. 
Powerhouse
The Blue Level
Should be a lot of blue in the stands let’s turn this into a home game Saturday.
Yeah, lots of chasing and late closeouts yesterday.
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Not sure if it is a lack of communication out there or what, but multiple times against Ohio State and then against Bradley we would have two guys on one and leave a shooter wide open.
I can recall several times where we had two guys chase after the ball and leave Thornton open for a 3 against Ohio State. Against Bradley we had a few possessions where three players would be on the ball and then would have to scramble to figure out who was supposed to be on who.
It is fixable, but at the same time we are close to halfway through the season and haven’t gotten too much better.
I think the staff was very focused on offense all summer and early in the season and defense was out on the back burner. Can understand why but it is having a negative effect.
This is what I was talking about a few posts up. Guys are flying all over the floor defensively, but it often times is done with poor communication and a lack of understanding where they should go. The effort is awesome, but until they learn how to communicate better defensively and execute the defensive schemes it will be rough at times.....but I sure as hell appreciate the effort! I believe we will get better, but you're right, you can tell the emphasis was on learning the offensive side early this season/off season.
Our ball screen coverage is atrocious. In the second half against Bradley, all they had to do was set 3+ perimeter screens and it would break us down for a wide-open shot. If we're going to play small with JD at the 5, we might have to just start switching all screens. We can't seem to rotate/recover efficiently. Also, our transition defense is really, really bad. It's another sign that our communication on the defensive end is still lacking.
I think individually we can actually defend on the ball fairly well, but our team defense leaves a lot to be desired. A lot.
I think individually we can actually defend on the ball fairly well, but our team defense leaves a lot to be desired. A lot.
Every college team works on offense and development in the summer. Defense doesn't get worked on until official practice starts.
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Doughty was making that mistake against Bradley by leaving Montgomery open at least twice.
Funny how this thread has focused on defense and then I hop on the TribStar site and what’s the article about? About how the Sycamores need to tighten their defense.
Sycs are 15-1 in the last 16 vs. the purple pumps. Let's get to 16-1 gents!