When Illinois State's basketball team departed campus for the 35-minute drive to Peoria for a game against Bradley on Wednesday, the Redbirds apparently left something at home.
Their intensity.
Bradley shot a season-high 57.4 percent from the field in rolling to an 85-68 victory. ISU, which wasn't so hot offensively, either, by shooting 37.4 percent, knows it will need a better effort at both ends when Indiana State comes to Redbird Arena for Sunday's 1 p.m. Missouri Valley Conference game.
?Defense is all about effort,? said ISU junior guard Matt Hein. ?We all hold each other accountable as well as ourselves accountable. It's not one simple fix because basketball is a game of trust. If you don't trust each other you're going to have breakdowns, and we had multiple breakdowns the last game.?
ISU (11-9 overall) didn't lose any ground in the jumbled MVC standings as co-leaders Valparaiso and Loyola also lost. The Redbirds are tied for third in the league at 4-3, a game off the lead, while Indiana State (11-8) moved into a five-way tie for fifth at 3-4 after routing Valpo, 70-53.
ISU coach Dan Muller, who was reprimanded by MVC commissioner Doug Elgin on Friday for comments about the officiating, didn't believe his team reacted well to Bradley's physicality and will face the same situation against the Sycamores.
?Once we got punched in the mouth we had that old deer-in-the-headlights kind of look,? said Muller, referring to some of the Redbirds' nonconference losses where they fell behind big early.
ISU's lack of fight in the first half concerned Muller. The Redbirds roared back in the second half to cut a 22-point deficit to four before running out of gas.
?You never get complacent. We never overlook an opponent. I don't know what it was,? said Hein. ?We had a bunch of lapses, me especially. I felt my defensive effort, especially in the first half, was the worst of the season. I felt I let my team down. That's one of my roles.?
With ISU down to nine healthy players after junior guard Josh Jefferson suffering a broken collarbone in practice that will sideline him three to four weeks, Muller said it's imperative for everyone on the bench to be ready to play at a high level every game.
?That doesn't mean we'll play great every night, but we can't have a lack of focus and lack of fight in games, and we had three or four guys who had those the other night,? he said.
What also would help the Redbirds is for Phil Fayne to stay out of foul trouble. The 6-foot-9 senior seemed to have corrected a propensity for fouls that marked his arrival two years ago. But in the last two games, Fayne has been limited to 21 and 23 minutes because of fouls.
Milik Yarbrough, who has battled through a sore knee that had to be drained early in the week, and Fayne are the second-leading scoring duo in the league at a combined 32.4 points. The top duo is Indiana State's Jordan Barnes and Tyreke Key.
Barnes and Key combine for 32.8 points per game. However, the 5-11 Barnes is struggling with his 3-point shot in MVC games, making just 18.4 percent. Key, a sophomore guard, has nearly doubled his scoring average from last season (8.3 to 16.1).
?I don't think our guys are foolish enough to think he's an 18 percent 3-point shooter,? said Muller of Barnes, a preseason all-first team MVC selection. ?He's one of the best players in our league and had a great nonconference season. He's certainly given us problems.
"The worst part is Tyreke Key is an absolute stud and they've added Christian Williams, who really complements those guys well.?
Williams, a 6-5 transfer from Iowa, is a Decatur St. Teresa graduate who was heavily recruited by ISU. He became eligible in mid-December and has started all 11 games he's played, relieving Barnes of much of the ballhandling duties.
?JB is going to make shots. He's a 1,000-point scorer and already has had a terrific career for us,? said Indiana State coach Greg Lansing. ?He knows what's so special about a great career is how good your team does. He's more focused on that.?
Indiana State is 1-2 in MVC road games. The Sycamores took a 72-66 overtime win at Evansville, the only place in the league where ISU also has won on the road.
Their intensity.
Bradley shot a season-high 57.4 percent from the field in rolling to an 85-68 victory. ISU, which wasn't so hot offensively, either, by shooting 37.4 percent, knows it will need a better effort at both ends when Indiana State comes to Redbird Arena for Sunday's 1 p.m. Missouri Valley Conference game.
?Defense is all about effort,? said ISU junior guard Matt Hein. ?We all hold each other accountable as well as ourselves accountable. It's not one simple fix because basketball is a game of trust. If you don't trust each other you're going to have breakdowns, and we had multiple breakdowns the last game.?
ISU (11-9 overall) didn't lose any ground in the jumbled MVC standings as co-leaders Valparaiso and Loyola also lost. The Redbirds are tied for third in the league at 4-3, a game off the lead, while Indiana State (11-8) moved into a five-way tie for fifth at 3-4 after routing Valpo, 70-53.
ISU coach Dan Muller, who was reprimanded by MVC commissioner Doug Elgin on Friday for comments about the officiating, didn't believe his team reacted well to Bradley's physicality and will face the same situation against the Sycamores.
?Once we got punched in the mouth we had that old deer-in-the-headlights kind of look,? said Muller, referring to some of the Redbirds' nonconference losses where they fell behind big early.
ISU's lack of fight in the first half concerned Muller. The Redbirds roared back in the second half to cut a 22-point deficit to four before running out of gas.
?You never get complacent. We never overlook an opponent. I don't know what it was,? said Hein. ?We had a bunch of lapses, me especially. I felt my defensive effort, especially in the first half, was the worst of the season. I felt I let my team down. That's one of my roles.?
With ISU down to nine healthy players after junior guard Josh Jefferson suffering a broken collarbone in practice that will sideline him three to four weeks, Muller said it's imperative for everyone on the bench to be ready to play at a high level every game.
?That doesn't mean we'll play great every night, but we can't have a lack of focus and lack of fight in games, and we had three or four guys who had those the other night,? he said.
What also would help the Redbirds is for Phil Fayne to stay out of foul trouble. The 6-foot-9 senior seemed to have corrected a propensity for fouls that marked his arrival two years ago. But in the last two games, Fayne has been limited to 21 and 23 minutes because of fouls.
Milik Yarbrough, who has battled through a sore knee that had to be drained early in the week, and Fayne are the second-leading scoring duo in the league at a combined 32.4 points. The top duo is Indiana State's Jordan Barnes and Tyreke Key.
Barnes and Key combine for 32.8 points per game. However, the 5-11 Barnes is struggling with his 3-point shot in MVC games, making just 18.4 percent. Key, a sophomore guard, has nearly doubled his scoring average from last season (8.3 to 16.1).
?I don't think our guys are foolish enough to think he's an 18 percent 3-point shooter,? said Muller of Barnes, a preseason all-first team MVC selection. ?He's one of the best players in our league and had a great nonconference season. He's certainly given us problems.
"The worst part is Tyreke Key is an absolute stud and they've added Christian Williams, who really complements those guys well.?
Williams, a 6-5 transfer from Iowa, is a Decatur St. Teresa graduate who was heavily recruited by ISU. He became eligible in mid-December and has started all 11 games he's played, relieving Barnes of much of the ballhandling duties.
?JB is going to make shots. He's a 1,000-point scorer and already has had a terrific career for us,? said Indiana State coach Greg Lansing. ?He knows what's so special about a great career is how good your team does. He's more focused on that.?
Indiana State is 1-2 in MVC road games. The Sycamores took a 72-66 overtime win at Evansville, the only place in the league where ISU also has won on the road.
