March 2, 2016

Page 1

MVC T urnament preview

Indiana Statesman For ISU students. About ISU students. By ISU students.

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Volume 123, Issue 62

indianastatesman.com

Redbirds Await Sycamores in St. Louis Desmond O’Sullivan Reporter

As Arch Madness gets underway, Sycamore men’s basketball heads into St. Louis to take on the third-seeded Illinois State Redbirds in the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in their hopes to win the MVC Championship and secure a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Indiana State (14-16, 8-10 MVC) and Illinois State Redbirds (18-13, 12-6 MVC) have split their season series 1-1, with the Sycamores taking the first meeting 77-65 and the Redbirds taking the most recent game 7850 in Normal, Illinois. They will be facing a Redbird squad that is coming off of one of their worst losses of the season, delivered by the No. 1 seeded Wichita State Shockers, 74-58. The Sycamores won their last regular season game against the Bradley Braves 7758, snapping a six-

game losing streak. The Sycamores will be looking to improve upon their performance from last year’s MVC tournament when they were dispatched by the Loyola Ramblers in the quarterfinals, 81-53. The Redbirds have gone on to postseason action for the last two years, making it to the College Basketball Invitational semifinals in 2014 and the second round of the National Invitational Tournament in 2015. The Sycamores have gone on to postseason action twice in the past three years, advancing to the first round of the NIT in 2013 and 2014. Both teams have plenty of incentive for winning this quarterfinal. Neither the Sycamores nor the Redbirds are guaranteed a national postseason berth because of the fact that they both don’t possess strongenough regular season records to help ensure them spots in the tourney, making this quarterfinal a must-win. The Sycamores will once again be looking to their

star players Devonte Brown, Brenton Scott, and Khristian Smith for a spark to propel them to victory. Seniors Brown, Brandon Burnett and Smith will especially be wanting to make their marks on this game to give themselves the best chance of not making this game their last one as Sycamores. Brown and Scott led the Sycamores in scoring against the Bradley Braves with 24 points and 11 points respectively and will be looking to build on that momentum in their performances against Illinois State. Turnovers treated the Sycamores well with the Braves committing 15 turnovers to ISU’s eight. Foul trouble was present for both teams, but was even more so for the Braves as they committed 27 to 22 by the white and blue. DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell and MiKyle McIntosh led the Redbirds in their losing effort against the Shockers with 15 points from Akoon-Purcell and 14 points from McIntosh. The Redbirds found

themselves powerless to shore up the Shocker att a ck and fell behind quickly in the first half, and aside from a mild comeback, the game was dominated by Wichita State. The Redbirds committed 25 personal fouls to WSU’s 16, and McIntosh fouled out of the game with five personal fouls. The Redbirds also committed 17 turnovers to Wichita State’s six. The matchup will take place at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri at 9:30 p.m. on Friday. It will also be available to watch on MVC TV, The Valley on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app. Radio coverage is available on 95.9 WDKE.

Miguel Lewis | Indiana Statesman Matt Van Scyoc, No. 30, junior forward

Gabe Starms | Indiana Statesman Khristian Smith, No. 1, senior gaurd

Sycamore trio honored by the Missouri Valley Conference

Ace Hunt

ISU Athletic Media Relations

The Indiana State Basketball trio of Devonte Brown, Brenton Scott and Everett Clemons have earned postseason honors today (March 1) from the Missouri Valley Conference. The all-conference selections are voted upon by the league’s head coaches, sports information directors and a media panel. Devonte Brown and Brenton Scott were named to the All-Missouri Valley Conference Second Team while Everett Clemons picked up a spot on the Missouri Valley Conference All-Newcomer Team. Brown and Scott make it a school record nine consecutive years in which at least one Sycamore has earned all-conference recognition. That is the third longest stretch among the current membership of the Missouri Valley Conference. Brown and Scott were the only teammates to both finish in the Top 5 for league only scoring average during the 2015-16 campaign. Brown has been named to the AllMVC Second Team for the second consecutive season. In 2015, he was also named the Missouri Valley Conference’s Most Improved Player.

He became the 37th member of the Indiana State Basketball 1,000 Point Club earlier this season and was named the MVC Player of the Week for his 26 point and 24 point scoring efforts against Southern Illinois and Evansville on January 25. He finished fifth in the league with a 15.8 ppg average while his 16.9 ppg scoring average in league contests ranked third. Brown’s 4.9 rebounds per game ranked 14th while his 4.9 average in league contests ranked 15th. He hit 79.9 percent of his free throws in league play to rank ninth. He opened the season with 25 points against IUPUI to go with four assists and three steals. Brown converted a conventional 3-point play with eight seconds remaining to secure a 67-66 win over Hofstra which sealed a third place finish in the Paradise Jam. He

ISU Communications and Marketing Devonte Brown, No. 11, senior guard

tied for the team lead with 20 points and pulled down 10 rebounds to post his first career double-double in the win over IllinoisSpringfield. Brown set a school record with a perfect 14-14 effort at the free throw line in leading the team with 24 points in the win at Saint Louis. He achieved a new career-high with 27 points, including a personal 9-0 first half run and a halftime buzzer beating 3-pointer in the road win over Drake. He tied for the team lead with 24 points in the home win over Evansville to go with six assists and five re-

bounds. On Senior Day, Brown scored 24 points and pulled down seven rebounds to defeat Bradley. Brown has always had a knack for getting to the free throw line over his career and had one of best seasons in doing just that as a senior. This season he visited the free throw line 247 times and ranks sixth nationally while his 188 free throws made ranks eighth-best in the country. His 188 free throws made is fourth-best for a season in the history of the program while 247 trips to the charity stripe are third best. He is just 20 more free throw attempts away from Jerry Newsom’s school record set in 1967-68. For his career, Brown’s 610 free throws made ranks fourth best while his 422 free throws made is tied for fifth. Scott picked up his first career all-conference honor when

he was named to the AllMVC Second Team. In 2015, Scott was named the MVC Freshman Of The Year as the leading vote getter on the all-freshman team. He finished the season sixth in the MVC with a 14.9 ppg average while his league only average of 15.8 ppg was fourth. He made 77.7 percent of his free throws to rank 10th in the league while his 77.6 percent mark in MVC games ranked 12th. Scott’s 1.1 steals per game average was tied for 10th. He owns a 39.7 3-point field goal percentage to rank seventh in the league while his league only mark of 40 percent was fourth. He hit 2.4 3-pointers per game and 2.7 trifectas per league contest to rank second in both. He paced the team with 19 points and added three assists and two steals in the win over Ball State. Scott poured in 25 points and pulled down a career-best nine rebounds in leading the Sycamores to a home victory over Illinois State.

He then scored a career-best 30 points as he knocked down six 3-pointers in the Sycamores’ come from behind victory over Northern Iowa. Scott led the team with 24 points, hitting four first half 3-pointers at Wichita State. He recorded 24 points in the win over Evansville, 17 of which came during the first half as he hit six 3-pointers including one of the opening possession as the Sycamores ran the “Picket Fence” which was featured nationally on Yahoo! Sports and ESPN. Scott’s 73 3-pointers made this season ranks third-best in the history of the program while his 184 attempts is fourth. Just a sophomore, Scott is already attacking the ISU career charts as his 132 made threes over his first two seasons ranks seventh-best over the course of Sycamore Basketball history. Brown and Scott are joined on the AllMVC Second Team by DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell (Illinois State), Montel James (Loyola) and Wes Washpun (Northern Iowa). On the All-MVC First Team are Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet (Wichita State), D.J. Balentine and Egidijus Mockevicius (Evansville) as well as

SEE CONFERENCE, PAGE 8

Miguel Lewis | Indiana Statesman Everett Clemons, No. 0, junior guard

Miguel Lewis | Indiana Statesman Brenton Scott, No. 4, sophomore guard Page designed by Hannah Boyd


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March 2, 2016 by Indiana Statesman - Issuu