SIU kicks off Valley play with a game in Terre Haute on Tuesday.
Meet the Sycamores:
When you play a Josh Schertz team, you're going to get up-tempo basketball and plenty of offense and that's holding very true so far this season for the Trees. Indiana State is 17th in the country in average possession length on offense (14.9 seconds) and 21st in the country in adjusted tempo (73.5). The Trees are 2nd in the country in effective field goal % (63.3%), 3rd in the country in 2 point % (64.1%), and 8th in the country in 3 point % (41.7%).
As good as the Trees have been on offense, they've really struggled on the defensive end. Indiana State is 308th in the country in 3 point % against (37.9%), 244th in the country in 2 point % against (52.4%), and 287th in the country in effective field goal % against (53.7%).
The Sycamores hung with #17 Alabama for about a half without Robbie Avila and have rattled off 4 straight wins since including against #109 Toledo on Friday.
The leader in points, assists, and rebounds per game for the Trees is 6-10 Sophomore Robbie Avila averaging 20.3 points per game, 6.7 rebounds per game, and 5.3 assists per game. Avila missed the first 2 games of the season with a back injury but he hasn't missed a step from last year's impressive Freshman season so far. Avila is not only a presence inside as he's 244th in the country in 2 point % (18-28, 64.3%) but he's also been a force outside as he's 256th in the country in 3 point % (6-14, 42.9%). Avila is 124th in the country in effective field goal % (64.3%) and 101st in the country in true shooting % (67.4%). Avila is also 182nd in the country in defensive rebounding % (22.2%), 169th in the country in assist rate (27.4%), and 173rd in the country in free throw rate (57.1%). He's really the closest player we've seen to Cameron Krutwig since Krutwig left the Valley.
The 2nd leading scorer on Indiana State is 5-10 Junior Guard Isaiah Swope averaging 17.4 points per game. SIU saw Swope last year when he played for Southern Indiana and saw him score 11 points in a 71-53 USI win. Swope would go on to be named to the All-OVC first team after leading the Screaming Eagles in scoring with 15.6 points per game. This season, Swope is 120th in the country in 3 point % (17-35, 48.6%), 83rd in the country in effective field goal % (67.0%), and 147th in the country in true shooting % (65.4%). Swope also leads the Sycamores in steals with 2.4 steals per game and he's 49th in the country in steal % (5.1%).
Another big transfer addition to the Sycamores this offseason was 6-4 Sophomore guard Ryan Conwell. Conwell was a 3 star recruit out of high school and chose South Florida over offers from SIU, Indiana State, Appalachian State, and Murray State among others. At South Florida, Conwell started 21 games in his Freshman season and average 5.1 points per game. He entered the portal this offseason and ended up with Schertz who recruited him hard out of high school. Conwell this season is 241st in the country in 3 point % (12-28, 42.9%), 487th in the country in effective field goal % (53.2%), and 400th in the country in true shooting % (58.5%).
Another key contributor to this Sycamores team is 6-8 Junior Jayson Kent. Kent was an in-conference transfer from Bradley last offseason joining his former high school teammate Avila at Indiana State. This season, Kent is 75th in the country in 2 point % (22-30, 73.3%), 39th in the country in effective field goal % (71.6%), and 25th in the country in true shooting % (74.1%). Kent is also 118th in the country in free throw rate (62.2%) and is 18-23 from the free throw line.
Links:
Indiana State Game Notes
Bryan Mullins with Harry Schroeder of Valley Hoops Insider 11/27
Hard not to think we screwed up taking Hornecker over Avila at this point….
Hindsight is 20/20 and wish Cade was healthy because he may benefit from our new pace/style this year. But yeah Avila is quite good
Hard not to think we screwed up taking Hornecker over Avila at this point….
I agree, and at this point it seems to be a no-brainer, but . . . ugh . . . I hate to say this: would our coaching staff have known what to do with Avila?
(Inflammatory political snark)
Hard not to think we screwed up taking Hornecker over Avila at this point….
I agree, and at this point it seems to be a no-brainer, but . . . ugh . . . I hate to say this: would our coaching staff have known what to do with Avila?
I think they would know exactly what to do with him because HIS game specifically seems to fit better than with a traditional big bruiser like Ebube.
Hard not to think we screwed up taking Hornecker over Avila at this point….
I said the same thing early last year after watching Avila in a few games. Cade has been the consummate teammate, always positive no matter what adversity he has faced but I believe that even when healthy he will not be anything more than a piece of the puzzle vs Avila who is a stud.
Getting back to the game, I cannot stress enough how important it is that the team plays well. Playing on the road against a likely top 4 team in the Valley will not be easy, but if this team can show that they belong, it could help continue the momentum that has already been established. Our only loss was a winnable game against a legit team. I am not expecting a win but am hopeful for a close competitive game. After what I've seen in the last couple games, I don't think that is unrealistic.
Huge conference game so early in the year. I would love to spring the upset here. I selfishly don’t like the momentum Schwertz has for that program so early on in his tenure. Coming from D2 he seemed like a risky hire at the time, but he appears to be able to coach and, more surprisingly, recruit at a high level.
Indiana State looks like an upper half team thus far, but so do we. To me this is when you play big with Rupert and Ebube: put Rupert on Avila and keep Scottie down low and see if they can stop that. Rupert should be able to hold his own defending Avila on the perimeter, and it still keeps Scottie down low to protect the rim.
SIU by 6.
So far those two have not shown the ability to play defense without fouling. Until they can stay on the floor, you are not going to see them both on it at the same time.Indiana State looks like an upper half team thus far, but so do we. To me this is when you play big with Rupert and Ebube: put Rupert on Avila and keep Scottie down low and see if they can stop that. Rupert should be able to hold his own defending Avila on the perimeter, and it still keeps Scottie down low to protect the rim.
SIU by 6.
@quatroschallengesaluki With both of them in at the same time, you have no back up center to bring in. Both will need to come out for rest.
So far those two have not shown the ability to play defense without fouling. Until they can stay on the floor, you are not going to see them both on it at the same time.Indiana State looks like an upper half team thus far, but so do we. To me this is when you play big with Rupert and Ebube: put Rupert on Avila and keep Scottie down low and see if they can stop that. Rupert should be able to hold his own defending Avila on the perimeter, and it still keeps Scottie down low to protect the rim.
SIU by 6.
We've seen it once, but for a very brief stint, and overall I agree; however, there are cons to any lineup, and with Mullins preference to still go small with Troy at the 5 I think this lineup could do damage offensively for short stints.
So far those two have not shown the ability to play defense without fouling. Until they can stay on the floor, you are not going to see them both on it at the same time.Indiana State looks like an upper half team thus far, but so do we. To me this is when you play big with Rupert and Ebube: put Rupert on Avila and keep Scottie down low and see if they can stop that. Rupert should be able to hold his own defending Avila on the perimeter, and it still keeps Scottie down low to protect the rim.
SIU by 6.
We've seen it once, but for a very brief stint, and overall I agree; however, there are cons to any lineup, and with Mullins preference to still go small with Troy at the 5 I think this lineup could do damage offensively for short stints.
Troy and Avila played together on the same AAU ball team during a summer of high school. I'm sure Troy would know Avila's offensive weaknesses. Troy at 6'7" is not that much smaller than Clarence and would be a good match up defensively on Avila. As USMCSaluki wrote, that would allow Clarence or Scottie to stay down low and protect the rim.
So far those two have not shown the ability to play defense without fouling. Until they can stay on the floor, you are not going to see them both on it at the same time.Indiana State looks like an upper half team thus far, but so do we. To me this is when you play big with Rupert and Ebube: put Rupert on Avila and keep Scottie down low and see if they can stop that. Rupert should be able to hold his own defending Avila on the perimeter, and it still keeps Scottie down low to protect the rim.
SIU by 6.
We've seen it once, but for a very brief stint, and overall I agree; however, there are cons to any lineup, and with Mullins preference to still go small with Troy at the 5 I think this lineup could do damage offensively for short stints.
Troy and Avila played together on the same AAU ball team during a summer of high school. I'm sure Troy would know Avila's offensive weaknesses. Troy at 6'7" is not that much smaller than Clarence and would be a good match up defensively on Avila. As USMCSaluki wrote, that would allow Clarence or Scottie to stay down low and protect the rim.
Jumping wise and quickness wise. Clarence is a foot and a half taller than Troy.
Playing Troy vs. InSU last year while Clarence sat on the bench is exactly why we lost to Indiana State at home. T
In last years loss at home, JD was still out so it didn't help. I am not saying JD was the reason we won the 2nd game, but I am saying that he started that game vs Troy. We lost at home by 3 to them last year and were down by 10 at half in the 2nd game on the road before our defense absolutely shut them down while we scored 43pts in the 2nd half to win by 8.
