Indiana State is set for its first game of the Missouri Valley Conference men’s basketball Arch Madness tournament Thursday when it takes on Southern Illinois.
ISU is 14-17 overall and 8-12 in the MVC, while the Salukis are 13-18 and 8-12 respectively.
There’s a unique aspect in that these same two teams clashed Sunday inside Hulman Center in Terre Haute to end the regular season, with the Sycamores coming out on top 95-77.
SIU coach Scott Nagy said he just talked to his team about how they were going to practice the day before and that he thought they were prepared, but the result showed the Sycamores were simply more prepared.
Going into Thursday’s matchup he said he was trying to get his team to see them from his point of view.
“This has been a really, really hard group for me to read,” Nagy admitted.
He said they’ve either played really well this year or really bad.
“We haven’t been very consistent,” Nagy pointed out. “That’s probably been the most frustrating thing.”
ISU coach Matthew Graves said Southern Illinois will probably be more engaged.
“I think the biggest challenge for us is fighting human nature,” Graves said. “You beat a team by 18 points and you’re in control for most of the game. You have to refocus your team and re-engage them and understand that you’re one and done.”
Graves emphasized how the conference tournament is basically a new season.
“It’s a new deal and we have to really regroup and restart everything because I know Southern Illinois is going to come out swinging,” Graves said.
He acknowledged the up-and-down season it’s been for them but seemed confident in his team with how they’ve been playing lately.
“I think we’ve had more positives than negatives even though some may say our record may not reflect that,” Graves said. “I think we’ve made great strides from November throughout the season until now.”
He thinks the team is playing really good basketball at the moment. Graves said he told his team they want to validate things with a win and sometimes that just doesn’t happen as was the case in their games at home vs. Evansville and then the team’s two road games at Belmont and Murray State. He said they played pretty good basketball in those two games but just didn’t come out victorious.
“So, to get that validation on Sunday, with the win playing the way we did, really gave our team some confidence, heading into the game Thursday,” Graves noted.
Graves is hoping the Sycamores can stay more than one day for their fans as he called them tremendous.
“They do a great job of traveling and following our team and that’s a big part of it,” Graves said.
He mentioned how the experience of the conference tournament will help the team’s momentum and confidence. Two Sycamores already have that experience as Jaden Daughtry and Aaron Gray were part of last season’s team.
After Sunday’s victory over Southern Illinois, Gray said he’s told his teammates who haven’t experienced Arch Madness that it’s 0-0.
“When you go out there, it doesn’t matter where you’re seeded at, where you’re ranked at, anybody can beat anybody and everybody’s going in with one goal and that’s to leave with a championship on Sunday,” Gray said. “So, just trying to put that message into the guys and really have them locked in and focused because we’re not done yet.”
The winner of Thursday afternoon’s game will face No. 1 seed Drake at 1 p.m. Friday.
Drake coach Ben McCollum said the Bulldogs are going to try to win the first game. In the last meeting between ISU and Drake, the Sycamores took them to overtime back on Feb. 8 in Des Moines before falling 85-81.
“You can’t really overthink a lot of those things and think about matchups etc.,” McCollum said.
He said everybody has some new life, but with that new life there are still old habits and that they need to make sure their old habits are there and are good.
