Is fatigue getting to ISU late in games? Participants aren't convinced
Jan. 21—In its last three games, Indiana State's men's basketball team has led in the second half, only to fail to close the deal when the clock was running low.
An overtime loss at Northern Iowa and fall-from-ahead regulation defeats against Loyola and Southern Illinois are frustrating for the Sycamores, but what is causing the late-game ineffectiveness?
One reason some might cite is fatigue. The numbers would suggest that it's a place to start.
Whether it's been a choice born out of matters beyond ISU's control (COVID-19 or injuries) or by ISU's own decision, the Sycamores have been playing short rotations through the early part of the MVC season. In three of the last four games, ISU had at least two players in a game play 40 or more minutes.
On Jan. 2, seven Sycamores played in the 67-61 victory. Micah Thomas, Zach Hobbs and Julian Larry all played the entire 40 minutes. Cooper Neese played 38. ISU played only the seven players it had available in the Jan. 12 trip to Northern Iowa — though ISU could have had the game postponed a day or two if they wanted to. Larry played every minute of a game that UNI won 80-74 in overtime. Xavier Bledson played 43 minutes; Micah Thomas had 38.
Against Loyola, with everyone available, the minutes load wasn't out of the norm. Cooper Neese and Julian Larry maxed out the team at 34 minutes apiece.
However on Wednesday at SIU, the load went back up again with Cam Henry out. Neese played all 40. Larry (38) and Bledson (36) also had high loads. Several healthy Sycamores — Cam Crawford, Quimari Peterson, Nick Hittle, Dearon Tucker — didn't play at all.
When asked if fatigue might be affecting ISU's late-game performance, ISU coach Josh Schertz wouldn't rule it out, but didn't seem convinced.
"I don't know. I don't think so. We've had that throughout the year and we've won some games. When Cam's back, we'll have a regular eight-man rotation, but we've only had one game with everyone available," Schertz said. "Guys are in good shape. Playing 40 minutes isn't ideal, but it's the hand your dealt."
ISU's hand has been dealt against its will more often than not. The players didn't seem to be using fatigue as an excuse either. Bledson said fatigue might have affected him, "a little bit, but not a lot."
Larry wasn't having it at all.
"The way our practices are designed? They're harder than the game," said Larry, as ISU"s practices do go for two-to-three hours.
"Once you get a bunch of those under your belt, you get used to it, especially with all of the minutes inside all of these games. He gives us the proper rest. It's on us to sleep, hydrate, which I think we've been doing, so I don't think we were tired in the last five minutes," Larry continued.
Schertz also said that minutes come from those quality practice periods.
"You have to play guys who have earned trust and you earn that trust in practice from the staff and teammates. It's a trust that if we put you in a Missouri Valley game where every possession is precious and every mistake is magnified that you're going to produce and impact winning. If you don't have that trust, we'll stay with the other guys," Schertz said.
