Published: February 23, 2009 11:38 pm         

Win at Wichita State today could help Sycamores’ seed in MVC tournament

As the wins have piled up for the Indiana State men’s basketball team on its five-game streak, the Sycamores have earned their way back into meaningful games.

None more so than tonight’s game at Wichita State.

The Sycamores still have a long-shot chance of avoiding the Thursday play-in round of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament. ISU (9-19, 6-10) is currently tied with Southern Illinois in eighth place, but is just a game behind a three-way tie for fifth … a trio that includes Wichita State.

ISU must win its final two games and it needs help to avoid the play-in round for the first time since 2001, but the idea that the Sycamores could avoid Thursday was unthinkable two weeks ago when ISU was 2-10 in the conference before its winning streak began.

“If we want to keep ourselves out of a Thursday game, five is great, but we need six real bad,” said ISU forward Jay Tunnell, referring to the Sycamores’ winning streak.

ISU coach Kevin McKenna doesn’t want the Sycamores to have Friday on their minds just yet. Wichita State is too imposing to think about anything else.

“I think [the players] are excited about the opportunity to climb the ladder, they know what’s in front of them,” McKenna said. “But we haven’t talked about [tournament scenarios] at all. We’re in one-game-at-a-time mode and Wichita State presents plenty of problems with their rebounding,” McKenna said.

The Shockers (14-14, 7-9) can identify with ISU’s sudden revival. For the first third of the season, the Shockers were the team keeping ISU out of the Valley basement. The Shockers started 0-6 in conference play with a team that has a lot in common with ISU as far as experience is concerned. Since a Jan. 17 victory over Creighton, Wichita State is 7-3 in Valley games and has not lost at Koch Arena during that stretch.

Going back 50 years, no conference team that started 0-6 has finished better than ninth. The Shockers could finish as high as fifth.

Among Wichita State’s victories was a 64-58 win over ISU at Hulman Center on Feb. 4. It was the last loss the Sycamores suffered. ISU was outrebounded 39-25 and committed 18 turnovers to hurt its cause. Wichita State’s long and strong Ramon Clemente had a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

“We’re a different team from then to now. I looked at the film of that game and we’re playing with better patience and with a better understanding on defense,” McKenna said.

In its BracketBusters victory over Cleveland State on Saturday, every Wichita State starter reached double-figure scoring. In ISU’s case, Tunnell, Harry Marshall, Rashad Reed and Jordan Printy have each scored 10 or more in four consecutive games.

• Tunnell goes home for the final time – One player who would like to win at Koch Arena is Topeka, Kan., native Tunnell. Lightly recruited by Wichita State when Mark Turgeon was in charge of the Shocker program, ISU has come close to winning at Koch during Tunnell’s career, but have never broken through.

“It would be huge to get that win. Anytime any one of us goes close to home, you want to beat that team that you feel should’ve shown more interest in you. Anytime we go back and play Wichita, I feel like I play better there and with the atmosphere, it’s not hard to get yourself going for a game,” Tunnell said. “I’m going to go in and want to play well, but I’m going to do the same things I’ve been doing, let the game come to me, and hopefully come out of there with a win.”