Saturday, February 9, 2013
Sycamores' defensive switch
By Matt Giles
Heading into their late January contest against Wichita State, Indiana State decided they needed to make a defensive switch if they were to defeat one of the nation's most physical and bruising teams. The Sycamores have primarily been known as a man defensive team since Greg Lansing arrived at the school, but decided to implement a 2-3 zone for the match-up against the Shockers and managed to hold WSU to just .90 points per possession (Wichita State used about 61 possession).
The scout for the game was associate head coach Lou Gudino, and since ISU changed their defensive outlook against WSU, other Missouri Valley teams have taken note and the Shockers have dropped their past three games. Over the Sycamores' past three contests, ISU has used a similar formula. "On a miss, we'd be man-to-man. On makes, we were zone," said Lansing. In those games, a stretch where ISU went 2-1, the Sycamores have used 196 possessions and have handcuffed teams to just .95 PPP.
