Fifth-year fan favorite brings big impact in IU victory

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WISH) — IU basketball had themselves a rough week in the Bahamas in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. They were blown out in their first two games by a combined score of 44 points to Louisville and Gonzaga.

They rebounded in the final game and beta Providence by 16, but they returned to Bloomington with an unsuccessful trip.

IU further recovered from their two Bahamas losses on Tuesday night, beating Sam Houston State 97-71. They were fueled by an unlikely player though, and someone whose stats might not pop in an initial glance at the box score.

That player would be Anthony Leal.

In a game the Hoosiers won by 26 points, IU was +38 points when Leal was on the floor.

It was the first game that Leal played more than four minutes so far this season, and he played 25. He did a little bit of everything for the Hoosiers, scoring four points, grabbing four rebounds, dishing out four assists, and picking up two steals.

Six other Hoosiers scored more points than Leal, but nobody had a +/- better than the fifth-year Bloomington native.

“Anthony (Leal) has always been there when we needed him,” IU head coach Mike Woodson said. “I thought tonight he stepped up and played a solid game for us.

“When you have a guy like that that you can depend on that’s so selfless to take a step back and not get minutes and still be a great teammate, and then to come in like he did today, it’s special,” IU senior forward Luke Goode said.

The entire bench put together a really solid game. Luke Goode had his best game in a Hoosier uniform so far, knocking down five threes and scoring 18 points. He was 5-7 from beyond the arc, a noticeable improvement from the 28.5% mark he was shooting at before Tuesday night.

Bryson Tucker was second on the team in +/- with a +31 and scored eight points in 28 minutes off the bench.

IU hits the floor next on Friday against Miami (Ohio) at 7 p.m.