FRUSTRATION BUILDS FOR STRUGGLING INDIAN BASKETBALL TEAM

There is a lot of frustration in our basketball program right now. The players and coaches are frustrated and I'm sure our students and fans are frustrated.

We are 4-7 in the Ohio Valley Conference but we were very close to being 7-4 or better in the league.

Except for the game at Austin Peay, we've been in every game in OVC play, and with a basket here or there we could be in much better shape in the conference race. We just haven't been able to get over the hump.

In college athletics there is a fine line between winning the close games and losing the close games. Unfortunately, we've been on the wrong side of the line. Our hope is that we can cross over the line and start to win the close games.

Our players are continuing to work hard in practice and in games. I am a firm believer that if you stay together as a team and work hard, eventually things will get better. We just have to keep our heads up and keep fighting.

We face two more difficult road games the rest of this week, with Murray State tonight and Tennessee-Martin Saturday night. They will both be major challenges, but we have been a good road team this year and I expect our players to have a big effort in both games.

We have to eliminate the critical mistakes that are coming at the wrong times, particularly late in games.

I plan to use more players down the stretch, because the players have earned the playing time by hard work in practice and some of our front line players need to have some rest during games.

Tim Scheer and Drew DeMond continue to improve with each game and Daniel Weaver, Nyah Jones and Terry Rogers continue to rotate at the post position.

Freshman Joel Shelton will continue to get more minutes at a guard position and Damarcus Hence, who really gave us a first-half lift at Tennessee Tech Tuesday night, will see more action.

Scheer is becoming a consistent scorer and DeMond's scoring and rebounding totals continue to improve. In fact, Drew has hit 20 straight free throws after really struggling at the line early in the season.

The OVC race is going to go down to the final day of the regular season. It looks like a two-team race between Tennessee Tech and Eastern Illinois for the regular-season title, but Austin Peay and Murray State are both capable of putting together a streak and challenging for the top spot. I think a team with four losses could still tie for the title.

The rest of the teams, including our squad, are just trying to improve and gain some momentum headed into the conference tournament. We have to take it one practice at a time and one game at a time.

If we continue to improve and find a way to cross over the fine line and win the close games, we can gain some momentum and confidence down the stretch.

It appears we will be on the road for the first round of the OVC Tournament, but we have been a good road team and if we can gain some momentum you never know what will happen.

Gary Garner is the head basketball coach at Southeast Missouri State University