ISU NOTEBOOK: Swope's out, Kent's back, Daughtry chips in

Feb. 22—Indiana State men's basketball's losing streak has been snapped.

It lasted two games leading up to a 83-64 win at Valparaiso on Wednesday night in front of 2,428 spectators in the Beacons' Athletics-Recreation Center.

The Sycamores (23-5 overall, 14-3 Missouri Valley) had a starter return to full health while another starter was out with an injury.

In the first half and early in the second, ISU coach Josh Schertz went deep into his bench looking for a spark plug, and he found one.

—Better with Kent — With 14 minutes, 35 seconds left in the opening half, Jayson Kent made a play the Indiana State faithful have grown accustomed to witnessing from a lean 6-foot-8 wingman.

The junior drove baseline and exploded to the basket for a one-handed dunk over Valpo freshman Cooper Schwieger.

That gave Kent six points for the game, as he came out looking for his shots from the start of Wednesday's game after suffering a concussion against Illinois State on Feb. 13. Kent sat out nearly the entire second half of the upset loss to Illinois State, and the entire next game — another MVC loss at Southern Illinois.

"If you asked me yesterday, I probably did feel like I skipped a beat. But being able to get back and practice and at least get some type of running and get my cardio back, it felt great," Kent said. "But just in the game, I felt like I was ready no matter what it was."

He scored 13 points in the first half and 23 for the game on 4 for 7 shooting from the floor. He made a 3-pointer and 4 of 4 free throws. He added two early offensive rebounds and six total for the night.

"The conditioning piece is what I was most concerned about," Schertz said. "He practiced full-speed yesterday; [the training staff] has a progression. They test him. I was more worried about how many minutes he [could] handle. I wanted to get him about 25; he got [31], just because of the game. It was more than what I wanted, but I thought he looked good."

—Swope missing in action — Junior Isaiah Swope has continued scoring, largely because of the number of his shots, in his past five outings. He's shot nearly 36% from the field (23 of 64) during those games and 24% from 3-point range (12 of 49). He's still averaged 12.8 points.

For the season, Swope is shooting 20% higher than his recent ratio from long range, and 8% better on all field goals, and is averaging 17.3 points for the year as the Sycamores' most potent finisher.

There's a reason for his recent drop — he's been playing hurt. The lift in his jumper has been noticeable as a result of a new knee setback.

"Swope got hurt [Dec. 5] at Northern Illinois originally," Schertz said. "There was an injury that he either could have surgery on or play through. That's where he missed the game against Southern Indiana. I think he took a week and a half off and came back, and his knee was healing good."

Schertz said tests were done to check on his knee. It turns out, Swope has another injury, unrelated, in the same knee.

"Over the last few weeks, the knee has been bothering him more," Schertz said. "An MRI revealed a second issue that's also going to require surgery. They do feel like there is no chance of doing any further damage to the knee. They are two separate issues. Neither one is something — they don't interfere with each other — [that] could cause any type of long-term damage.

"The goal is to be able to get him to be able to play the rest of the season."

Schertz didn't rule out Swope playing against Illinois-Chicago on Saturday. He said Swope is getting rest, doing a new rehab and medicine to get back on the court.

"This guy has been a warrior," Schertz said.

"He's gutting it out for this team. I hope people appreciate that, because [for] 99% of [players in similar situations] — their season is over."

—Daughtry drops buckets — Schertz opted to play nine players against the Beacons even with Swope out.

One key reserve was freshman Jaden Daughtry. With a string of three baskets in quick succession early in the game's final 20 minutes, Daughtry helped propel the Sycamores to a second-half surge.

"That's big for us," Kent said of Daughtry's boost. "We know what JD can do on the court through practice. That's just a confidence booster for him, seeing him get out there and get three baskets really quick. ... We call him 'Baby Zion,' [referring to Zion Williamson, a forward for the New Orleans Pelicans]. I'm just happy for him, that's just going to elevate us. Now, with him, we're even more dangerous."

Daughtry attempted seven shots and missed two 3s in eight minutes. He grabbed three rebounds.

A little more than a minute after Daughtry checked in and he got his opening field goal. He scored multiple baskets for the first time since his career-high 15 points against USI when Swope was out.

"Coming in, they probably weren't ready for me, they probably don't know that I'm a versatile player down low and just playing the three," Daughtry said. "So him putting me in there in that moment, [them] just looking confused and not really knowing how to guard me was definitely an advantage."