MINNEAPOLIS – Just four days ago following Indiana’s victory over the Michigan State Spartans, Anthony Leal announced his return to the Hoosiers for his fifth year with the team. As he was serenaded with applause and cheers, Leal turned to the crowd waving his hand in the year.
Thursday night in Minneapolis, it was Leal who put in the game winning layup with the clock ticking down to win the game and put the Hoosiers into the quarter-final round, defeating Penn State 61-59.
“I thought tonight overall defensively what we set out to do was really, really good tonight for 40 minutes,” Mike Woodson said in the postgame press conference.
It certainly hasn’t been the career that Leal thought he would have coming out of Bloomington South High School. A highly talented guard came to the Indiana program in 2020 as a four-star, detonated to become the next great Hoosier. But since his arrival, that hasn’t culminated for the Bloomington native.
That hasn’t stop Leal from continuing to practice as if he were the star player and has stayed ready for his moment to shine. This season has shown what kind of player Leal has become over his four years with the Hoosiers. Thursday night Leal made veteran play after veteran play down the stretch to help Indiana capture the victory.
“We’ve all kind of collectively said words of encouragement, it’s winning time, it’s time to win this game. We’re going to get this done,” Leal said in the postgame press conference.
Not only was the threat of elimination in the mind of the senior guard, but a heavy heart lingered throughout the contest. While on the Big Ten Network following the game’s conclusion, Leal said he has been through an emotional week after losing one of his best friends a few days ago.
“The last week has been really, really emotional for me. I lost someone very, very dear to me, my best friend. I truly believe that he was here with us tonight and I’m just glad that we were able to get it done,” Leal said on Big Ten Network.
Even when things seemed the bleakest for the Hoosiers, Leal could be seen lifting his teammates up and gathering them together. Leal has become one of the vocal leaders both on and off the court for Indiana all season long.
Without senior captain Trey Galloway, Leal carried a much larger role coming off the bench for the Hoosiers. Leal ended up playing 24 minutes off the bench and carried an impressive +10 to lead both teams, proving that good things happened for Indiana with him in the game.
“I expect X [Johnson] and Anthony to lead. They’re senior. That’s what seniors should do after going through a program or playing college basketball for a number of years,” Woodson said in the postgame press conference.
Not only was Leal a spark offensively, but defensively he was an anchor for Indiana’s perimeter attack against the Nittany Lions’ Ace Baldwin Jr. Leal held his own going against one of the premier guards in the Big Ten, helping the Hoosiers to hold Baldwin to just nine points on 20 percent shooting.
Going into Thursday’s matchup, Indiana zoned in on Baldwin to attempt to slow the senior guard down. Xavier Johnson echoed Leal’s remarks on how the Hoosiers locked in on Baldwin, simply saying that he wasn’t going to score at ease like he did against Indiana earlier this season.
“Our first two games, he was really comfortable, operating on the floor, being able to penetrate and make plays for everyone on his team. But coming into this game, we challenged our bigs to guard the ball screens differently, and they did a great job at that,” Leal said in the postgame press conference.
But things do not get any easier for the Hoosiers. Friday night they get the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the quarter-final round. The Cornhuskers hold the third seed in the tournament and bested Indiana twice this season, once at home and the other in Assembly Hall. Win or go home time for the Hoosiers with a chance to move onto the semi-final round on Saturday.
