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    IU’s Anthony Leal waited a long time for consistent opportunities, and he’s capitalizing on them

    Seth TowBy IU Basketball 3 Comments
    Photo credit - IU Athletics

    Indiana men’s basketball didn’t have the smoothest game on Thursday in Minneapolis.

    IU played a strong defensive game in its Big Ten Tournament opener, regularly forcing Penn State into tough looks and holding the Nittany Lions to a 27.6 field-goal percentage. But the Hoosiers couldn’t fully capitalize on it on offense, and they found themselves in another tight game.

    So perhaps it’s only fitting the game was decided by someone who hasn’t had the smoothest career in Bloomington.

    With the game tied at 59 with 24 seconds remaining, IU head coach Mike Woodson called a play to set up a look for Xavier Johnson or Malik Reneau. The sophomore wound up taking the shot and missed.

    But Anthony Leal was prepared.

    “Anytime there’s a last-second shot, I feel like it’s more likely that you lose on a tip-in or a rebound tip-in,” the senior said on the Big Ten Network set after the game. “So I knew we were going to Lik-o (Reneau), but if it came off, I was just going to crash and see if I could make something happen.”

    That, he did.

    Leal got in position for the rebound, and tipped the missed shot in for a go-ahead bucket. That was the deciding bucket of Indiana’s 61-59 win over Penn State, which sends the sixth-seeded Hoosiers to Friday’s quarterfinals against No. 3 seed Nebraska.

    “The fact that Anthony hung in there with us on the baseline to get the tip-in, that’s huge,” Woodson said in his on-court postgame interview. “We was really running a triple drag and was trying to separate and see if X could probably make a play with it as well, but Malik, it ended up in his hands, he got the shot off, and Anthony finished it off with a tap-in.”

    Thursday’s game was Leal’s fifth this season playing at least 20 minutes — he had only four such games across his first three seasons at IU.

    The guard came to IU in 2020 fresh off a stellar senior season at local Bloomington High School South, which culminated in him being named Indiana Mr. Basketball.

    But that title didn’t translate to immediate success with the Hoosiers. He saw some opportunities as a freshman, playing double-digit minutes in 11 of his first 14 games at IU. But his playing time diminished down the stretch that season, as he struggled to make enough of an impact to stay on the court.

    Woodson replaced Archie Miller as head coach going into Leal’s sophomore year, and his playing time was reduced even more. He appeared in 17 games that season, while he never checked in during the team’s other 18 games. Last year, as a junior, Leal entered just 11 games, and never played more than five minutes.

    But even without seeing game action, Leal was still growing.

    “I haven’t played as much as I wanted to in my career, but in the times where I’m not playing, I’m still learning and studying the game and figuring out ways to win if I do get in,” Leal said on BTN. “And now that I’m starting to get my chance, and it’s next guy up with Trey (Galloway) being out tonight, I just try to do what I’ve always done, and that’s just help win.”

    This season started similarly to others for Leal — a few appearances with minimal impact sprinkled amongst DNP’s (did not play).

    But against Kennesaw State in December, he started to show what he’s capable of. He gave IU a real spark off the bench that night through his defensive effort, and it showed Woodson he could be a serviceable bench option if needed. But those opportunities didn’t begin to come regularly for another month.

    Leal has now played no fewer than 12 minutes off the bench in each of Indiana’s last 13 games. He’s given IU a boost defensively, a 3-point threat on offense, and on-court veteran leadership. He set a career high with 13 points against Iowa, his first college game scoring in double figures. Against Ohio State in early February, he hit a clutch 3-pointer to give IU a late lead in what became a big comeback win.

    The tip-in Thursday was his second game-winning shot of the season, and this one was on an even bigger stage.

    “He’s come in and given us a hell of a lift, and tonight he hits the biggest shot of his college career, the put-back,” Woodson said in his postgame press conference. “So that’s beautiful for him, I think, in terms of the hard work that he’s put in. I couldn’t be more proud of him.”

    Leal is coming back for his COVID season next year, along with Galloway.

    A few months ago, the senior’s return may have seemed insignificant to Indiana’s on-court fortunes. But he’s proving to be a reliable two-way reserve option for Woodson — and a needed one, given IU’s thin backcourt. He’s shown more confidence in his offensive game with every passing day as his opportunities increased. While Leal may not be a player to pencil into next year’s starting lineup, he’s increasingly looking like one who could enter the season with a real, tangible role on the team — for the first time in his career.

    Leal’s emergence has been a product of the work he’s done behind the scenes while he wasn’t seeing consistent game minutes.

    “Coming from the NBA, in the 34 years I spent there, we call that a pro, a true pro. He has hung in there with me because he hadn’t played a whole lot, but in practice he comes to work every day, and he knows everything that we’re doing on both sides of the ball,” Woodson said. “So from a coaching standpoint, we feel comfortable knowing (that) if we throw him in there, he’s not going to embarrass us, himself, or our team.”

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