My Two Cents: Thanks To Anthony Leal, Indiana's Heart Still Beating After Game-Winning Shot

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Indiana senior guard Anthony Leal just might have more NIL deals than points scored this season. That happens when you're the local kid that everyone loves, even from the end of the bench.

How about one more NIL deal? For defibrillators. 

Indiana was flat-lined Tuesday night against Ohio State. Dead in the water, and not just in this game but their entire season. They were down by 18 points, and coming off a heartless loss at home against Penn State on Saturday, there was no reason to hold out any hope of a comeback.

'None. None at all.

But Malik Reneau and Trey Galloway, who finished with 26 and 25 points each, got hot and the Hoosiers started working themselves back into the game. Then, down by two with 32 seconds to go and coming out of a timeout, Galloway drove hard to the basket and drew a double team. Leal, his buddy for years, was all alone in the right corner. Galloway hit him with a perfect pass and Leal's three-pointer found nothing but net with 22 seconds to go

The game-winner. For Indiana. For, as Leal shared afterward, for the name on the front of the jersey.

The 76-73 victory — sealed with two Leal free throws in the closing seconds — was certainly the most unlikely of all 14 victories this season. They just don't do comebacks. It's not a trend we've seen often, but we sure did on Tuesday night.

Flatline. And then late, it's Leal with the ''clear'' call and getting that Indiana heartbeat back. They're 6-6 in the Big Ten now, and there's still hope. This was their first Quad 1 win of the year and they really needed it. 

It's hard to underestimate how great that game-winning shot was. To stay calm and confident in that moment is not easy — not easy at all — especially for someone like Leal, who has hardly played during his four-year career.

But he knew he'd knock it down if given the chance. And just as important, Galloway had full faith and confidence in Leal, too. The've been playing together since their AAU days eight years ago, and Galloway knew the pending result.

“It’s a big-time shot. I feel so comfortable playing with him since we’ve been with each other since freshman year of high school. I trust him. He trusts me. So that combination and that trust we have for each other is special,'' Galloway said. "I trust him with the shot. I got downhill, they helped from the corner, I kicked it to him and he made it. 

"I want him to shoot that 10 times out of 10. I’m glad he made it. It was a big shot for us to help us win the game. I’m just glad he’s really kind of just stayed with it all this time because he could have easily really just gave up and quit when he wasn’t getting minutes. But I mean, just the way he’s fought and the way he’s just stuck his nose in there and kept competing and kept being a great teammate, it’s paid off.”

It sure has. We saw our first glimpse of it a week ago, when Leal came off the bench and scored a career-high 13 points in the home win over Iowa. The three-pointer for the win was the only shot he made against the Buckeys, and that was in 26 minutes of playing time. 

He hit a milestone with it, too., He now has 100 career points. Imagine that? He's just a seldom-used local hero, but this is twice in a week now where he's breathed life into his beloved Indiana basketball team. 

With one shot. A huge comeback win.

"The design was just for Trey to get downhill with the lob option to Kel'el (Ware), and me and Mack (Mgbako) in the corner, just to try to find us. Trey made the right play, and I was able to make a shot.

"I think we're always hopeful, we're always confident in our abilities, and we know that. Obviously, we don't come out with the expectation that we're going to dig ourselves in a hole. But when we do, we're capable. We know that we're more talented, and we're talented enough to figure it out, and thankfully we were today."

There's no denying that Ohio State's been having some struggles lately. This is their eighth loss in nine games, but that does not diminish the value of this win in any way. It's huge for the Hoosiers, any time you can get a Big Ten win on the road. That's why losing that home game to Penn State hurt so bad. 

Indiana should be 7-5 in the Big Ten right now, with some hope and optimism for finishing strong and still making the postseason. That's how much one home loss hurt.

They got it back, sort of, with this road win, but they are running out of time. There are eight league games to go, starting on Saturday at No. 2 Purdue. That's going to be a tough one to win, but after that, the Hoosiers need to win all of their home games against Nebraska, Northwestern, Wisconsin and Michigan State. Finding a way at Penn State, Maryland and/or Minnesota on the road is big, too, and not unreasonable against those teams.

They have life, still, and that's what matters. Leal's three was big, but so were his six reboundfs, two blocks, two steals and two assists. We've said all along that Indiana will only go as far as its guard play. Well, Galloway scored 25, and Leal had the game-winner with a dozen other small plays.

They live to play another day. The heart, it's still beating.

 "It's just another opportunity for us to learn about winning,'' Leal said. "Today, in our chapel, our bible study that we have on every game day, we talked about resilience. Going into the halftime down 13 and getting down almost 20 at one point, I think, but just being able to fight back in the second half, figure out how to win, is something that hopefully as we go through these next eight games of the regular season, we're able to just continue to build wins.

"Coach Ya (Rosemont) says all the time that senior guards win games, and Trey stepped up big time for us. I'm happy for him. He puts in all the work. So he did what I know he's capable of."