GAME NOTES: The Indiana State Sycamores will attempt to bounce back in the second part of a three-game homestand on Saturday, as they take on the Brown Bears as part of the Las Vegas Invitational at the Hulman Center.

Brown rides a two-game losing streak into the contest, after suffering defeats against Northeastern (69-56) and Holy Cross (80-65). Brown did win its season opener, topping Saint Peter's, 70-58. They visit Illinois next.

Indiana State hosted Saint Louis on Tuesday in its home opener. Things did not end well for the Sycamores in that one, as they were defeated, 69-58. The loss came after a 79-66 overtime triumph against IUPUI in their season debut. Indiana State hosts Austin Peay in its next outing.

These teams have never previously met.

Leland King scored 25 points and Cedric Kuakumensah added 20, but it wasn't nearly enough for Brown in its last outing against Holy Cross. The rest of the Bears' roster had 20 points combined, while the Crusaders scored 80 points on an even 50 percent shooting. Brown certainly didn't do itself any favors by constantly losing the ball, as it was guilty of 23 turnovers, which turned into 21 points for the Crusaders.

King (17 ppg) has been the best offensive threat for the Bears in all three of their games. He leads the team in scoring and is the only player to be averaging more than 10 shots per game. With all those chances, an improvement from his current field goal percentage (.436) would go a long way in putting more notches in the win column. Kuakumensah (12.3 ppg) has finished off 62.5 percent of his shots from the field, although most, if not all, of them come from right near the basket. Kuakumensah is fourth on the team in rebounding (5 rpg), behind Rafael Maia (7 rpg), Steven Spieth (6.7 rpg) and King (6.3 rpg).

Indiana State hung with Saint Louis in the first half, holding the Billikens to 33.3 percent shooting to enter halftime behind by just a point. However, the Sycamores were unable to remain close in the second half, despite holding the Billikens below 40 percent shooting yet again. The difference came at the free-throw line, where they were outscored, 17-7, over the final 20 minutes. Indiana State also shot just 32.8 percent from the field overall.

Devonte Brown maintained his spot at the top of the scorer's list in the losing effort, finishing with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Brown is averaging 17.5 points per game, while adding 12 total rebounds. Unfortunately, he has been a bit sloppy with the ball, with seven assists compared to only three assists. Khristian Smith scored 27 points in the opener, but was limited to seven points against the Billikens. In fact, Justin Gant was the only other double-digit scorer in that contest, netting 12 points on 5-of-16 shooting. Jake Kitchell didn't do much scoring against Saint Louis, but he tied for the team-high with seven rebounds, while blocking six shots.

Brown and Smith are both solid scorers, especially if the latter can shake off the rust from the Saint Louis game. Meanwhile, Brown is not a team that travels well and should have some issues getting things going offensively.