Right now, the Sycamores community needs each other.
Mallory called a team meeting at 8 a.m. He told the team captains. He told his son, James, a player on the team who lives with several of his teammates. Word spread quickly. So did the devastation and grief.
“These were two young men that we felt were gonna come here with all the right expectations, and that they were going to represent not only their family, but their family here at Indiana State in a first class manner,” Mallory said. “They were going to earn their degree with a 3.0 or higher and they were going to help us win the first-ever Missouri Valley championship. Those are the expectations that we have with every young man that comes into Indiana State.
Mallory came back to that word — family — time and time again. It’s what he is clinging to. It’s what his coaches and players are clinging to. It’s what the Indiana State community is clinging to. And it keeps showing up. “That has been emblematic of the people here in this community,” he said. “I'm so grateful for that. I know the coaches and all of our student-athletes, we're going to become stronger from this.”