Anthony Beane adjusting to bullseye on his back

Dec. 28, 2014

By Tom Weber
SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. - During the final month of the season last year, Saluki guard Anthony Beane emerged as one of the Missouri Valley Conference's most electrifying scorers. During a 12-game span, he averaged 21.4 points and won the league's Player of the Week award three times in a four-week span -- a feat matched only by MVC legends Doug McDermott and Hersey Hawkins.

The points are still coming in bunches for the junior sharpshooter this season -- he's the league's third-leading scorer averaging 18.8 points -- but he's having to work a lot harder for them.

A year ago, Beane had a high-scoring sidekick in Desmar Jackson, who helped divert attention from the Normal, Ill. native. This season, Beane is a marked man on the court, with opponents shadowing his every move. He's faced exotic defenses such as a box-and-one, a matchup zone, double teams, and face-guarding defenders. All this comes as no surprise to Beane or the SIU coaching staff.

"I met with Coach (Barry) Hinson and my dad (assistant coach Anthony Beane Sr.) after last season and we talked about how this season I'm going to have a bullseye on my back," Beane said. "We talked a lot about moving without the ball. That's what I'm struggling with right now -- how to get open when people face guard me."

The defensive schemes had mixed results in SIU's 13 non-conference games. He dropped 20 or more points on five opponents, but twice he was held to single digits, and in the last five games he's been held to 5-for-22 (.227) shooting from 3-point.

Beane said his biggest problem lately has been a tendency to speed up his game. Sometimes, he'll rush shots and burn up energy trying to elude defenders.

"When people are face-guarding and being really physical, it's easy for me to get sped up at times," Beane explained. "One of my biggest challenges is staying calm and staying in the flow of the game."

After scoring a career-high 32 points at Tennessee State on Nov. 18, SIU's next two opponents took notice. Kent State held him to a dozen and Yale limited him to a season-low nine -- one of only two games in the last 26 where he's been held to single digits.

"It kind of started with Kent State, where teams played me really physical and I wasn't used to that," he said. "My dad will show me plays where I got sped up, then the next day he'll show me how to get open. When you're face-guarded, it's hard for you to get open. You don't know when the ball is coming back. My main challenge is how to get open and then how to take the right shot without burning too much energy."

Beane has made steady improvement each year at SIU -- averaging 9.1 points as a freshman and 14.7 as a sophomore. The team's best player may also be its hardest-working one. For example, after SIU lost to New Orleans on Dec. 19, he stayed in the gym past midnight, putting himself through ball-handling and shooting drills. He spent much of the summer working on his craft in one-on-one sessions with his father.

"He taught me a bunch of different moves and counter-moves to the moves I made the previous year," Beane described. "The step-back was one of my go-to moves last year, and people were catching on to that, so my dad showed me this summer how to do secondary moves after you do the step-back."

If you watch Beane take a 3-point shot, you'll notice his near-flawless mechanics. He rises straight up, stays balanced, and unleashes the ball with beautiful rotation.

"When I first came in, I had some flaws in my shot," he said. "I was mainly using my upper body and my feet were turned away from the basket."

His shooting percentages have gotten better each year, especially his aim at the free throw line, where he was 71 percent as a freshman, 77 percent as a sophomore and now 84 percent as a junior. He had a streak of 24-straight makes during one stretch this season.

"This year, I never take my eyes off the basket," he said. "I used to look at the basket, look at the ball, look at the basket. Now, I always keep my eye on the rim."

Beane said the player he looks up to on the team is Josh Swan -- a senior guard who remains on scholarship even though his career was cut short two years ago by a knee injury.

"He was one of the first guys I met when I got here, and he and I lived with Marcus Fillyaw last year and really got close," Beane said. "He took me and Marcus under his wing and told us what to expect."

The biggest thing he's learned from Swan is how to take care of his body both in the weight room and nutritionally.

"He lifts a lot and is real strong," said Beane. "He was the same size I was when I was a freshman, and then he took it to a whole new level. He shows me what to eat and how to put on good weight. That was one of my keys this summer was putting on good weight, not bad weight. Lot of pasta and carbohydrates and good stuff."

Beane needs to take good care of his body because he ranks third in the MVC in minutes played at 32.8 per game, and that number figures to go up once the conference season begins.

Against Murray State on Dec. 22, Beane became only the 44th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point plateau. According to Beane, personal accomplishments pale in comparison to the one, big goal that has so far eluded him during his college career -- playing in the NCAA Tournament. Saluki fans are hoping that milestone is the next one Beane checks off his list.