5/11/2022 basketball Edit

Season In Review: Anthony Leal

Trevor Gersmehl • TheHoosier

Staff Writer

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Anthony Leal has been a fan-favorite Hoosier in his two years at Indiana. The Bloomington native has a great shooting stroke and is an incredible teammate who always leads the bench mob for his teammates after a big play.

Although he has only played 10.9 minutes per game across his two seasons, Leal impacts a game with his shooting and sneaky-great playmaking ability. The foundation for an exceptional college player is there, and he should become a core member of the rotation by developing and working to improve his skillset.

A look back at this past season provides encouraging snippets of bigger things to come for the home town kid. Let's reflect on some stats, standout performances, and building points for Leal heading into his third season.

Anthony Leal has a solid foundation and should carve out a nice role for himself down the road (IU Athletics)

Season Review

Leal saw his minutes per game drop from 11.6 as a freshman to 10.2 in his second year and played in 17 games as opposed to 20 the season prior. However, Leal did make two starts for Mike Woodson -- both times as a replacement for a suspended player ahead of him in the rotation.

Although his shot was not falling in either start this season (2-for-9 FGA), Leal still managed to impact the game. He dished out five assists against Northern Kentucky and nearly matched that with four against Northwestern.

Even though he was close to the bottom of the rotation, Leal showed encouraging progress. His lack of playing time was simply due to the number of veterans in the backcourt, not anything of his own doing.

Leal improved in virtually every statistical category this season compared to his first. His field goal percentage increased from 31.3% to 40.7%, and his three-point efficiency increased from 30.0% to 31.8%.

On top of that, Leal totaled more assists, more points, and more free throws attempted in the 2021-22 season despite playing 59 fewer minutes. This improvement is encouraging and should translate to bigger minute totals years down the road.

Looking Ahead

Leal projects to be an extremely solid player as an upperclassman due to his high IQ and ability to shoot and pass the ball. He is confident with his dribble and has had episodes of great defense as well.

However, Leal may have to wait his turn another year before getting consistent rotation minutes. Mike Woodson continues to add perimeter talent, and barring a tremendous leap in the offseason, the Bloomington native does not bring as dynamic of a skill set as some of his counterparts.

If he is to create a consistent spot in the lineup for himself, Leal needs to master the things he is already good at. I don't think anyone would argue he can really shoot the ball, but his career three-point percentage is just 31.8%.

If he could boost that number up to around 40% and hone his skills on defense, he could be a core glue guy in a starting lineup down the road. I don't doubt that happens eventually, it just may take a little time. Leal simply needs to grind in the offseason and take the opportunities he is given in-game to build to that point.