TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State senior TJ Bell has elected to step away from the Sycamore Basketball program as announced today (Dec. 15) by head coach Greg Lansing.
Bell battled back from an Achilles injury which cost him the entire 2015-16 season to earn a starting role in five contests this year. He averaged 6.1 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.
“TJ Bell is stepping away from Indiana State Basketball for personal reasons,” coach Lansing said. “We want to thank him for all the hard work and contributions he has made over his career with the Sycamores. He is a good student that has already graduated and always represented himself and our program very well. TJ is a wonderful person that will be successful in whatever he chooses. There are a lot of sacrifices that go into being a student-athlete and it can be extremely difficult at times. We wish TJ nothing but the very best.”
Bell posted his first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds in a narrow defeat at the hands of nationally-ranked Iowa State on Thanksgiving Day. He came back with 14 points on the final day of the Advocare Invitational versus Quinnipiac. Bell scored a career-best 17 points in the home court victory over Northern Illinois as he went 8-of-11 from the field with four rebounds. His finest moment came with two seconds remaining in the 62-61 road victory over Utah State as he converted a wide-open lay-up to give the Sycamores a much needed close road victory.
For his career, Bell played in 59 games and earned 10 starts. He averaged 2.9 points and 2.2 rebounds per game and hit 52.6 percent of his shots from the field. He added 30 career blocked shots and 11 steals.
Indiana State returns to action at Valparaiso on Saturday, December 17 at 8:00 p.m. (ET). The game will be televised live world-wide on ESPN3.
Editor: This is the press release from gosycamores.com
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