Anthony Leal’s Impact On Indiana Goes Far Beyond Scoring

SEATTLE, Wash. – Stats like Malik Reneau’s 22 points or Luke Goode’s five 3-pointers may be more flashy when looking at the box score of Indiana’s 78-62 win Saturday at Washington.

But one stat that speaks volumes of a player’s value? In 34 minutes, Indiana senior guard Anthony Leal was a team-high plus-26. That means in the roughly six minutes that Leal did not play, Washington outscored Indiana by 10 points.

Even more impressive is that Leal achieved that without scoring a single point, and he only attempted one shot from the field, a blocked layup at the 18:01 mark of the first half. But he contributed four rebounds, four assists, three steals, two blocks and zero turnovers. For context, Reneau led Indiana with 22 points, but he was only plus-14 in 25 minutes.

When discussing what led to tying his season-high of five 3-pointers, Goode credited Woodson for putting him in the right spots to beat Washington’s interior trap. He also made sure to thank his teammate.

“Shout out to Anthony Leal man, he was plus-26 without scoring a point,” Goode said. “I don't know when the last time that was done in Indiana history. It just shows he's a damn good player. We all rally around each other now, and we’re doing the right things."

Leal’s 🔒’d. pic.twitter.com/EwyM6JRxFa
— Indiana Basketball (@IndianaMBB) March 2, 2025

Keep in mind, plus-minus is an imperfect stat because of the many factors outside of one player’s control in any game. But during Indiana’s recent hot streak of four wins in five games, it’s clear that the Hoosiers can’t afford to go long without Leal on the floor.

He played at least 29 minutes in four of those five games, including tying his season-high of 35 minutes and finishing plus-17 in a 73-58 win over No. 13 Purdue. Against Penn State, Leal was fourth among Hoosiers at plus-five. In a four-point win at No. 11 Michigan State, he was plus-nine. The outlier? Leal played just 20 minutes in a 72-68 home loss to UCLA.

Against Washington, he exited with 13:34 left in the first half when Indiana was up 14-5 and reentered about two minutes later with a 17-7 lead. Washington hit a three when Leal went to the bench later in the first half, and Woodson put him back in the game just 45 seconds later. When Leal was out from 6:17 to 3:47 in the second half, the Huskies went on a 10-2 run.

Whether it was assisting Goode and Rice on 3-pointers, blocking shots and passing it up court for layups by Reneau and Trey Galloway, grabbing rebounds over taller opponents or playing sturdy defense, Leal did a bit of everything for the Hoosiers.

"He's the most selfless person possible,” Goode said of Leal. “He's one of those guys that doesn't care what shows up in the stat sheet; all he cares about is the win column. When you got a player like that — that's selfless, can play 30 minutes and guard the other team's best offensive player — that's a valuable guy to any team or program."

Leal has been especially important to Indiana’s defense. He has a defensive box plus-minus rating of 4.35 throughout his Indiana career from 2021-25, which ranks 22nd among all Big Ten players since 2010-11.

According to Basketball Reference, that stat “measures a player's estimated defensive impact on the game per 100 possessions, taking into account factors like defensive rebounds, blocks, steals, fouls, and other defensive plays not captured in traditional statistics, essentially calculating how many points fewer a team allows when a specific player is on the court defensively compared to when they are off the court.”

Eleven of the 21 players ahead of Leal in that stat made the Big Ten All-Defensive team. Four were named Big Ten defensive player of the year – Aaron Craft, Xavier Tillman, Josh Reaves and Caleb McConnell – and two were named Big Ten player of the year: Draymond Green and Frank Kaminsky.

Woodson expects Leal and Galloway to keep setting the standard for Indiana’s defensive communication, continuing with a crucial game Tuesday at Oregon.

“They’ve been with me the longest,” Woodson said. “I mean, shit, Gallo’s caught more hell from me than anybody that’s on this team. So he and Anthony – Anthony didn’t play in the early years that much, but he still was every day in practice putting in the time. And I knew if we threw him in there, he’d be ready to play and do some positive things. All that work that he’s done is paying off.”

Related stories on Indiana basketball