A junior guard, Zeke Upshaw was not seeing much action on the 2012-13 Illinois State basketball team. Many of his practices were spent on the scout team, preparing the regulars for upcoming opponents. He could have sulked and become a distraction on Dan Muller’s first ISU squad.
“He just had too much character to do that (be negative), even though it would have been easy,” Muller said. “That’s a credit to his mother, Jewel, and his family. A lot of guys in that situation, especially with a new coach and the fact he had been here, would have had a bad attitude.