COLUMN: Hoosiers Hoping For Happy Holidays
12/17/2017 8:41:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Andy Graham, IUHoosiers.com
INDIANAPOLIS – Well, we already know one big present coach Archie Miller got for Christmas.
His Indiana Hoosiers gift-wrapped Saturday's exhilarating 80-77 overtime win over No. 18 Notre Dame, IU's first victory over a ranked foe in the nascent Miller era.
What else might Miller want to unwrap over the next week or so?
One thing is certain -- he has the chance to craft some of his own gifts.
Finals are over. Holiday break means unlimited practice time.
Saturday concluded a five-game gauntlet against ranked or league foes and the Hoosiers now get three games back in Assembly Hall against non-ranked opposition over a two-week period.
(12/16/2017) 17 MBB vs. Notre Dame, 12/16
It's still a quick turnaround from Saturday, though, with Fort Wayne visiting Monday for an 8 p.m. tipoff. And each of the three games will present challenges all its own.
Fort Wayne's Mastodons proved last year they could beat IU. And the Hoosiers won't be able to take anything about Tennessee Tech (Dec. 21) and Youngstown State (Dec. 29) for granted, either.
But the upcoming holiday set of contests could provide Miller and his staff a chance to address some things, including evaluating and developing players, before Big Ten play resumes with the Jan. 2 trip to Wisconsin.
Miller had already alluded to that during his radio show Thursday. He talked about "building depth" and about relishing the amount of practice time available.
"It's one of the best times as a player," Miller said. "Realistically, you're practicing and get to be yourself, be with your guys on the team, mix in some games.
And Miller thinks he has players who will take full advantage.
"We have a lot of gym rats," Miller said. "Rob Johnson is as consumed with getting in the gym as any player I've ever been around."
Miller and Johnson saw that pay off Saturday. After a tough shooting day at Louisville, Johnson started slowly against Notre Dame but then got the range and finished with 5-for-10 shooting from 3-point range to help augment the massive interior production of Juwan Morgan (who was in beast mode all day while posting 34 points and 11 boards.)
"Late in the second half, when we got down double figures, we found a way to make some shots and Rob stepped up," Miller said. "It was nice to see. You look at the second half, we shot 57 percent, 50 from 3, shot 17 free throws. Pretty efficient.
"Rob is a prideful kid. He's worked extremely hard in the off-season to put himself in position as a senior (to lead). He's playing tremendous defense for us. He's giving everything he has."
Including over this past week while in the throes of a shooting slump.
"Every player goes through it," Miller said. "You want it to go in so bad and it just won't. He was almost doing three-a-ways this week, with finals and no classes. You'd see him in the morning shooting. You'd see him after practice shooting. He definitely had a chip on his shoulder about last week's game and he delivered today. He made big shots."
And that's the sort of work all the Hoosiers, and their coaches, will have a chance to put in over the next couple of weeks.
"Individual improvement," Miller said when asked what he was hoping to see. "Again, it's the time of year, as a college player, you really enjoy Christmas break. Coaches spent 15 or 20 minutes a day with you on your individual game to see if you can't raise the confidence level of your group.
"Individually and collectively, it'll be good to take a step back, take a look at some of our guys and see what we can do, individually, and go to work as a staff regarding individual instruction."
Seniors such as Johnson can focus on specific aspects of their game, but so can freshmen – and some of the younger, less experienced players might see more on-court minutes over the next three games.
Clifton Moore, the 6-foot-10 freshman from the Philadelphia suburbs with big upside, isn't going to redshirt but has only played 15 minutes all season (compared to 257 and 129 respectively for frosh classmates Aljami Durham and Justin Smith entering Saturday).
Indiana could well need more out of its freshmen come the conference stretch run. They have to fully gain the trust of the coaches that they'll get the right things done on the court to make that happen. These next two weeks and three games potentially could help lay the foundation for that that the past five games really couldn't.
"I think we've been in the pressure cooker here for about four weeks," Miller said. '"You're going against Duke, four or five games ago, and you're right there. You're disappointed you weren't able to get it done.
"Struggled on the road against Michigan. Battled back and had a good win against Iowa. At Louisville, I thought we were prepared to play. I thought the guys competed and played really hard. We just weren't sharp enough to finish it off. In this game, we were sharp enough to finish it off and we also did it on both ends – being able to get key stops and being able to continue to score when we were down."
Johnson saw that as a big sign of growth for IU.
"We never went away," Johnson said. "Once we made mistakes, I don't think we consecutively made the same ones. It still wasn't a clean game. You can always get better. But I think our defense never went away and, down the stretch, we started to execute better."
Miller is watching a team getting better, steadily, with steps forward outnumbering and outweighing the steps backward.
"Very excited to have seen our improvement week by week," Miller said. "Continue to get confidence that our guys are starting to understand a little bit more. Playing through mistakes, continuing to play hard whether you're up or down, I think is a good sign right now. We were able to hang in there and claw our way back.
"We're continuing to carve our identity out. We're not anywhere near where we need to be. But I do think, as we've watched ourselves improve, we do have some things we can hang our hat on right now."
But even Saturday wasn't the sort of laurel upon which the Hoosiers can rest.
"We have to be ready to play against Fort Wayne," Miller said. "I'm sure everybody will remind everybody about last year's game. I'll remind our guys we didn't start the season off very well against Indiana State, too.
"The great thing is to get back to work in the practice gym (Sunday) and figure out how we can recover, A, and B, come down out of the clouds. Fort Wayne is a really big game for us, for our team as we stand right now. We have to get back to work."
Including in the days immediately after Monday's game.
"We're playing a lot harder for a lot longer stretches," Miller said. "We understand what we're doing a lot better. So, for this holiday, getting ready for January and conference play, can we take another step up? I think the answer to that is, 'Yes.'
"We have some guys who aren't playing particularly well. If they do start to play a little bit better, then our team gets better. So there has to be a focus on improvement. There has to be a focus on getting cleaner with our stuff. But I thought we had a lot of winning plays (today).
"To be able to win that game today the way we did, I think, just gives you a little shot of confidence. 'Hey, what we do works. We just have to continue to get better at it.' "
If they do, more presents will arise with pretty cream and crimson candy-striped ribbons.
INDIANAPOLIS – Well, we already know one big present coach Archie Miller got for Christmas.
His Indiana Hoosiers gift-wrapped Saturday's exhilarating 80-77 overtime win over No. 18 Notre Dame, IU's first victory over a ranked foe in the nascent Miller era.
What else might Miller want to unwrap over the next week or so?
One thing is certain -- he has the chance to craft some of his own gifts.
Finals are over. Holiday break means unlimited practice time.
Saturday concluded a five-game gauntlet against ranked or league foes and the Hoosiers now get three games back in Assembly Hall against non-ranked opposition over a two-week period.
It's still a quick turnaround from Saturday, though, with Fort Wayne visiting Monday for an 8 p.m. tipoff. And each of the three games will present challenges all its own.
Fort Wayne's Mastodons proved last year they could beat IU. And the Hoosiers won't be able to take anything about Tennessee Tech (Dec. 21) and Youngstown State (Dec. 29) for granted, either.
But the upcoming holiday set of contests could provide Miller and his staff a chance to address some things, including evaluating and developing players, before Big Ten play resumes with the Jan. 2 trip to Wisconsin.
Miller had already alluded to that during his radio show Thursday. He talked about "building depth" and about relishing the amount of practice time available.
"It's one of the best times as a player," Miller said. "Realistically, you're practicing and get to be yourself, be with your guys on the team, mix in some games.
Overtime victory against #18 Notre Dame by Indiana Athletics on Exposure
And Miller thinks he has players who will take full advantage.
"We have a lot of gym rats," Miller said. "Rob Johnson is as consumed with getting in the gym as any player I've ever been around."
Miller and Johnson saw that pay off Saturday. After a tough shooting day at Louisville, Johnson started slowly against Notre Dame but then got the range and finished with 5-for-10 shooting from 3-point range to help augment the massive interior production of Juwan Morgan (who was in beast mode all day while posting 34 points and 11 boards.)
"Late in the second half, when we got down double figures, we found a way to make some shots and Rob stepped up," Miller said. "It was nice to see. You look at the second half, we shot 57 percent, 50 from 3, shot 17 free throws. Pretty efficient.
"Rob is a prideful kid. He's worked extremely hard in the off-season to put himself in position as a senior (to lead). He's playing tremendous defense for us. He's giving everything he has."
Including over this past week while in the throes of a shooting slump.
"Every player goes through it," Miller said. "You want it to go in so bad and it just won't. He was almost doing three-a-ways this week, with finals and no classes. You'd see him in the morning shooting. You'd see him after practice shooting. He definitely had a chip on his shoulder about last week's game and he delivered today. He made big shots."
And that's the sort of work all the Hoosiers, and their coaches, will have a chance to put in over the next couple of weeks.
"Individual improvement," Miller said when asked what he was hoping to see. "Again, it's the time of year, as a college player, you really enjoy Christmas break. Coaches spent 15 or 20 minutes a day with you on your individual game to see if you can't raise the confidence level of your group.
"Individually and collectively, it'll be good to take a step back, take a look at some of our guys and see what we can do, individually, and go to work as a staff regarding individual instruction."
Seniors such as Johnson can focus on specific aspects of their game, but so can freshmen – and some of the younger, less experienced players might see more on-court minutes over the next three games.
Clifton Moore, the 6-foot-10 freshman from the Philadelphia suburbs with big upside, isn't going to redshirt but has only played 15 minutes all season (compared to 257 and 129 respectively for frosh classmates Aljami Durham and Justin Smith entering Saturday).
Indiana could well need more out of its freshmen come the conference stretch run. They have to fully gain the trust of the coaches that they'll get the right things done on the court to make that happen. These next two weeks and three games potentially could help lay the foundation for that that the past five games really couldn't.
"I think we've been in the pressure cooker here for about four weeks," Miller said. '"You're going against Duke, four or five games ago, and you're right there. You're disappointed you weren't able to get it done.
"Struggled on the road against Michigan. Battled back and had a good win against Iowa. At Louisville, I thought we were prepared to play. I thought the guys competed and played really hard. We just weren't sharp enough to finish it off. In this game, we were sharp enough to finish it off and we also did it on both ends – being able to get key stops and being able to continue to score when we were down."
Johnson saw that as a big sign of growth for IU.
"We never went away," Johnson said. "Once we made mistakes, I don't think we consecutively made the same ones. It still wasn't a clean game. You can always get better. But I think our defense never went away and, down the stretch, we started to execute better."
Miller is watching a team getting better, steadily, with steps forward outnumbering and outweighing the steps backward.
"Very excited to have seen our improvement week by week," Miller said. "Continue to get confidence that our guys are starting to understand a little bit more. Playing through mistakes, continuing to play hard whether you're up or down, I think is a good sign right now. We were able to hang in there and claw our way back.
"We're continuing to carve our identity out. We're not anywhere near where we need to be. But I do think, as we've watched ourselves improve, we do have some things we can hang our hat on right now."
But even Saturday wasn't the sort of laurel upon which the Hoosiers can rest.
"We have to be ready to play against Fort Wayne," Miller said. "I'm sure everybody will remind everybody about last year's game. I'll remind our guys we didn't start the season off very well against Indiana State, too.
"The great thing is to get back to work in the practice gym (Sunday) and figure out how we can recover, A, and B, come down out of the clouds. Fort Wayne is a really big game for us, for our team as we stand right now. We have to get back to work."
Including in the days immediately after Monday's game.
"We're playing a lot harder for a lot longer stretches," Miller said. "We understand what we're doing a lot better. So, for this holiday, getting ready for January and conference play, can we take another step up? I think the answer to that is, 'Yes.'
"We have some guys who aren't playing particularly well. If they do start to play a little bit better, then our team gets better. So there has to be a focus on improvement. There has to be a focus on getting cleaner with our stuff. But I thought we had a lot of winning plays (today).
"To be able to win that game today the way we did, I think, just gives you a little shot of confidence. 'Hey, what we do works. We just have to continue to get better at it.' "
If they do, more presents will arise with pretty cream and crimson candy-striped ribbons.
Players Mentioned
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