Indiana University Athletics
IU Tries To Stay Short-Sighted In Maui
11/23/2015 3:30:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Sam Beishuizen, IUHoosiers.com
LAHAINA, Hawaii - It's a tournament format on a big stage in one of the most-watched holiday tournaments of the college basketball season in an exotic vacation destination.
Only, Tom Crean isn't looking at the Maui Invitational quite like that.
"When you get out here, you will put a good focus on the game that you are going to play because that's the most important game," Indiana's head coach said. "It is very easy to look at it as a three-game tournament, but you have to look at it as one game per day for three days. There's a difference."
No. 14 Indiana (3-0) opens play against Wake Forest (2-1) Monday at 5 p.m. (Eastern) in the 2,400-seat Lahaina Civic Center in Lahaina, Hawaii. The winner will advance in the tournament to play the winner of the St. John's-Vanderbilt matchup on Tuesday while the loser will take on the loser of the same matchup.
Each of the eight teams in the field is guaranteed to play three games over three days in a format similar to what Indiana will experience in the Big Ten Tournament next March. Fifth-year senior forward Max Bielfeldt has been there before, having played in Maui with Michigan before transferring to Indiana, but it's a format not many Hoosiers are as familiar with.
"The three games in three days is something that's pretty new to a lot of younger guys," Bielfeldt said. "Being able to adjust to that and being able to bring it every day no matter who you play is vital."
The challenges of the Maui Invitational range from managing vacation and practice time to adjusting to a five-hour time difference to having a one-day turnaround between games to scout and prepare. At the same time, the Hoosiers are still building on the offensive and defensive concepts they've been implementing over the last three weeks.
As difficult as it may be, sophomore guard Robert Johnson said the best thing is to keep things as normal as possible.
"It's easy to get distracted with the beach and the perfect weather but when we are in the gym, we have to focus in and prepare to win," Johnson said. "It's the same as when we were at home. We are trying to build off the things that we have been doing well and build the defense and the different schemes."
Wake Forest, the Hoosiers' first opponent, went 5-13 in the ACC and 13-19 overall in head coach Danny Manning's first season. The Demon Deacons were picked to finish 11th in their conference this season and have been relatively short-handed with last year's leading scorer Cody Miller-McIntyre yet to play with a broken foot.
With the senior guard sidelined, Wake Forest has been starting four underclassmen and lost last week 91-82 at home to Richmond. In that game, the Demon Deacons turned the ball over 20 times, but they've been an efficient rebounding team early on.
"I think the biggest thing is being able to stop them on the defensive end," senior guard Yogi Ferrell said. "They like to go inside a lot, so if we can take that away and get to the glass—they are outrebounding teams by (17.3) per game—then we have a chance to win."
Though Indiana will go into the tournament looking to bring a trophy back to the mainland, the non-conference season is still a time to grow.
Maui's measuring stick, between the quality of the field and the environment, could give the Hoosiers a few statement wins against some of the top teams in the nation.
"Our team is learning to play with a consistent level of toughness every day and with an ability to be better defensively," Crean said. "If we keep maxing out that ability, then I think we have a chance to have a really good team. I think that's where our potential is going to be, in our up-side defensively and our upside rebounding the ball, which will hopefully make our offense even better."
LAHAINA, Hawaii - It's a tournament format on a big stage in one of the most-watched holiday tournaments of the college basketball season in an exotic vacation destination.
Only, Tom Crean isn't looking at the Maui Invitational quite like that.
"When you get out here, you will put a good focus on the game that you are going to play because that's the most important game," Indiana's head coach said. "It is very easy to look at it as a three-game tournament, but you have to look at it as one game per day for three days. There's a difference."
No. 14 Indiana (3-0) opens play against Wake Forest (2-1) Monday at 5 p.m. (Eastern) in the 2,400-seat Lahaina Civic Center in Lahaina, Hawaii. The winner will advance in the tournament to play the winner of the St. John's-Vanderbilt matchup on Tuesday while the loser will take on the loser of the same matchup.
Each of the eight teams in the field is guaranteed to play three games over three days in a format similar to what Indiana will experience in the Big Ten Tournament next March. Fifth-year senior forward Max Bielfeldt has been there before, having played in Maui with Michigan before transferring to Indiana, but it's a format not many Hoosiers are as familiar with.
"The three games in three days is something that's pretty new to a lot of younger guys," Bielfeldt said. "Being able to adjust to that and being able to bring it every day no matter who you play is vital."
The challenges of the Maui Invitational range from managing vacation and practice time to adjusting to a five-hour time difference to having a one-day turnaround between games to scout and prepare. At the same time, the Hoosiers are still building on the offensive and defensive concepts they've been implementing over the last three weeks.
As difficult as it may be, sophomore guard Robert Johnson said the best thing is to keep things as normal as possible.
"It's easy to get distracted with the beach and the perfect weather but when we are in the gym, we have to focus in and prepare to win," Johnson said. "It's the same as when we were at home. We are trying to build off the things that we have been doing well and build the defense and the different schemes."
Wake Forest, the Hoosiers' first opponent, went 5-13 in the ACC and 13-19 overall in head coach Danny Manning's first season. The Demon Deacons were picked to finish 11th in their conference this season and have been relatively short-handed with last year's leading scorer Cody Miller-McIntyre yet to play with a broken foot.
With the senior guard sidelined, Wake Forest has been starting four underclassmen and lost last week 91-82 at home to Richmond. In that game, the Demon Deacons turned the ball over 20 times, but they've been an efficient rebounding team early on.
"I think the biggest thing is being able to stop them on the defensive end," senior guard Yogi Ferrell said. "They like to go inside a lot, so if we can take that away and get to the glass—they are outrebounding teams by (17.3) per game—then we have a chance to win."
Though Indiana will go into the tournament looking to bring a trophy back to the mainland, the non-conference season is still a time to grow.
Maui's measuring stick, between the quality of the field and the environment, could give the Hoosiers a few statement wins against some of the top teams in the nation.
"Our team is learning to play with a consistent level of toughness every day and with an ability to be better defensively," Crean said. "If we keep maxing out that ability, then I think we have a chance to have a really good team. I think that's where our potential is going to be, in our up-side defensively and our upside rebounding the ball, which will hopefully make our offense even better."
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