IU Keeps Momentum, Defeats Bellarmine

Monday, November 9

Bloomington, IN

7:00 PM

Indiana University

Bellarmine (Exhibition)

Bellarmine

Indiana

11/9/2015 9:08:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Sam Beishuizen, IUHoosiers.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Get momentum. Keep momentum. Don't let your opponent touch momentum.

It's part of Indiana head coach Tom Crean's fundamental beliefs. He values momentum in basketball, which he says is fluid and oftentimes swings wildly throughout the course of a 40-minute game.

By the end of Indiana's 73-62 win against Bellarmine, momentum seemingly switched hands at three significant times. The Hoosiers got the first and last of it, holding off a second-half comeback effort from the Knights to win their second consecutive exhibition game at Assembly Hall.

"A good adjustment game for us, and we learned a lot of things," head coach Tom Crean said. "The biggest thing that our team has got to take away is that champions play to the final second. They never go away."

In the midst of the opening half, Indiana seemed poised for a blowout. The Hoosiers began the game outrebounding the Knights 20-5 while keeping Bellarmine struggling to create offense.

A little more than 16 minutes into the game, Indiana had jumped out to a 23-point lead as junior forward Troy Williams hit a pair of free throws to cap a personal 7-0 run. Williams went on to finish with 20 points and tied for a team-high with eight rebounds.

But just as suddenly as Indiana built its lead, Bellarmine started to chip away once the second half began.

What started as a 35-20 Indiana lead at halftime was suddenly only a 7-point lead not even four minutes into the second half as Bellarmine opened the second period getting open looks on screens and connecting on three consecutive 3-pointers in as many possessions.

Bellarmine countered Indiana's success in the first half with adjustments. They started screening better, locking down on defense more effectively and forcing Indiana to play outside of its comfort zone just as Ottawa did in the first exhibition game of the season.

In that time, the Knights had regained the momentum Crean values so highly.

"We felt like we couldn't stop them at the end of the first half, and their momentum carried into the second half," senior guard Yogi Ferrell said. "We let them gain a lot more confidence, and that's when they started knocking down shots."

In need of a run, Williams was once again there to score on a tip-in and then a soaring dunk to push IU's lead back to double-digits. Then sophomore guard Robert Johnson and Ferrell teamed up to hit back-to-back 3-pointers and push Indiana ahead by 15 again with 13:47 remaining in the game.

From there, neither time went on much of a dominant run. Indiana led by as many as 18 points with 8:07 left on the clock before the teams traded baskets the rest of the half.

Bellarmine would outscore Indiana 49-41 over the last 22 minutes, but the Hoosiers' initial run gave them enough of a buffer. Even while Bellarmine, a Division II school out of Louisville, cut into the lead, the Knights weren't able to find their stride enough to give Indiana a serious enough threat.

"What we learned is that we've got to bring it all 40 minutes," Ferrell said. "We can't go into this game with any drop-offs at any point, especially playing a great team like Bellarmine. They can come back like they did on us."

Ferrell and Williams proved to provide enough offense to absorb the threat of the Knights' comeback. The two combined for 41 points on 15-of-30 shooting, accounting for just under 52 percent of Indiana's field goal tries.

Ferrell finished leading Indiana in scoring (21 points), assists (4) and tied for the lead in rebounding with Williams, who also had eight rebounds. But even he wasn't entirely pleased afterwards.

Nor should he be, Crean would argue. Not with Indiana's season-opener against Eastern Illinois just four days away.

"If we had a bigger list of positives than we would concerns, then we'd be lying to ourselves," Crean said. "We're two games in in the exhibition season against two outstanding teams. Outstanding programs. And we've got a lot of different things we've got to deal with in those first two games and now we're getting ourselves ready for Friday night."