Indiana University Athletics
Hoosiers Looking To Maintain Aggressiveness
12/9/2015 9:53:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Sam Beishuizen, IUHoosiers.com | Twitter
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The consensus among the Indiana men's basketball team is that aggressive basketball is the best basketball. The Hoosiers can see it in their results.
When it's there, IU's defense is getting more than enough stops for its offense that ranks among the best in the country to pull away. When it's not, opponents hang around and potential losses loom.
Maintaining an aggressiveness on both ends of the floor is crucial moving forward, head coach Tom Crean and assistant coach Tim Buckley agreed this week. The next step for Indiana (6-3) in keeping it going comes against IPFW (7-3) at 7 p.m. tonight at Assembly Hall.
"We've got to have an aggressive mindset," head coach Tom Crean said Monday. "That's when we're at our best."
Indiana has already felt the results of both ends of the aggressive spectrum. The Hoosiers followed up 20-point road loss to Duke with 33-point home win against Morehead State, which coaches have been able to use as tangible evidence of what aggressiveness does for a team.
Buckley was mindful to point out there's a subtle, yet critical difference between playing aggressively and gambling. The trouble is there's only so much a coach can do to remind players of that during the game, he said. It becomes most obvious only after the fact when the team is reviewing film together.
"I don't think they always know (when they're not aggressive)" Buckley said. "When you talk with guys during the game, you could say you're not being aggressive enough and you have to have a better demeanor, but when they see it on film, they recognize it a lot better. I think the tape is a really good teaching tool. It gets them to understand what it looks like when it's really good and what it looks like when it's not very good."
James Blackmon Jr.'s recent play exemplifies the difference a commitment to playing aggressively can make, his coaches said. The sophomore guard has earned 14 of his 20 free throws in his last three games alone, a reflection of his commitment to create more shots around the rim.
"That's something coach talked to me a lot about," Blackmon said. "I feel like last year I got to the line more early in the season. That's definitely something I'm focused on."
Indiana will look to stay aggressive against an IPFW team that's off to its best start since joining Division I in 2001. The Mastadons have lost two of their last three, with the defeats coming against Navy and Utah.
With only four games left in the non-conference season, games like tonight's present Indiana its final opportunities to sharpen up before the Big Ten season starts at the end of the month. For the time being, that means finding the aggressiveness IU's coaches and players feel is going pace them the remainder of the season.
"We work on it every day in practice and on game days," senior guard Nick Zeisloft said. "(We're working for) an every-day, and every-possession mentality of bringing aggression, pressure and energy."
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The consensus among the Indiana men's basketball team is that aggressive basketball is the best basketball. The Hoosiers can see it in their results.
When it's there, IU's defense is getting more than enough stops for its offense that ranks among the best in the country to pull away. When it's not, opponents hang around and potential losses loom.
Maintaining an aggressiveness on both ends of the floor is crucial moving forward, head coach Tom Crean and assistant coach Tim Buckley agreed this week. The next step for Indiana (6-3) in keeping it going comes against IPFW (7-3) at 7 p.m. tonight at Assembly Hall.
"We've got to have an aggressive mindset," head coach Tom Crean said Monday. "That's when we're at our best."
Indiana has already felt the results of both ends of the aggressive spectrum. The Hoosiers followed up 20-point road loss to Duke with 33-point home win against Morehead State, which coaches have been able to use as tangible evidence of what aggressiveness does for a team.
Buckley was mindful to point out there's a subtle, yet critical difference between playing aggressively and gambling. The trouble is there's only so much a coach can do to remind players of that during the game, he said. It becomes most obvious only after the fact when the team is reviewing film together.
"I don't think they always know (when they're not aggressive)" Buckley said. "When you talk with guys during the game, you could say you're not being aggressive enough and you have to have a better demeanor, but when they see it on film, they recognize it a lot better. I think the tape is a really good teaching tool. It gets them to understand what it looks like when it's really good and what it looks like when it's not very good."
James Blackmon Jr.'s recent play exemplifies the difference a commitment to playing aggressively can make, his coaches said. The sophomore guard has earned 14 of his 20 free throws in his last three games alone, a reflection of his commitment to create more shots around the rim.
"That's something coach talked to me a lot about," Blackmon said. "I feel like last year I got to the line more early in the season. That's definitely something I'm focused on."
Indiana will look to stay aggressive against an IPFW team that's off to its best start since joining Division I in 2001. The Mastadons have lost two of their last three, with the defeats coming against Navy and Utah.
With only four games left in the non-conference season, games like tonight's present Indiana its final opportunities to sharpen up before the Big Ten season starts at the end of the month. For the time being, that means finding the aggressiveness IU's coaches and players feel is going pace them the remainder of the season.
"We work on it every day in practice and on game days," senior guard Nick Zeisloft said. "(We're working for) an every-day, and every-possession mentality of bringing aggression, pressure and energy."
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