Indiana University Athletics
Bryant Continues Anchoring Indiana Post
1/30/2016 6:22:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By: Sam Beishuizen, IUHoosiers.com | Twitter
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana's double-digit lead over Minnesota evaporated. Then it went away all together.
And then Thomas Bryant got it back.
With his team down one point with under two minutes left, the freshman center skied for a Troy Williams miss right in front of the rim. He gathered himself, lunged to his left and finished a layup through contact to push the Hoosiers ahead 68-67.
Bryant pumped his fist as his momentum carried him toward Indiana's bench. He slapped hands with anyone and everyone he could find as he let out a scream lost amid the cheers of Assembly Hall.
"Luckily, the ball bounced my way," Bryant said. "Coach always tells me in practice and in past games that I've got to go up stronger at the rim. That's what happened today."
The Hoosiers (18-4, 8-1) were pushed to the brink of their first home loss of the season until Bryant pushed them back clear of the edge in a 74-68 win over Minnesota. He hauled in eight rebounds and finished with a game-high 23 points on 11-of-13 shooting, including IU's final three made field goals.
"I felt like Thomas stayed with it even when calls didn't go his way," senior guard Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell said. "That's what's so special about our team is different guys are going to step up different nights, and tonight it was Thomas."
In a game where Indiana uncharacteristically struggled from beyond the 3-point line—the Hoosiers were just 2-of-8 beyond the arc—Bryant's play was once again a not-so-subtle reminder of IU's potential in the post even when the outside shooting goes away.
Bryant is an outlier of sorts on a team full of shooters who are most dangerous when they spread the floor. He's anchored the Hoosiers in the paint throughout the season and continues to pace the country in field goal percentage (73.8 percent) while averaging 12.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per game in the Big Ten.
"I think he's getting better constantly because he's putting even more focus on his ability to get better defensively," Indiana head coach Tom Crean said. "He made adjustments inside the game. He was always a presence."
Crean has talked at length about the importance of working the ball through Bryant in the paint. He's gone as far as to compare Indiana's success through Bryant in the post to the production former Hoosier Cody Zeller gave IU during his two seasons in Bloomington.
While the two big men have noticeably different skillsets, their results have actually been quite similar.
When Bryant gets the ball in the post, it forces a collapse. When the help comes, it leaves someone open on the outside or along the baseline.
Bryant, like Zeller, is a skilled enough passer to find that open shooter or cutter when he doesn't decide to finish around the rim. He proved that once again midway through the first half against Minnesota when he took a pair of waist-high dribbles and fired a one-handed pass to sophomore guard Robert Johnson at the top of the key.
Catch. Shoot. Trey.
And Bryant gets the assist.
"Thomas is a great teammate," Crean said. "We said that when we signed him. And that's done nothing but get better and better as he's gotten more comfortable all the time."
And Bryant's teammates are getting more comfortable with him. It's evident in the way they've sought him out in the post and trusted the ball in his hands with the game on the line like it was Saturday afternoon.
With the results he's had, it's not hard to understand why.
"When you're the big man on the team and you know you can get in there, you've just got to have that mindset," Bryant said. "You've got to go in there and go get it."
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana's double-digit lead over Minnesota evaporated. Then it went away all together.
And then Thomas Bryant got it back.
With his team down one point with under two minutes left, the freshman center skied for a Troy Williams miss right in front of the rim. He gathered himself, lunged to his left and finished a layup through contact to push the Hoosiers ahead 68-67.
Bryant pumped his fist as his momentum carried him toward Indiana's bench. He slapped hands with anyone and everyone he could find as he let out a scream lost amid the cheers of Assembly Hall.
"Luckily, the ball bounced my way," Bryant said. "Coach always tells me in practice and in past games that I've got to go up stronger at the rim. That's what happened today."
The Hoosiers (18-4, 8-1) were pushed to the brink of their first home loss of the season until Bryant pushed them back clear of the edge in a 74-68 win over Minnesota. He hauled in eight rebounds and finished with a game-high 23 points on 11-of-13 shooting, including IU's final three made field goals.
"I felt like Thomas stayed with it even when calls didn't go his way," senior guard Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell said. "That's what's so special about our team is different guys are going to step up different nights, and tonight it was Thomas."
In a game where Indiana uncharacteristically struggled from beyond the 3-point line—the Hoosiers were just 2-of-8 beyond the arc—Bryant's play was once again a not-so-subtle reminder of IU's potential in the post even when the outside shooting goes away.
Bryant is an outlier of sorts on a team full of shooters who are most dangerous when they spread the floor. He's anchored the Hoosiers in the paint throughout the season and continues to pace the country in field goal percentage (73.8 percent) while averaging 12.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per game in the Big Ten.
"I think he's getting better constantly because he's putting even more focus on his ability to get better defensively," Indiana head coach Tom Crean said. "He made adjustments inside the game. He was always a presence."
Crean has talked at length about the importance of working the ball through Bryant in the paint. He's gone as far as to compare Indiana's success through Bryant in the post to the production former Hoosier Cody Zeller gave IU during his two seasons in Bloomington.
While the two big men have noticeably different skillsets, their results have actually been quite similar.
When Bryant gets the ball in the post, it forces a collapse. When the help comes, it leaves someone open on the outside or along the baseline.
Bryant, like Zeller, is a skilled enough passer to find that open shooter or cutter when he doesn't decide to finish around the rim. He proved that once again midway through the first half against Minnesota when he took a pair of waist-high dribbles and fired a one-handed pass to sophomore guard Robert Johnson at the top of the key.
Catch. Shoot. Trey.
And Bryant gets the assist.
"Thomas is a great teammate," Crean said. "We said that when we signed him. And that's done nothing but get better and better as he's gotten more comfortable all the time."
And Bryant's teammates are getting more comfortable with him. It's evident in the way they've sought him out in the post and trusted the ball in his hands with the game on the line like it was Saturday afternoon.
With the results he's had, it's not hard to understand why.
"When you're the big man on the team and you know you can get in there, you've just got to have that mindset," Bryant said. "You've got to go in there and go get it."
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