Hoosiers Survive Injuries, UT Arlington for 78-64 Win

Tuesday, November 20

Bloomington, Ind.

7:00 PM

Indiana University

UT Arlington

Indiana

Hoosiers Survive Injuries, UT Arlington for 78-64 Win

11/20/2018 9:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Quotes Postgame Notes Photo Gallery Video: Highlights vs. UT Arlington Video: Romeo Langford Highlights Video: Juwan Morgan Highlights Video: Miller Postgame Video: Players Postgame

By: Pete DiPrimio, IUHoosiers.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Sometimes, if you're the Indiana Hoosiers, it's about survival.

Injuries mount, roster options dwindle, execution suffers, drama builds and you have to dig deep for just-win results.

Case in point, IU's blowout turned thriller against UT Arlington Tuesday night.

The Hoosiers (4-1) held on 78-64 despite facing enough injury adversity for three teams.

"Our guys stepped up and found a way," coach Archie Miller said.

"We'll take it and move on."

The big question -- who will be available to move on?

The season is just two weeks old and IU already has lost seven scholarship players to injury.

"I don't know if I've been around that (many injuries)," Miller said. "But we'll give it a go with the guys we have the next couple of days. We'll have to figure out who is ready."

Remember the next-man-up mantra? That only works if you have a next man.

"If it comes to the point where we have to play five for 40 minutes," senior forward Juwan Morgan said, "then that's what we'll do. We'll fight as hard as we can."

An inadvertent backwards headbutt bloodied freshman guard Romeo Langford's nose and sidelined him in the closing minutes. That followed the loss of sophomore guard Al Durham, who hurt his back while scoring the game's opening basket. He was limited to 11 minutes.

Junior center DeRon Davis didn't even make pre-game warmups. He was wearing a walking boot on his left foot to deal with Achilles soreness in the aftermath of playing 23 minutes at Arkansas on Sunday. He missed much of last season because of an Achilles injury to his right leg.

That followed injuries to Devonte Green (thigh), Race Thompson (concussion), Jerome Hunter (leg surgery) and Zach McRoberts (back).

Green, Thompson and McRoberts likely won't return until next month. Hunter hasn't played all season.

"We have so many guys not available that we can't sub," Miller said. "We're playing combos we've never played together before."

Specifically, that meant Morgan, Justin Smith and Evan Fitzner playing at the same time.

That didn't stop Morgan from dominating. He totaled 23 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three rebounds.

"We have so much confidence in him coming through when we need it," Miller said.

You'd better believe IU needed it.

With undersized Arlington (3-2) pushing a feisty second-half assault, a 20-point lead became one.

Suddenly the Hoosiers were on the brink.

Then freshman Damezi Anderson nailed a crunch-time three-pointer. Then Morgan drove for a layup, and provided an animated difference-making timeout speech.

"I was saying we've got to pull this out," Morgan said. "We're playing for each other. Nobody else but us. And I think we really started playing for each other.

"I think we got lackadaisical. They were just taking the ball from us. They were just making whatever they wanted doing whatever they wanted on the offensive end. And I was just trying to rally the guys together, get them together to really just start fighting, just pull that dog out of everybody."

It worked. The double-digit lead returned.

So did Cream 'n Crimson security.

"The last five to six minutes our leadership from Juwan stood out," Miller said. "Guys played with more energy. They rallied to win."

Langford had 16 points and eight rebounds before his injury. Smith totaled 13 points, five rebounds and six turnovers in an eventful 34 minutes.

Arlington was led by Indianapolis native Brian Warren's 14 points and Edric Dennis' 19 points.

IU played with road-weary focus you'd expect from a youthful, depleted team 48 hours removed from a one-point heart-breaking loss at full-court-pressing Arkansas.

The Hoosiers mixed electric plays – think Langford's first-half dunk – with ill-advised ones (13 first-half turnovers, 18 in all) likely to generate tough film-session moments along with perspective.

"There is going to be some critique on some of the execution things that we need to do," Miller said. "But there's also going to be some realization it's impossible to ask some guys to do as much as we're asking them to do.

But with that type of experience level, with the opportunities for these new guys to get in there and play, it can only make you better down the line."

Early on the Hoosiers punished Arlington's all-guard lineup with size. They scored the game's first seven points.

The Mavericks harassed their way to as close as three points, and stayed within 10 points for much of the first half before IU surged for a 39-22 halftime lead built on 53 percent shooting, stingy defense (forcing 13 turnovers and allowing 32 percent shooting) and Langford scoring (12 points).

The Hoosiers built that 20-point lead early in the second half. Victory seemed assured.

Suddenly, it was not.

IU confidence dwindled along with its list of available players. Arlington confidence grew.

With eight minutes left, the lead was down to four.

Six seconds later, it was three, at 61-58.

Ninety seconds after that, it was one.

"They wanted it more," Morgan said. "They were fighting harder than we were. They were attacking us every way you could think of."

Morgan had enough, and told his teammates that, in so many words.

They responded with a victory that might set the stage, Smith said, for future success.

"I think having this experience going through this type of game, playing against these types of players, it's a good test for us to really kind of see what we're made of," Smith said. "Having to scrap and fight on our home floor and get a win, a hard-fought win, it's going to come in handy having that experience down the road."

IU wraps up the Hardwood Showcase with Friday night's game against UC Davis. After that comes next Tuesday's Big Ten-ACC Challenge battle at No. 1 Duke.