GRAHAM: No. 13? He Means Good Hoosier Luck
11/21/2018 9:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By: Andy Graham, IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Sunday at Arkansas, Indiana was unlucky at the very end not to win.
Tuesday back home, some might argue Indiana was a bit lucky not to lose.
But Juwan Morgan had more to do with it than fortune or misfortune. He wasn't going to let the Hoosiers lose.
Senior co-captain Morgan – with the Hoosiers down to seven available scholarship players due to an on-going rash of injuries – ruled on both ends down the stretch of IU's 78-64 win over Texas-Arlington Tuesday.
"I thought the last six minutes … our leadership from Juwan stood out," Hoosier coach Archie Miller said. "Guys started to play with more energy and were able to rally and finish the game, which is what you hope."
UTA got scalding hot from 3-point range after halftime, in a manner reminiscent of a couple of non-conference home games that got away from the Hoosiers last season, and pulled with 61-60 with 6:30 to play.
It was 63-60 when Morgan found a back-cutting Justin Smith for a bucket.
At 65-62, Morgan finished strongly inside to put the Hoosiers up five with 4:50 left. Morgan then ripped down a rebound and assisted freshman Damezi Anderson for a bunny to make it 69-62.
IU scoring leader Romeo Langford exited at that point, with 4:25 left, his nose bloodied by an inadvertent head-butt as players flailed in the lane following the bucket.
But otherwise Morgan and teammates continued the process of successfully stopping the bleeding.
And by the time Morgan supplied a nifty lane drive hoop with 3:01 left, the cushion was double-digits at 74-64 and the Hoosiers (with the possible exception of Langford) could breathe a bit easier.
Morgan finished with 23 points (with 9 of 11 shooting from the field) and 10 rebounds, four assists, three shot-blocks and two steals.
And while leadership is not readily quantifiable, there was clearly plenty of that, too.
The Hoosiers needed all of it.
After a sloppy first half featuring 14 UTA turnovers and 13 by the Hoosiers, Indiana still seemed in cruise mode at 39-22. And the lead peaked at 20 twice after intermission, the second time at 48-28 with 18:09 to play.
Langford then stepped in to take his second charge of the night to give IU the ball back and all seemed well …
Then UTA's Edric Dennis drilled back-to-back 3s, one from either wing.
And then Indianapolis Howe product Brian Warren swished a 3 from the left baseline.
By the time 6-foot-9 UTA junior reserve Jabari Narcis came off the bench to bury a baseline 3, the rash of treys was definitely contagious – and the IU lead was down to single digits, 51-42, and the Hoosiers were suddenly in trouble.
"Those were big," Warren said of the 3s, "especially the one our center hit, a big-time shot."
And they kept coming.
Warren – who led Howe to the 2016 2A state finals and said he had "30 plus" family members in the stands Tuesday – doubtless pleased them with the 3 that brought the Mavs within 61-57 with 7:21 left.
But then IU frontliners Morgan and Smith began to hold sway.
And freshman guard Anderson showed he could hit 3s, too.
A ball went out-of-bounds with 12 seconds left on Indiana's shot-clock and a media timeout ensued with 3:48 left with IU up 69-62. Nearly all the remaining shot-clock had expired after play resumed when Anderson found himself with the ball in the left corner.
Swish. 72-62.
"Shot clock going down, I knew I had the ball in my hand. I'm always confident in my shot no matter what situation it is," Anderson said. "I put a lot of shots up to get my shot the way it is today.
"So … just being confident in my shot and making sure I knock it down and having the confidence to knock it down."
Even, or especially, when the game seems on the line.
"He made a big corner 3," Miller said. "That was a huge shot in the game."
And a big one to take.
"He doesn't know what he doesn't know, right?" Miller said with the hint of a grin. "One thing he does have confidence in his shot. He believes he can make it. We believe he can make it.
"Understanding time and score, understanding game situations, he'll get better as he gets older, as he learns. But he's in there right now."
Anderson played almost 18 minutes and freshman classmate starters Langford (34:25 minutes played, 16 points, eight boards) and Rob Phinisee (38:36, eight points, four assists, three steals) played even longer out of necessity, giving Indiana's injury situation.
Warren, who spent a lot of time going up against Phinisee, was impressed by IU's frosh.
"Big-time players," he said. "I feel they have a chance to be great this season just by the way those guys are already playing. They've only got room to grow, will only get better, and they're already good."
As is the case with a lot of Indiana expatriates getting a chance to play in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Warren relished it, except for the result.
"It was a great experience," he said after finishing with 14 points, behind only Dennis' 19 for UTA, "but I thought we could have won the game."
They didn't in part because the holiday-week crowd of 11,957 got loud and the home team fed off that support down the stretch.
"Without question, the energy that our crowd gives our players, they feed off of it," Miller said. "They knew in that last seven, eight minutes we needed them. I thought they stepped up.
"Obviously, we don't have school right now. So our students aren't in here. The crowd last six, seven minutes definitely helped us without question."
Those minutes also saw Morgan taking charge in the Hoosier huddle during the final media timeout.
"I was just trying to rally the guys together, get them together to really just start fighting, just pull that dog out of everybody," Morgan recalled. "Kept telling Rob (Phinisee) he was the pit bull, started with him guarding their point guard, and I think he really took that to heart."
Warren noticed.
"The second half, I felt a few calls didn't go our way but, at the end, it was a matter of who wanted it more," Warren said, "and they beat us."
Morgan helped make sure of that.
"Just have so much confidence in him being able to come through when we need it," Miller said of Morgan, "whether it's a basket, catch, rebound, blocked shot.
"He filled the stat line up tonight, and he didn't even play with the group he's normally accustomed to play with. He was with Justin (Smith) and (Evan) Fitzner. We've never even practiced with that lineup before. So to his credit, he was able to hang in there. He's smart.
"But some of these games, right here, when things aren't going real well, you need your aces to kind of stick their head out and say, 'Let's go.' And I thought he did that: Three blocks, three steals, four assists, six offensive rebounds. Big baskets. He was good."
He was.
And Morgan wearing jersey No. 13 notwithstanding, luck had nothing to do with it.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Sunday at Arkansas, Indiana was unlucky at the very end not to win.
Tuesday back home, some might argue Indiana was a bit lucky not to lose.
But Juwan Morgan had more to do with it than fortune or misfortune. He wasn't going to let the Hoosiers lose.
Senior co-captain Morgan – with the Hoosiers down to seven available scholarship players due to an on-going rash of injuries – ruled on both ends down the stretch of IU's 78-64 win over Texas-Arlington Tuesday.
"I thought the last six minutes … our leadership from Juwan stood out," Hoosier coach Archie Miller said. "Guys started to play with more energy and were able to rally and finish the game, which is what you hope."
UTA got scalding hot from 3-point range after halftime, in a manner reminiscent of a couple of non-conference home games that got away from the Hoosiers last season, and pulled with 61-60 with 6:30 to play.
It was 63-60 when Morgan found a back-cutting Justin Smith for a bucket.
At 65-62, Morgan finished strongly inside to put the Hoosiers up five with 4:50 left. Morgan then ripped down a rebound and assisted freshman Damezi Anderson for a bunny to make it 69-62.
IU scoring leader Romeo Langford exited at that point, with 4:25 left, his nose bloodied by an inadvertent head-butt as players flailed in the lane following the bucket.
But otherwise Morgan and teammates continued the process of successfully stopping the bleeding.
And by the time Morgan supplied a nifty lane drive hoop with 3:01 left, the cushion was double-digits at 74-64 and the Hoosiers (with the possible exception of Langford) could breathe a bit easier.
Morgan finished with 23 points (with 9 of 11 shooting from the field) and 10 rebounds, four assists, three shot-blocks and two steals.
And while leadership is not readily quantifiable, there was clearly plenty of that, too.
The Hoosiers needed all of it.
After a sloppy first half featuring 14 UTA turnovers and 13 by the Hoosiers, Indiana still seemed in cruise mode at 39-22. And the lead peaked at 20 twice after intermission, the second time at 48-28 with 18:09 to play.
Langford then stepped in to take his second charge of the night to give IU the ball back and all seemed well …
Then UTA's Edric Dennis drilled back-to-back 3s, one from either wing.
And then Indianapolis Howe product Brian Warren swished a 3 from the left baseline.
By the time 6-foot-9 UTA junior reserve Jabari Narcis came off the bench to bury a baseline 3, the rash of treys was definitely contagious – and the IU lead was down to single digits, 51-42, and the Hoosiers were suddenly in trouble.
"Those were big," Warren said of the 3s, "especially the one our center hit, a big-time shot."
And they kept coming.
Warren – who led Howe to the 2016 2A state finals and said he had "30 plus" family members in the stands Tuesday – doubtless pleased them with the 3 that brought the Mavs within 61-57 with 7:21 left.
But then IU frontliners Morgan and Smith began to hold sway.
And freshman guard Anderson showed he could hit 3s, too.
A ball went out-of-bounds with 12 seconds left on Indiana's shot-clock and a media timeout ensued with 3:48 left with IU up 69-62. Nearly all the remaining shot-clock had expired after play resumed when Anderson found himself with the ball in the left corner.
Swish. 72-62.
"Shot clock going down, I knew I had the ball in my hand. I'm always confident in my shot no matter what situation it is," Anderson said. "I put a lot of shots up to get my shot the way it is today.
"So … just being confident in my shot and making sure I knock it down and having the confidence to knock it down."
Even, or especially, when the game seems on the line.
"He made a big corner 3," Miller said. "That was a huge shot in the game."
And a big one to take.
"He doesn't know what he doesn't know, right?" Miller said with the hint of a grin. "One thing he does have confidence in his shot. He believes he can make it. We believe he can make it.
"Understanding time and score, understanding game situations, he'll get better as he gets older, as he learns. But he's in there right now."
Anderson played almost 18 minutes and freshman classmate starters Langford (34:25 minutes played, 16 points, eight boards) and Rob Phinisee (38:36, eight points, four assists, three steals) played even longer out of necessity, giving Indiana's injury situation.
Warren, who spent a lot of time going up against Phinisee, was impressed by IU's frosh.
"Big-time players," he said. "I feel they have a chance to be great this season just by the way those guys are already playing. They've only got room to grow, will only get better, and they're already good."
As is the case with a lot of Indiana expatriates getting a chance to play in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Warren relished it, except for the result.
"It was a great experience," he said after finishing with 14 points, behind only Dennis' 19 for UTA, "but I thought we could have won the game."
They didn't in part because the holiday-week crowd of 11,957 got loud and the home team fed off that support down the stretch.
"Without question, the energy that our crowd gives our players, they feed off of it," Miller said. "They knew in that last seven, eight minutes we needed them. I thought they stepped up.
"Obviously, we don't have school right now. So our students aren't in here. The crowd last six, seven minutes definitely helped us without question."
Those minutes also saw Morgan taking charge in the Hoosier huddle during the final media timeout.
"I was just trying to rally the guys together, get them together to really just start fighting, just pull that dog out of everybody," Morgan recalled. "Kept telling Rob (Phinisee) he was the pit bull, started with him guarding their point guard, and I think he really took that to heart."
Warren noticed.
"The second half, I felt a few calls didn't go our way but, at the end, it was a matter of who wanted it more," Warren said, "and they beat us."
Morgan helped make sure of that.
"Just have so much confidence in him being able to come through when we need it," Miller said of Morgan, "whether it's a basket, catch, rebound, blocked shot.
"He filled the stat line up tonight, and he didn't even play with the group he's normally accustomed to play with. He was with Justin (Smith) and (Evan) Fitzner. We've never even practiced with that lineup before. So to his credit, he was able to hang in there. He's smart.
"But some of these games, right here, when things aren't going real well, you need your aces to kind of stick their head out and say, 'Let's go.' And I thought he did that: Three blocks, three steals, four assists, six offensive rebounds. Big baskets. He was good."
He was.
And Morgan wearing jersey No. 13 notwithstanding, luck had nothing to do with it.
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