Indiana University Athletics
GRAHAM: These Bulldogs Still Have Bite
12/14/2018 8:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By: Andy Graham, IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Dad was a Butler man.
He would talk up the old Hoosier Classic that started its initial five-year run in 1947 at Butler (now Hinkle) Fieldhouse, and liked to claim Indiana eventually exited the event "because Branch got tired of getting beat."
Dad especially extolled the virtues of Butler All-American Ralph "Buckshot" O'Brien, who just passed away in November, as an IU nemesis during three straight Bulldog wins over coach Branch McCracken's Hoosiers while the 1940s wound down.
Mom, an IU alumnus, would scoff. She'd note the nine-game Hoosier winning streak over Butler that had immediately ensued into the 1950s, and rest her case by citing Indiana's overall series advantage.
Such divided household hoops loyalties were part of what made the old Hoosier Classic fun, and that holds true for its descendent, the current Crossroads Classic – featuring the same four state powers and now conducted at the newer Indianapolis venue of Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
Crossroads combat between IU and Butler recommences at approximately 3:45 p.m. Saturday, following the 1:30 p.m. opener pitting Purdue against Notre Dame. Both games are set for national CBS telecast.
"I love the event," Butler second-year coach LaVall Jordan told peegs.com Thursday. "I think it's a great event for the state, for Indiana basketball to be on display all across the country. It's great for all the schools to match up and go against each other. The fans love it. Our guys love it.
"The competition, obviously, is at a high level. You get to test yourself against good programs, good teams. There's no downside to it."
IU leads its series with Butler, 38-15, but the Bulldogs have won three of the last five contests – including the most recent meeting by an 83-76 count in the 2016 Crossroads. Last season, the Hoosiers won an 80-77 overtime Crossroads thriller against Notre Dame.
"The Crossroads weekend here, it's always an exciting game," IU second-year coach Archie Miller said Friday. "Especially taking our guys into Bankers Life. It's a great venue and the (Crossroads) environment is almost a tournament feel.
"Butler brings all the good qualities that they have had in their program over the last 15 to 20 years. LaVall is doing a great job with their group. They're a really tough minded group. They're connected defensively. Very good. Offensively, they really shoot the ball. They really, really stretch you from three and they go a good job of playing inside-out as well through Nate (Fowler, a 6-10 senior) and (6-11 sophomore Joey) Brunk."
The current Bulldogs indeed have bite.
Butler (7-2) has already beaten a pair of SEC foes – Ole Miss, 83-76, and Florida, 61-54 – and has generally wiped out its non-Power 5 competition. One of the two losses was by five points to Miller's old team, Dayton.
Senior guard Paul Jorgensen (whose 6-for-10 bombing from 3-point range while scoring a career-high 27 points against Mississippi) and 6-foot-6 junior winger Sean McDermott (who was 7 of 12 from 3 while scoring a career-high 23 in Butler's last game, a 95-68 rout of Northern Illinois) pose acute peril from the perimeter.
And BU lead guard Kamar Baldwin's ability to penetrate the lane helps draw defense to free up those shooters. While Jorgensen's 17.2 average leads Butler's scoring, Baldwin is at 16.6 and leads the Bulldogs in rebounding (6.1 per game), assists (4.6) and steals (12).
The shooting strokes of Baldwin, Jorgensen and McDermott are reflected in their respective free throw percentages: .850, .857, .846. Jorgensen also shoots .431 from 3-point range and McDermott is at .424, both of them with 28 makes from behind the arc on the season.
Butler blitzed Northern Illinois by hitting 17 of 32 from 3-point range (.531).
"We've played a number of teams this season that are … deadly behind the 3," Miller said. "Butler's team is drastically different when they make them versus when they don't make them. So, clearly, I think they depend on using their skill level to make those shots and they get good ones too.
"Without question McDermott is a game-changer, Jorgensen can be a game changer and I would also put Baldwin in there as well – he's just a terrific, terrific college basketball player … make no mistake guarding the 3 is priority one in this game."
This game also happens to be the Butler debut for 6-7 sophomore Jordan Tucker, a Duke transfer, who promises to further augment the Bulldogs' perimeter punch.
"Jordan's a guy that I saw, we saw, just from a high school perspective and AAU basketball quite a bit," Miller said. "He's got great size, great talent on the perimeter, and range. He'll add another weapon offensively for those guys on the perimeter. Whether they use him as a wing or guard, I'm not real sure how they will phase him in."
Butler has started the same five in all nine games: Baldwin, Jorgensen, McDermott, Fowler and 6-2 soph Aaron Thompson, who serves as almost a second point guard alongside Baldwin. Fowler and Brunk split time in the post evenly.
IU freshman point guard Rob Phinisee will likely have the primary duty to keep Baldwin out of the paint, but knows that will require help.
"Really just play team defense," Phinisee said of the assignment, "and just lock in, really, and just help each other."
This is Phinisee's first college outing at Bankers Life, but he played in a state title game for McCutcheon there, and also played there as an Indiana All-Star. But older Hoosiers harbor fond memories of Indiana's Crossroads appearance last year.
Indiana's current co-captains loomed large in that pulse-pounder against Notre Dame, with Zach McRoberts rebounding a missed free throw and feeding Juwan Morgan for a dunk that gave the Hoosiers the lead for good.
"Zach grabbed the rebound, he dropped it off to J-Mo, he dunked it, and the whole place just exploded," IU sophomore guard Al Durham recalled. "I feel that's like when we felt like we really had it and we just went off of that energy, off that amazing play that Zach made.
"Just to see that and be a part of that, just watching that amazing performance and being a part of it, just us coming back and fighting hard and getting that win at the end of the day it was just amazing, it was like one-of-a-kind atmosphere."
Morgan finished with a career-high 34 points that day, hitting 13 of 17 shots from the field and 8 of 11 free throws, and added 11 rebounds. McRoberts scored just a single point, but also supplied nine boards and three assists.
Indiana freshman guard Romeo Langford, whose New Albany team won the state's 2015 Class 4A title at Bankers Life in a 62-59 squeaker over McCutcheon, currently leads IU's scoring (18.2), followed by Morgan (15.5).
Butler pivotman Brunk, who prepped at Southport, remembers another state tournament performance by Langford – the 46-point explosion that lifted New Albany over Southport in the 2016 Richmond semistate.
"Romeo's a very talented player," Brunk told peegs.com. "We played each other in high school. He had a pretty good game when we played each other – Romeo went off. But that was about as cool an atmosphere as you can get for Indiana high school basketball, outside of Southport Fieldhouse. It was pretty awesome.
"I think it's really cool to bring all four programs to Indianapolis (for the Crossroads). A lot of local guys, guys I've grown up with."
Familiarity breeds rivalry but also, in this case, respect.
"They're good," Jordan said of the Hoosiers. "I like their makeup, in terms of personnel … Archie, got a ton of respect for Coach Miller. He does a really good job. They're talented. They're athletic. Morgan is a force inside, and I think their young guys play beyond their years."
Especially, Jordan said, Langford and Phinisee.
"Phinisee takes care of the ball, makes good decisions … he's trustworthy," Jordan continued. "He doesn't make many mistakes on either side of the ball and, especially on the defensive side, that's impressive.
"And Langford, obviously, is having a lot of success early in his career. I (like Romeo's) pace. Even if you're a really talented player, you can get into college and the game is faster and you can get sped-up. He doesn't seem to let that happen. He doesn't let the pace affect him. And he's been scoring all his life."
IU (8-2) is scoring 77.5 points per game while holding the opposition to 64.7. The Hoosiers are shooting .514 from the field while holding foes to .407. Butler is averaging 75.9 points while allowing an average of 63.3.
It's entirely plausible Saturday's score will hover closer to the team's defensive averages, though. Both squads emphasize that end of the floor.
"I can't say how it will play out but I know it will be competitive," Jordan said. "They're pretty stingy defensively and that is a credit to Archie and the way he coaches. Our guys have a lot of pride in it as well."
Pride, state-wide, is on the line Saturday. Families, friends and fans who follow college basketball in the state already know all about that.
And, yes, Butler is aware that No. 25 Indiana enters with its first national ranking of the Archie Miller era.
"We have a chip (on our shoulder), regardless," Jordan said. "I think that's what Butler basketball is built on."
Dad would have approved that statement.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Dad was a Butler man.
He would talk up the old Hoosier Classic that started its initial five-year run in 1947 at Butler (now Hinkle) Fieldhouse, and liked to claim Indiana eventually exited the event "because Branch got tired of getting beat."
Dad especially extolled the virtues of Butler All-American Ralph "Buckshot" O'Brien, who just passed away in November, as an IU nemesis during three straight Bulldog wins over coach Branch McCracken's Hoosiers while the 1940s wound down.
Mom, an IU alumnus, would scoff. She'd note the nine-game Hoosier winning streak over Butler that had immediately ensued into the 1950s, and rest her case by citing Indiana's overall series advantage.
Such divided household hoops loyalties were part of what made the old Hoosier Classic fun, and that holds true for its descendent, the current Crossroads Classic – featuring the same four state powers and now conducted at the newer Indianapolis venue of Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
Crossroads combat between IU and Butler recommences at approximately 3:45 p.m. Saturday, following the 1:30 p.m. opener pitting Purdue against Notre Dame. Both games are set for national CBS telecast.
"I love the event," Butler second-year coach LaVall Jordan told peegs.com Thursday. "I think it's a great event for the state, for Indiana basketball to be on display all across the country. It's great for all the schools to match up and go against each other. The fans love it. Our guys love it.
"The competition, obviously, is at a high level. You get to test yourself against good programs, good teams. There's no downside to it."
IU leads its series with Butler, 38-15, but the Bulldogs have won three of the last five contests – including the most recent meeting by an 83-76 count in the 2016 Crossroads. Last season, the Hoosiers won an 80-77 overtime Crossroads thriller against Notre Dame.
"The Crossroads weekend here, it's always an exciting game," IU second-year coach Archie Miller said Friday. "Especially taking our guys into Bankers Life. It's a great venue and the (Crossroads) environment is almost a tournament feel.
"Butler brings all the good qualities that they have had in their program over the last 15 to 20 years. LaVall is doing a great job with their group. They're a really tough minded group. They're connected defensively. Very good. Offensively, they really shoot the ball. They really, really stretch you from three and they go a good job of playing inside-out as well through Nate (Fowler, a 6-10 senior) and (6-11 sophomore Joey) Brunk."
The current Bulldogs indeed have bite.
Butler (7-2) has already beaten a pair of SEC foes – Ole Miss, 83-76, and Florida, 61-54 – and has generally wiped out its non-Power 5 competition. One of the two losses was by five points to Miller's old team, Dayton.
Senior guard Paul Jorgensen (whose 6-for-10 bombing from 3-point range while scoring a career-high 27 points against Mississippi) and 6-foot-6 junior winger Sean McDermott (who was 7 of 12 from 3 while scoring a career-high 23 in Butler's last game, a 95-68 rout of Northern Illinois) pose acute peril from the perimeter.
And BU lead guard Kamar Baldwin's ability to penetrate the lane helps draw defense to free up those shooters. While Jorgensen's 17.2 average leads Butler's scoring, Baldwin is at 16.6 and leads the Bulldogs in rebounding (6.1 per game), assists (4.6) and steals (12).
The shooting strokes of Baldwin, Jorgensen and McDermott are reflected in their respective free throw percentages: .850, .857, .846. Jorgensen also shoots .431 from 3-point range and McDermott is at .424, both of them with 28 makes from behind the arc on the season.
Butler blitzed Northern Illinois by hitting 17 of 32 from 3-point range (.531).
"We've played a number of teams this season that are … deadly behind the 3," Miller said. "Butler's team is drastically different when they make them versus when they don't make them. So, clearly, I think they depend on using their skill level to make those shots and they get good ones too.
"Without question McDermott is a game-changer, Jorgensen can be a game changer and I would also put Baldwin in there as well – he's just a terrific, terrific college basketball player … make no mistake guarding the 3 is priority one in this game."
This game also happens to be the Butler debut for 6-7 sophomore Jordan Tucker, a Duke transfer, who promises to further augment the Bulldogs' perimeter punch.
"Jordan's a guy that I saw, we saw, just from a high school perspective and AAU basketball quite a bit," Miller said. "He's got great size, great talent on the perimeter, and range. He'll add another weapon offensively for those guys on the perimeter. Whether they use him as a wing or guard, I'm not real sure how they will phase him in."
Butler has started the same five in all nine games: Baldwin, Jorgensen, McDermott, Fowler and 6-2 soph Aaron Thompson, who serves as almost a second point guard alongside Baldwin. Fowler and Brunk split time in the post evenly.
IU freshman point guard Rob Phinisee will likely have the primary duty to keep Baldwin out of the paint, but knows that will require help.
"Really just play team defense," Phinisee said of the assignment, "and just lock in, really, and just help each other."
This is Phinisee's first college outing at Bankers Life, but he played in a state title game for McCutcheon there, and also played there as an Indiana All-Star. But older Hoosiers harbor fond memories of Indiana's Crossroads appearance last year.
Indiana's current co-captains loomed large in that pulse-pounder against Notre Dame, with Zach McRoberts rebounding a missed free throw and feeding Juwan Morgan for a dunk that gave the Hoosiers the lead for good.
"Zach grabbed the rebound, he dropped it off to J-Mo, he dunked it, and the whole place just exploded," IU sophomore guard Al Durham recalled. "I feel that's like when we felt like we really had it and we just went off of that energy, off that amazing play that Zach made.
"Just to see that and be a part of that, just watching that amazing performance and being a part of it, just us coming back and fighting hard and getting that win at the end of the day it was just amazing, it was like one-of-a-kind atmosphere."
Morgan finished with a career-high 34 points that day, hitting 13 of 17 shots from the field and 8 of 11 free throws, and added 11 rebounds. McRoberts scored just a single point, but also supplied nine boards and three assists.
Indiana freshman guard Romeo Langford, whose New Albany team won the state's 2015 Class 4A title at Bankers Life in a 62-59 squeaker over McCutcheon, currently leads IU's scoring (18.2), followed by Morgan (15.5).
Butler pivotman Brunk, who prepped at Southport, remembers another state tournament performance by Langford – the 46-point explosion that lifted New Albany over Southport in the 2016 Richmond semistate.
"Romeo's a very talented player," Brunk told peegs.com. "We played each other in high school. He had a pretty good game when we played each other – Romeo went off. But that was about as cool an atmosphere as you can get for Indiana high school basketball, outside of Southport Fieldhouse. It was pretty awesome.
"I think it's really cool to bring all four programs to Indianapolis (for the Crossroads). A lot of local guys, guys I've grown up with."
Familiarity breeds rivalry but also, in this case, respect.
"They're good," Jordan said of the Hoosiers. "I like their makeup, in terms of personnel … Archie, got a ton of respect for Coach Miller. He does a really good job. They're talented. They're athletic. Morgan is a force inside, and I think their young guys play beyond their years."
Especially, Jordan said, Langford and Phinisee.
"Phinisee takes care of the ball, makes good decisions … he's trustworthy," Jordan continued. "He doesn't make many mistakes on either side of the ball and, especially on the defensive side, that's impressive.
"And Langford, obviously, is having a lot of success early in his career. I (like Romeo's) pace. Even if you're a really talented player, you can get into college and the game is faster and you can get sped-up. He doesn't seem to let that happen. He doesn't let the pace affect him. And he's been scoring all his life."
IU (8-2) is scoring 77.5 points per game while holding the opposition to 64.7. The Hoosiers are shooting .514 from the field while holding foes to .407. Butler is averaging 75.9 points while allowing an average of 63.3.
It's entirely plausible Saturday's score will hover closer to the team's defensive averages, though. Both squads emphasize that end of the floor.
"I can't say how it will play out but I know it will be competitive," Jordan said. "They're pretty stingy defensively and that is a credit to Archie and the way he coaches. Our guys have a lot of pride in it as well."
Pride, state-wide, is on the line Saturday. Families, friends and fans who follow college basketball in the state already know all about that.
And, yes, Butler is aware that No. 25 Indiana enters with its first national ranking of the Archie Miller era.
"We have a chip (on our shoulder), regardless," Jordan said. "I think that's what Butler basketball is built on."
Dad would have approved that statement.
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