Indiana University Athletics
GRAHAM: The Cavalry Was Ready On Wednesday Night
2/15/2018 9:13:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By: Andy Graham, IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Indiana - When the cavalry arrived Wednesday night, it pretty much doubled the firepower for the home team.
That surely helped Indiana's host Hoosiers hold the fort, 78-68, against some very determined visitors from Illinois.
Indiana's bench added 38 points to the starters' 40. Many of those bench points were catalytic to Hoosier runs or came at crucial junctures. And 27 of them came from freshmen Al Durham and Justin Smith, who combined to hit 10 of 13 shots from the field.
Smith's only two misses in seven attempts came in the first half, one of which was tipped off target from behind, and the other of which saw him absorb a body block with no foul call.
Not that there were not fouls called. There were 47 of those whistled, 24 on the Illini. A combined 59 free throws were attempted, 30 by the Illini.
The Illlini's take-no-prisoners, extended version of halfcourt man-to-man defense certainly prompted some of that. It makes for a physical contest. It is not for the meek.
Which makes it that much more encouraging for IU that its freshmen responded so forcefully and well. The Hoosiers had 18 turnovers, but the freshmen made just one, by Durham. What the freshmen mostly did was make plays.
Winning plays.
"Freshmen, they go through ups and downs and good starts, bad games," IU coach Archie Miller noted. "That's what a freshman season is. But moments like tonight, hard-fought win where guys make winning plays, they stick with you -- that's how you learn how to win.
"And these are experiences that will help them develop into really good Indiana players."
And what we're seeing is the development of what will become a really good Indiana program.
This is the time of season a lot of freshmen hit a wall of fatigue and stop producing. This is the time when, on a lot of teams, players not seeing the court much start to tune out their coaches and aren't necessarily ready if called upon.
We're seeing the opposite at IU right now, and those are very encouraging signs for Miller's debut season in Bloomington.
Smith and Durham downplayed their performances as routine, as what they would normally expect of themselves, in keeping with what they do daily during practices.
"We feel like we came in and did what we do every day in practice," Durham said. "Go hard, compete and we always have each other's' backs. I feel like we didn't do anything outside of the norm.
Smith elaborated, saying, "To piggyback off of that, I'd say our coaches always tell us to be ready. When our number was called, we were able to get into the game and make something happen, trying to get the juices flowing."
After a sluggish start, IU went with the freshman flow.
READ THE COMPLETE RECAP
Smith scored three straight Hoosier buckets against his home-stat team to help forge a 14-14 tie.
Durham then gave Indiana a lead it would never relinquish by burying a 3 from the right wing, and followed that with a scintillating move for a break layup. That helped ignite a 14-0 Hoosier blitz.
When Illinois – which hit 9 of its first 12 shots after halftime -- clawed within 49-47 with 13:11 to play on a wild lefty bank shot by Te'Jon Lucas that barely beat the shot-clock, Smith calmly responded with a nifty reverse layup and added a free throw on the next trip downcourt.
IU's lead was still a very precarious 52-49 when Durham drilled another 3 and later issued a slick up-and-under move to make it 59-51. Illinois never got closer than five points thereafter.
The freshmen were hardly alone in terms of heroics.
Josh Newkirk, the fifth-year senior who transferred from Pitt to play his final two college seasons at IU, had struggled with his shooting in recent games. But he hit his first 3 since Jan. 24 at an especially crucial moment in the second half and finished with 11 valuable points.
Junior forward Juwan Morgan's Valentine's Day stat-line was sweet: 14 points (including 6 of 7 shooting from the foul line), 10 rebounds, five shot-blocks, four steals, just two turnovers in 37 stalwart minutes.
"Huge," Miller said of Morgan's contributions. "He's doing it almost every game. (Some stats don't) get as much notice, but he blocks a lot of shots and defensive rebounds and steals the ball.
"He's a very good defender, a valuable defender on our team … I think what he's done for our team on both ends of the floor has been really good.
"And give our bench credit with Josh (Newkirk), Al and Justin, in particular, (doing) a fantastic job making big plays."
Not so long ago, none of these players were Miller guys. None were recruited by Miller, unless one counts the freshmen – Smith, Durham and Clifton Moore – who initially committed to predecessor Tom Crean and were persuaded to stick with that commitment by Miller.
But they are Miller guys, now. This team is taking on their new coach's competitive personality and it is impressive. IU (15-12 overall and 8-7 in Big Ten play) has won three straight over the past 10 days, but has been playing tough a lot longer than that.
CHECK OUT THE PHOTO GALLERY
This IU team plays hard. It defends. Most of the time, though not all the time Wednesday, it shows it values the ball. And it shares the ball.
"In particular, it shows that the team is continuing to do the right things -- coachability, working towards getting better individually, caring about everything that we do," Miller said. "You don't have performances like that from guys off the bench if they're not completely locked in.
"So I think we have a locked-in team which is good this time of year. We're clearly playing as well as we have played all season, and that's a good sign. Obviously going on the road here (Saturday to Iowa, then Tuesday to Nebraska), the next one will be very difficult as we know, but I think the guys right now are enjoying playing with one another."
Indiana placed five scorers in double-figures Wednesday (and nearly six, with Freddie McSwain Jr. scoring nine points), but none of them scored more than 14.
That sort of balance doesn't happen on teams not pulling together or lacking confidence in each other.
"I think just in general we're more confident," Miler said. "Guys understand right now, what we're asking them to do in terms of the passing, the reads, the looks that guys are getting.
"I think we're a much better passing team than we have been. When you're a better passing team it's inevitable you start to shoot the ball a little bit better. We're taking fewer challenged shots as well."
Even against a defense as challenging as the Illini's.
"Every time that you're going to play against Illinois, I think you're going to get a chance to see just one of the harder playing teams," Miller said. "And as they continue to build their program they're going to be very difficult to play against in the Big Ten moving forward. They do a great job. Play really hard. There's no quit in any of their guys. They keep coming at you.
"For us tonight, to be able to battle through it … I'm proud of our guys. We didn't get off to a great start tonight. I thought we were a little lethargic, battled through it and were able to control (the game).
"We had a lot of guys step up. And we are very pleased just to be able to be in the situation right now, as a staff and as a team, where you enjoy being around one another. Sometimes, at this time of the season, you get tuned out. And that's not the case here."
Indeed not.
This was a team win, posted by a team that certainly looks like it is learning how to win.
And a team that, when it hears Miller's bugle call, comes riding.
BLOOMINGTON, Indiana - When the cavalry arrived Wednesday night, it pretty much doubled the firepower for the home team.
That surely helped Indiana's host Hoosiers hold the fort, 78-68, against some very determined visitors from Illinois.
Indiana's bench added 38 points to the starters' 40. Many of those bench points were catalytic to Hoosier runs or came at crucial junctures. And 27 of them came from freshmen Al Durham and Justin Smith, who combined to hit 10 of 13 shots from the field.
Smith's only two misses in seven attempts came in the first half, one of which was tipped off target from behind, and the other of which saw him absorb a body block with no foul call.
Not that there were not fouls called. There were 47 of those whistled, 24 on the Illini. A combined 59 free throws were attempted, 30 by the Illini.
The Illlini's take-no-prisoners, extended version of halfcourt man-to-man defense certainly prompted some of that. It makes for a physical contest. It is not for the meek.
Which makes it that much more encouraging for IU that its freshmen responded so forcefully and well. The Hoosiers had 18 turnovers, but the freshmen made just one, by Durham. What the freshmen mostly did was make plays.
Winning plays.
"Freshmen, they go through ups and downs and good starts, bad games," IU coach Archie Miller noted. "That's what a freshman season is. But moments like tonight, hard-fought win where guys make winning plays, they stick with you -- that's how you learn how to win.
"And these are experiences that will help them develop into really good Indiana players."
And what we're seeing is the development of what will become a really good Indiana program.
This is the time of season a lot of freshmen hit a wall of fatigue and stop producing. This is the time when, on a lot of teams, players not seeing the court much start to tune out their coaches and aren't necessarily ready if called upon.
We're seeing the opposite at IU right now, and those are very encouraging signs for Miller's debut season in Bloomington.
Smith and Durham downplayed their performances as routine, as what they would normally expect of themselves, in keeping with what they do daily during practices.
"We feel like we came in and did what we do every day in practice," Durham said. "Go hard, compete and we always have each other's' backs. I feel like we didn't do anything outside of the norm.
Smith elaborated, saying, "To piggyback off of that, I'd say our coaches always tell us to be ready. When our number was called, we were able to get into the game and make something happen, trying to get the juices flowing."
After a sluggish start, IU went with the freshman flow.
READ THE COMPLETE RECAP
Smith scored three straight Hoosier buckets against his home-stat team to help forge a 14-14 tie.
Durham then gave Indiana a lead it would never relinquish by burying a 3 from the right wing, and followed that with a scintillating move for a break layup. That helped ignite a 14-0 Hoosier blitz.
When Illinois – which hit 9 of its first 12 shots after halftime -- clawed within 49-47 with 13:11 to play on a wild lefty bank shot by Te'Jon Lucas that barely beat the shot-clock, Smith calmly responded with a nifty reverse layup and added a free throw on the next trip downcourt.
IU's lead was still a very precarious 52-49 when Durham drilled another 3 and later issued a slick up-and-under move to make it 59-51. Illinois never got closer than five points thereafter.
The freshmen were hardly alone in terms of heroics.
Josh Newkirk, the fifth-year senior who transferred from Pitt to play his final two college seasons at IU, had struggled with his shooting in recent games. But he hit his first 3 since Jan. 24 at an especially crucial moment in the second half and finished with 11 valuable points.
Junior forward Juwan Morgan's Valentine's Day stat-line was sweet: 14 points (including 6 of 7 shooting from the foul line), 10 rebounds, five shot-blocks, four steals, just two turnovers in 37 stalwart minutes.
"Huge," Miller said of Morgan's contributions. "He's doing it almost every game. (Some stats don't) get as much notice, but he blocks a lot of shots and defensive rebounds and steals the ball.
"He's a very good defender, a valuable defender on our team … I think what he's done for our team on both ends of the floor has been really good.
"And give our bench credit with Josh (Newkirk), Al and Justin, in particular, (doing) a fantastic job making big plays."
Not so long ago, none of these players were Miller guys. None were recruited by Miller, unless one counts the freshmen – Smith, Durham and Clifton Moore – who initially committed to predecessor Tom Crean and were persuaded to stick with that commitment by Miller.
But they are Miller guys, now. This team is taking on their new coach's competitive personality and it is impressive. IU (15-12 overall and 8-7 in Big Ten play) has won three straight over the past 10 days, but has been playing tough a lot longer than that.
CHECK OUT THE PHOTO GALLERY
This IU team plays hard. It defends. Most of the time, though not all the time Wednesday, it shows it values the ball. And it shares the ball.
"In particular, it shows that the team is continuing to do the right things -- coachability, working towards getting better individually, caring about everything that we do," Miller said. "You don't have performances like that from guys off the bench if they're not completely locked in.
"So I think we have a locked-in team which is good this time of year. We're clearly playing as well as we have played all season, and that's a good sign. Obviously going on the road here (Saturday to Iowa, then Tuesday to Nebraska), the next one will be very difficult as we know, but I think the guys right now are enjoying playing with one another."
Indiana placed five scorers in double-figures Wednesday (and nearly six, with Freddie McSwain Jr. scoring nine points), but none of them scored more than 14.
That sort of balance doesn't happen on teams not pulling together or lacking confidence in each other.
"I think just in general we're more confident," Miler said. "Guys understand right now, what we're asking them to do in terms of the passing, the reads, the looks that guys are getting.
"I think we're a much better passing team than we have been. When you're a better passing team it's inevitable you start to shoot the ball a little bit better. We're taking fewer challenged shots as well."
Even against a defense as challenging as the Illini's.
"Every time that you're going to play against Illinois, I think you're going to get a chance to see just one of the harder playing teams," Miller said. "And as they continue to build their program they're going to be very difficult to play against in the Big Ten moving forward. They do a great job. Play really hard. There's no quit in any of their guys. They keep coming at you.
"For us tonight, to be able to battle through it … I'm proud of our guys. We didn't get off to a great start tonight. I thought we were a little lethargic, battled through it and were able to control (the game).
"We had a lot of guys step up. And we are very pleased just to be able to be in the situation right now, as a staff and as a team, where you enjoy being around one another. Sometimes, at this time of the season, you get tuned out. And that's not the case here."
Indeed not.
This was a team win, posted by a team that certainly looks like it is learning how to win.
And a team that, when it hears Miller's bugle call, comes riding.
Players Mentioned
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