Indiana University Athletics
GRAHAM: Veterans Day
2/8/2019 1:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By: Andy Graham, IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Coach Archie Miller has talked about the need for a college basketball program, over time, to get "older."
Miller's Indiana Hoosiers don't yet qualify for that tag during his second season in Bloomington. IU currently starts two freshmen and two sophomores to go along with senior Juwan Morgan.
Iowa's No. 20-ranked Hawkeyes showed what "older" looks like Thursday night. What it means to have veterans who are central to how a game unfolds and is decided.
(And what it means to have pure shooters, too. More on that later.)
Iowa juniors Tyler Cook and Jordan Bohannon – both regulars since their freshman seasons with 154 career starts between them – were instrumental in turning back every Indiana rally as the Hawkeyes beat the host Hoosiers, 77-72.
"Two veterans in a tight game can bring that stability," Morgan said post-game about Bohannon and Cook. "That's the word I would use. Being able for the coach to have confidence in older groups that have just been there.
"Especially if you have two guys. One guy is a lot, but two guys like that is rare to come by these days (with key players so often turning pro early). Having those two presences out there was a security blanket."
Examples abounded.
Indiana had reduced a 31-20 deficit to 31-29 after an Al Durham 3 at 4:10 of the first half, which had Assembly Hall rocking.
COMPLETE GAME RECAP
Cook responded with a personal 5-0 run. Then Bohannon took over to hit consecutive 3s from the right wing – the latter a pull-up in transition off an IU error – and the lead was back to double-digits at 42-32. Iowa took that 10 point margin into halftime.
Then after Indiana slowly but surely rallied into contention down the stretch in the second half, the Hoosiers met the same sort of fate, at the hands of the same guys.
De'Ron Davis swished two free throws pulling the Hoosiers within 64-61 at the 3:47 mark before Cook, with the shot-clock winding down, spun to sink a turnaround 14-footer from the baseline.
Morgan had a tremendous follow shot to get Indiana within 66-63 only to see Bohannon bury a 3 from the left baseline off a Cook assist.
And finally after a Morgan dunk, the Hoosiers played good defense before Bohannon arose from somewhere in the vicinity of Martinsville to beat the shot-clock buzzer with an off-balance detonation that made it 72-65 at 0:43.
Bohannon is a pure shooter. He's been that sort of marksman his entire career. The Hawkeyes seem to have another one, too, in freshman Joe Wieskamp, who fueled Iowa's early surge by making all four 3s he took before halftime.
"You know, Bohannon made an unbelievable step-back on Al (Durham) midway through the second half late at the clock," Miller recalled, "and, obviously, the big one at the end there was really, I think, it was a pretty deep shot, as well."
That's understating it.
The Hoosiers had other issues this night, some self-inflicted that have cropped up before. There was the slow start. There was a rash of turnovers before halftime – and, not coincidentally, a scoring drought of 5:34 duration in the first half. IU defenders didn't close out on 3-point shooters well enough, especially early.
But unlike some other losses this season, Indiana adjusted and overcame some of those maladies Thursday night.
IU finished with 12 turnovers, a manageable number. The Hoosiers came on strong to win the boards, 33-30. They ended up hitting a third of their 3s (7 of 21) after a 2 of 8 start from behind the arc. They shot a solid .491 from the field and .722 at the foul line.
This was not, overall, a bad Indiana performance. IU played reasonably well.
Iowa played better.
"Obviously Iowa deserves a ton of credit with their play," Miller said. "They made really, really big baskets, timely baskets and they came up with about five to seven balls, especially in the second half that were right there for the grabbing.
"And first half, you know, give them credit. They were good against our turnovers in transition … 19 points off of our turnovers probably hurt us more than anything, but give them credit. They are really hard to guard and it showed tonight … they got a lead.
"But I wasn't terribly disappointed in our team tonight. I thought we were really together again, offensively …and we shot a good percentage, as well."
Morgan made the most of the 22 minutes foul trouble allotted him Thursday night, scoring 17 points, and Hoosier freshman Romeo Langford was mostly terrific in leading his team with 22. Al Durham, with 12 points, continued the improvement he's shown in recent weeks. Davis, at 6-10 operating in the middle of Iowa's zones, supplied seven of IU's 17 assists.
Offensively, as Miller noted, Indiana was pretty good much of the time. Just not good enough this night.
And while the Hoosier defense was better after halftime, there is no defense designed to take away that last, decisive Bohannon bomb – not with the distance from which the dagger was delivered.
Bohannon augmented his game-high 25 points with six assists and zero turnovers. Cook added 21 points and a game-high seven boards. They combined to hit 16 of 30 shots (with Bohannon sticking 5 of 8 3s) and 9 of 11 free throws – many coming at crucial junctures.
That sort of stuff wins games.
Asked about Bohannon and Cook, Miller said, "They have been doing it all season long. They are 18-5. They just beat Michigan at home (by 15 points) last week."
That didn't make Thursday easier for IU to swallow. Indiana needed this game for all sorts of reasons, and the loss makes Sunday's 1 p.m. home game with Ohio State even more essential.
"Every game is big," Miller said.
Miller was, as usual, cogent and composed post-game. But he arose from his chair and give it a swat with his score sheet at the end of his press conference. It was obvious this one hurt.
But sometimes you just get beat. The better team won. The more experienced team won.
Asked how his team refused to buckle against multiple Indiana runs after halftime, Iowa coach Fran McCaffery replied:
"I think it's maturity, and understanding the necessity of following the game plan on the road against a really explosive team.
"We came down here last year and played well for 32 minutes. 32 minutes isn't enough … you can't do that here. I've been down here enough and some of these guys have been down here before."
Veterans. Guys who have been there before.
Guys who know how to win games like Thursday night's.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Coach Archie Miller has talked about the need for a college basketball program, over time, to get "older."
Miller's Indiana Hoosiers don't yet qualify for that tag during his second season in Bloomington. IU currently starts two freshmen and two sophomores to go along with senior Juwan Morgan.
Iowa's No. 20-ranked Hawkeyes showed what "older" looks like Thursday night. What it means to have veterans who are central to how a game unfolds and is decided.
(And what it means to have pure shooters, too. More on that later.)
Iowa juniors Tyler Cook and Jordan Bohannon – both regulars since their freshman seasons with 154 career starts between them – were instrumental in turning back every Indiana rally as the Hawkeyes beat the host Hoosiers, 77-72.
"Two veterans in a tight game can bring that stability," Morgan said post-game about Bohannon and Cook. "That's the word I would use. Being able for the coach to have confidence in older groups that have just been there.
"Especially if you have two guys. One guy is a lot, but two guys like that is rare to come by these days (with key players so often turning pro early). Having those two presences out there was a security blanket."
Examples abounded.
Indiana had reduced a 31-20 deficit to 31-29 after an Al Durham 3 at 4:10 of the first half, which had Assembly Hall rocking.
COMPLETE GAME RECAP
Cook responded with a personal 5-0 run. Then Bohannon took over to hit consecutive 3s from the right wing – the latter a pull-up in transition off an IU error – and the lead was back to double-digits at 42-32. Iowa took that 10 point margin into halftime.
Then after Indiana slowly but surely rallied into contention down the stretch in the second half, the Hoosiers met the same sort of fate, at the hands of the same guys.
De'Ron Davis swished two free throws pulling the Hoosiers within 64-61 at the 3:47 mark before Cook, with the shot-clock winding down, spun to sink a turnaround 14-footer from the baseline.
Morgan had a tremendous follow shot to get Indiana within 66-63 only to see Bohannon bury a 3 from the left baseline off a Cook assist.
And finally after a Morgan dunk, the Hoosiers played good defense before Bohannon arose from somewhere in the vicinity of Martinsville to beat the shot-clock buzzer with an off-balance detonation that made it 72-65 at 0:43.
Bohannon is a pure shooter. He's been that sort of marksman his entire career. The Hawkeyes seem to have another one, too, in freshman Joe Wieskamp, who fueled Iowa's early surge by making all four 3s he took before halftime.
"You know, Bohannon made an unbelievable step-back on Al (Durham) midway through the second half late at the clock," Miller recalled, "and, obviously, the big one at the end there was really, I think, it was a pretty deep shot, as well."
That's understating it.
The Hoosiers had other issues this night, some self-inflicted that have cropped up before. There was the slow start. There was a rash of turnovers before halftime – and, not coincidentally, a scoring drought of 5:34 duration in the first half. IU defenders didn't close out on 3-point shooters well enough, especially early.
But unlike some other losses this season, Indiana adjusted and overcame some of those maladies Thursday night.
IU finished with 12 turnovers, a manageable number. The Hoosiers came on strong to win the boards, 33-30. They ended up hitting a third of their 3s (7 of 21) after a 2 of 8 start from behind the arc. They shot a solid .491 from the field and .722 at the foul line.
This was not, overall, a bad Indiana performance. IU played reasonably well.
Iowa played better.
"Obviously Iowa deserves a ton of credit with their play," Miller said. "They made really, really big baskets, timely baskets and they came up with about five to seven balls, especially in the second half that were right there for the grabbing.
"And first half, you know, give them credit. They were good against our turnovers in transition … 19 points off of our turnovers probably hurt us more than anything, but give them credit. They are really hard to guard and it showed tonight … they got a lead.
"But I wasn't terribly disappointed in our team tonight. I thought we were really together again, offensively …and we shot a good percentage, as well."
Morgan made the most of the 22 minutes foul trouble allotted him Thursday night, scoring 17 points, and Hoosier freshman Romeo Langford was mostly terrific in leading his team with 22. Al Durham, with 12 points, continued the improvement he's shown in recent weeks. Davis, at 6-10 operating in the middle of Iowa's zones, supplied seven of IU's 17 assists.
Offensively, as Miller noted, Indiana was pretty good much of the time. Just not good enough this night.
And while the Hoosier defense was better after halftime, there is no defense designed to take away that last, decisive Bohannon bomb – not with the distance from which the dagger was delivered.
Bohannon augmented his game-high 25 points with six assists and zero turnovers. Cook added 21 points and a game-high seven boards. They combined to hit 16 of 30 shots (with Bohannon sticking 5 of 8 3s) and 9 of 11 free throws – many coming at crucial junctures.
That sort of stuff wins games.
Asked about Bohannon and Cook, Miller said, "They have been doing it all season long. They are 18-5. They just beat Michigan at home (by 15 points) last week."
That didn't make Thursday easier for IU to swallow. Indiana needed this game for all sorts of reasons, and the loss makes Sunday's 1 p.m. home game with Ohio State even more essential.
"Every game is big," Miller said.
Miller was, as usual, cogent and composed post-game. But he arose from his chair and give it a swat with his score sheet at the end of his press conference. It was obvious this one hurt.
But sometimes you just get beat. The better team won. The more experienced team won.
Asked how his team refused to buckle against multiple Indiana runs after halftime, Iowa coach Fran McCaffery replied:
"I think it's maturity, and understanding the necessity of following the game plan on the road against a really explosive team.
"We came down here last year and played well for 32 minutes. 32 minutes isn't enough … you can't do that here. I've been down here enough and some of these guys have been down here before."
Veterans. Guys who have been there before.
Guys who know how to win games like Thursday night's.
Players Mentioned
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