Indiana University Athletics
DIPRIMIO: Make No NIT Mistake, IU Playing To Win It All
3/19/2019 11:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By: Pete DiPrimio, IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – It's about winning a championship.
You know that, right?
Indiana isn't playing in the NIT to settle for some kind of consolation prize.
In so many ways, it's win or nothing, and there's no reason for it to be nothing.
"We're taking it very, very serious," coach Archie Miller said. "This is a tournament that has teams that could advance in the NCAA Tournament."
Buy Second Round NIT Tickets
IU (18-15) can absolutely be one of just two major college basketball teams to end the season with a victory.
Tuesday night's 89-72 win over Saint Francis of Pennsylvania suggested that.
More specifically, the second half showcased that -- shooting 63.6 percent while scoring 55 points, holding Saint Francis to 31-percent shooting and 32 points.
"The second half was much more the way I like to think we can be," Miller said.
This should be about doing what the Hoosiers have done just once in their NIT history, which is win it all (1979). That means 5-0 success, including 2-0 at New York City's Madison Square Garden, and if it won't rival NCAA tourney glory, it just might jump start the program back into the postseason limelight.
See the Indiana women's program for how well that can work.
"Winning this is very important, especially for the young guys to go into next year on a high note," senior forward Juwan Morgan said. "As an example, see the women's team. They won the NIT last year and look where they are now (they will face Texas in Friday's NCAA tourney opener). They're doing great things."
IU has to play as it did in the opening minutes of Tuesday night's second half, when it morphed into the Cream 'n Cream beast that twice stunned Michigan State. A six-point deficit became a 13-point lead in less than 10 minutes, and ultimately that 17-point win.
Forget the perception of NIT disinterest. If you're a competitor, if you care about playing with pride and production, there is no let down. There's doing your best regardless of circumstance.
See Morgan for what that can look like.
He totaled 28 points and eight rebounds in 31 ruthlessly efficient minutes. He was 10-for-13 from the field against an under-sized opponent that had no one to stop him.
Don't tell him the NIT doesn't matter.
"The way I see it," Morgan said, "a win is a win.
"This is not where we want to be; it's not where we expected to be, but we're here now. We have to make the most of it."
It starts, Miller said, with better defense.
"In the last three games we have not played as well defensively. We have to figure out a way to get that back. We have to get that confidence level back on defense."
As a No. 1 seed, the Hoosiers are positioned for a title run, so why not make the most of it?
"Especially for young guys like Rob (Phinisee), Damezi (Anderson) and Romeo (Langford), getting that experience is a great thing for them to have," Morgan said.
He provided pre-game motivation, pointing out IU's NIT first-round flameout at Georgia to end his sophomore season in 2017.
"I told them, I'm not going out the way we did my sophomore year. I said, if you guys don't want to play, tell me now and I'll have Coach Miller sit you.
"I think the guys rallied around that and listened to me."
Saint Francis (18-15) was an up-tempo team that wanted no part of a half-court game. With what amounted to a four-guard starting lineup, it wanted a transition tempo to exploit its small-ball attack
For a while, it worked.
For a while.
"Our guys came out and competed," Saint Francis coach Rob Kimmel said. "They gave us everything they had."
Miller's pre-game message was clear -- play with passion and purpose, play as if you care, or don't play.
It came with this anchor -- Langford, and his team-leading 16.5 scoring average, were not available. He was out with a back injury suffered against Ohio State in last week's Big Ten tourney.
It was not, Miller said, a way to protect Langford's NBA draft status, as some suggested.
"Romeo wanted to be out there," Miller said. "If we had played in NCAA Tournament, he wouldn't have played. He wants to come back. Hopefully we can get him back."
That might not be until next week, Miller added, if the Hoosiers advance that far.
After falling behind 7-2 Tuesday night, and getting a quick Miller time-out reinforcement ("I didn't feel like we had four to five guys locked in," he said), the Hoosiers unleashed a 14-0 run to briefly take charge, lose that charge, then regain it with a second-half outburst that suggests Assembly Hall intimidation is back.
That should bode well for potentially two more home games, and perhaps beyond.
"We got the first one," Miller said. "Now it feels like a tournament.
"Once you get to the second round, you're going to see the intensity level go up because you're a step closer to getting to Madison Square Garden. And if you get to that third (round), obviously there's a lot of pressure in those games. Guys have got to play.
"Anywhere in postseason play, when you learn how to win, find a way to have a couple good games, it helps you. It helps you moving forward as a player"
If it leads to a championship, all the better.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – It's about winning a championship.
You know that, right?
Indiana isn't playing in the NIT to settle for some kind of consolation prize.
In so many ways, it's win or nothing, and there's no reason for it to be nothing.
"We're taking it very, very serious," coach Archie Miller said. "This is a tournament that has teams that could advance in the NCAA Tournament."
Buy Second Round NIT Tickets
IU (18-15) can absolutely be one of just two major college basketball teams to end the season with a victory.
Tuesday night's 89-72 win over Saint Francis of Pennsylvania suggested that.
More specifically, the second half showcased that -- shooting 63.6 percent while scoring 55 points, holding Saint Francis to 31-percent shooting and 32 points.
"The second half was much more the way I like to think we can be," Miller said.
This should be about doing what the Hoosiers have done just once in their NIT history, which is win it all (1979). That means 5-0 success, including 2-0 at New York City's Madison Square Garden, and if it won't rival NCAA tourney glory, it just might jump start the program back into the postseason limelight.
See the Indiana women's program for how well that can work.
"Winning this is very important, especially for the young guys to go into next year on a high note," senior forward Juwan Morgan said. "As an example, see the women's team. They won the NIT last year and look where they are now (they will face Texas in Friday's NCAA tourney opener). They're doing great things."
IU has to play as it did in the opening minutes of Tuesday night's second half, when it morphed into the Cream 'n Cream beast that twice stunned Michigan State. A six-point deficit became a 13-point lead in less than 10 minutes, and ultimately that 17-point win.
Forget the perception of NIT disinterest. If you're a competitor, if you care about playing with pride and production, there is no let down. There's doing your best regardless of circumstance.
See Morgan for what that can look like.
He totaled 28 points and eight rebounds in 31 ruthlessly efficient minutes. He was 10-for-13 from the field against an under-sized opponent that had no one to stop him.
Don't tell him the NIT doesn't matter.
"The way I see it," Morgan said, "a win is a win.
"This is not where we want to be; it's not where we expected to be, but we're here now. We have to make the most of it."
It starts, Miller said, with better defense.
"In the last three games we have not played as well defensively. We have to figure out a way to get that back. We have to get that confidence level back on defense."
As a No. 1 seed, the Hoosiers are positioned for a title run, so why not make the most of it?
"Especially for young guys like Rob (Phinisee), Damezi (Anderson) and Romeo (Langford), getting that experience is a great thing for them to have," Morgan said.
He provided pre-game motivation, pointing out IU's NIT first-round flameout at Georgia to end his sophomore season in 2017.
"I told them, I'm not going out the way we did my sophomore year. I said, if you guys don't want to play, tell me now and I'll have Coach Miller sit you.
"I think the guys rallied around that and listened to me."
Saint Francis (18-15) was an up-tempo team that wanted no part of a half-court game. With what amounted to a four-guard starting lineup, it wanted a transition tempo to exploit its small-ball attack
For a while, it worked.
For a while.
"Our guys came out and competed," Saint Francis coach Rob Kimmel said. "They gave us everything they had."
Miller's pre-game message was clear -- play with passion and purpose, play as if you care, or don't play.
It came with this anchor -- Langford, and his team-leading 16.5 scoring average, were not available. He was out with a back injury suffered against Ohio State in last week's Big Ten tourney.
It was not, Miller said, a way to protect Langford's NBA draft status, as some suggested.
"Romeo wanted to be out there," Miller said. "If we had played in NCAA Tournament, he wouldn't have played. He wants to come back. Hopefully we can get him back."
That might not be until next week, Miller added, if the Hoosiers advance that far.
After falling behind 7-2 Tuesday night, and getting a quick Miller time-out reinforcement ("I didn't feel like we had four to five guys locked in," he said), the Hoosiers unleashed a 14-0 run to briefly take charge, lose that charge, then regain it with a second-half outburst that suggests Assembly Hall intimidation is back.
That should bode well for potentially two more home games, and perhaps beyond.
"We got the first one," Miller said. "Now it feels like a tournament.
"Once you get to the second round, you're going to see the intensity level go up because you're a step closer to getting to Madison Square Garden. And if you get to that third (round), obviously there's a lot of pressure in those games. Guys have got to play.
"Anywhere in postseason play, when you learn how to win, find a way to have a couple good games, it helps you. It helps you moving forward as a player"
If it leads to a championship, all the better.
Players Mentioned
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