Indiana University Athletics
Stable Starters Give the Hoosiers a Boost
3/5/2020 2:48:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - There have been games this season in which the Hoosiers' bench has saved them.
IU's win over Minnesota at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall Wednesday evening, however, wasn't one of those games.
All five of Indiana's starters scored in double figures for the first time this season in a 72-67 victory, giving the Hoosiers a season sweep of the Golden Gophers and moving IU's record to 19-11 on the season overall and 9-10 in the Big Ten. The win, Indiana's four in its last seven outings, saw head coach Archie Miller's team play a balanced game that kept the Minnesota defense scrambling.
Freshman Trayce Jackson-Davis led IU with 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting, and junior Joey Brunk added 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Junior Justin Smith added 10 points on an efficient 4-of-6 shooting. Indiana's starting guard tandem of sophomore Rob Phinisee and junior Aljami Durham took pressure off the big guys with a combined 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting, seven rebounds, and nine assists.
Brunk was the story of the game. After scoring just six points in his last four games, Brunk rewarded Miller's faith in him by stuffing the box score with his scoring and rebounding, and by playing tough, physical defense on Minnesota's Daniel Oturu. Oturu finished with 24 points and 16 rebounds, but stats don't always tell the story.
"I thought what Joe did tonight is he tried like crazy to stay between [Oturu] and the rim," Miller said. "There was a lot of challenged balls around the basket tonight. Maybe there was a lot of contact at times, but this is the Big Ten. If there's no contact, there's something wrong. I thought Joe did a good job of not fouling, the best job of playing as hard as he possibly could. We were able to bother some things in and around the basket at times on his drives. That's what we were looking for."
The starting five of Phinisee, Durham, Smith, Jackson-Davis, and Brunk have been a unit since Jan. 12. They've started every game together, and even though Brunk may have hit a rough patch and Indiana has been a bit up and down from game to game, Miller wasn't about to make a change.
"You're in March," Miller said. "If you change your starting lineup, you change your line with a specific reason or a specific adjustment. The minute you change, you lose guys. There's no reason to do that. … In general, if we would change it, it would be out of a movement of strength and not a movement of weakness. I can't stress that enough."
In other words, Miller sees stability in the starting lineup as a bit of a rudder for the Hoosiers, and during a rough and tumble, roller-coaster season, sometimes having a least one thing you can both control and rely upon from game to game can be a positive.
"We've been (winning games) all year by committee," Miller said. "It's not like our starters always play well or this guy and that guy play well. We have games where Devonte (Green) is coming off the bench, and he's killing people."
In this one, however, the bench wasn't the difference. Green scored eight points and redshirt sophomore Race Thompson added two points, but no other bench player scored. Instead, Miller rode his starters, all of whom played at least 28 minutes. One of the key reasons Miller stuck with what was working was because his starters were attacking the paint.
Indiana scored a whopping 52 points in the paint, and the inside-out action that has been a key to so many of the Hoosiers' successes this season was in full effect.
"We're doing a little better job being aggressive, especially in our last two games," Miller said. "We were able to get some buckets tonight in and around the basket, which was a good start. Rob broke it down a few times, got a couple one-legged lay-ups. Devonte. Al was in the paint a bunch. It's an aggressive style when you're attacking the paint. That's been a recipe for our team. It's inside-out, attack the paint, offensive rebound, get the foul."
The Hoosiers next take the floor Saturday at noon ET at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, and Miller wouldn't mind at all if his team followed the same formula vs. Wisconsin. It will be Senior Day, and a victory would put Indiana at the milestone 20 wins on the year with postseason opportunities ahead of them.
It's undoubtedly a big week for the team, a picking up the victory was huge coming off two tough defeats on the road last week.
"Proud of our guys," Miller said. "At this time of year, you want short-term memory loss, so to speak. Although last week was a hard week, there were some positives. We were able to continue to keep up with the positives. At home, we were able to hold serve here the first part of the week. We did a really good job and had a lot of guys step up and play well."
Closing out the season with a win would be a boost for the Hoosiers as they head into the Big Ten Tournament, but the players aren't looking at the impact of this win or that game or worry about the bigger picture. If IU stays together as a team and the stable starting five turns in the same kind of performance vs. the Badgers, everything will take care of itself.
"We focus on day-by-day, winning the practice," Phinisee said. "Really, we just want to get after it in practice tomorrow and do what we can so we can beat Wisconsin."
IU's win over Minnesota at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall Wednesday evening, however, wasn't one of those games.
All five of Indiana's starters scored in double figures for the first time this season in a 72-67 victory, giving the Hoosiers a season sweep of the Golden Gophers and moving IU's record to 19-11 on the season overall and 9-10 in the Big Ten. The win, Indiana's four in its last seven outings, saw head coach Archie Miller's team play a balanced game that kept the Minnesota defense scrambling.
Freshman Trayce Jackson-Davis led IU with 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting, and junior Joey Brunk added 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Junior Justin Smith added 10 points on an efficient 4-of-6 shooting. Indiana's starting guard tandem of sophomore Rob Phinisee and junior Aljami Durham took pressure off the big guys with a combined 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting, seven rebounds, and nine assists.
Brunk was the story of the game. After scoring just six points in his last four games, Brunk rewarded Miller's faith in him by stuffing the box score with his scoring and rebounding, and by playing tough, physical defense on Minnesota's Daniel Oturu. Oturu finished with 24 points and 16 rebounds, but stats don't always tell the story.
"I thought what Joe did tonight is he tried like crazy to stay between [Oturu] and the rim," Miller said. "There was a lot of challenged balls around the basket tonight. Maybe there was a lot of contact at times, but this is the Big Ten. If there's no contact, there's something wrong. I thought Joe did a good job of not fouling, the best job of playing as hard as he possibly could. We were able to bother some things in and around the basket at times on his drives. That's what we were looking for."
The starting five of Phinisee, Durham, Smith, Jackson-Davis, and Brunk have been a unit since Jan. 12. They've started every game together, and even though Brunk may have hit a rough patch and Indiana has been a bit up and down from game to game, Miller wasn't about to make a change.
"You're in March," Miller said. "If you change your starting lineup, you change your line with a specific reason or a specific adjustment. The minute you change, you lose guys. There's no reason to do that. … In general, if we would change it, it would be out of a movement of strength and not a movement of weakness. I can't stress that enough."
In other words, Miller sees stability in the starting lineup as a bit of a rudder for the Hoosiers, and during a rough and tumble, roller-coaster season, sometimes having a least one thing you can both control and rely upon from game to game can be a positive.
"We've been (winning games) all year by committee," Miller said. "It's not like our starters always play well or this guy and that guy play well. We have games where Devonte (Green) is coming off the bench, and he's killing people."
In this one, however, the bench wasn't the difference. Green scored eight points and redshirt sophomore Race Thompson added two points, but no other bench player scored. Instead, Miller rode his starters, all of whom played at least 28 minutes. One of the key reasons Miller stuck with what was working was because his starters were attacking the paint.
Indiana scored a whopping 52 points in the paint, and the inside-out action that has been a key to so many of the Hoosiers' successes this season was in full effect.
"We're doing a little better job being aggressive, especially in our last two games," Miller said. "We were able to get some buckets tonight in and around the basket, which was a good start. Rob broke it down a few times, got a couple one-legged lay-ups. Devonte. Al was in the paint a bunch. It's an aggressive style when you're attacking the paint. That's been a recipe for our team. It's inside-out, attack the paint, offensive rebound, get the foul."
The Hoosiers next take the floor Saturday at noon ET at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, and Miller wouldn't mind at all if his team followed the same formula vs. Wisconsin. It will be Senior Day, and a victory would put Indiana at the milestone 20 wins on the year with postseason opportunities ahead of them.
It's undoubtedly a big week for the team, a picking up the victory was huge coming off two tough defeats on the road last week.
"Proud of our guys," Miller said. "At this time of year, you want short-term memory loss, so to speak. Although last week was a hard week, there were some positives. We were able to continue to keep up with the positives. At home, we were able to hold serve here the first part of the week. We did a really good job and had a lot of guys step up and play well."
Closing out the season with a win would be a boost for the Hoosiers as they head into the Big Ten Tournament, but the players aren't looking at the impact of this win or that game or worry about the bigger picture. If IU stays together as a team and the stable starting five turns in the same kind of performance vs. the Badgers, everything will take care of itself.
"We focus on day-by-day, winning the practice," Phinisee said. "Really, we just want to get after it in practice tomorrow and do what we can so we can beat Wisconsin."
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