Rising Up – Geronimo Regains Difference-Making Form

By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Beware Jordan Geronimo.

In the wake of senior Race Thompson's injury, the junior forward has found his 'A' game. He has tapped into last spring's solid NCAA tourney form, and then raised the level.

The result -- Geronimo has become a formidable complement to All-America forward Tracye Jackson-Davis. This could be a big problem for Michigan State (13-6 overall, 5-3 in the Big Ten) on Sunday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, and for every opponent the rest of the way.

Geronimo rocked Illinois for 13 points (including his fourth 3thr-pointer of the season), eight rebounds and three rebounds in 30 minutes of last Thursday's 80-65 victory.

Before that, it was a 12-point, 11-rebound effort in a 63-45 win over Wisconsin.

This was reminiscent of what he did in two NCAA tourney games -- harnessing his impressive athleticism and potential to total 15 points and seven rebounds against Wyoming, nine points and six rebounds against St. Mary's.

It's a major improvement from the immediate aftermath of Thompson's injury, which threw Geronimo into the starting lineup.

In the first game, against Northwestern, Geronimo was limited to 10 minutes because of foul trouble and failed to score. That resulted in a heart-to-heart chat with coach Mike Woodson, who told him, in essence, to seize the moment.

Geronimo responded with six points, six rebounds and two blocks in 23 minutes at Penn State, and then these last two games. For the season, he averages 6.0 points and 3.4 rebounds.

"He's playing like he did at the end of last season," Woodson says. "He's moving around. Cleaning up stuff. Cutting when he needs to cut at the right time, and Trayce is rewarding him with passes. He's rebounding. Blocking shots. That's what he does.

"He flies around and does things. We have to keep him in a good space."

Adds Jackson-Davis: He's playing really big for us. He could have shut it down, especially after the first two games when he got thrown into the fire. He didn't. Instead, he took Coach's criticism, played hard and showed us the player he can be. I'm proud of him. We need him do it with Race out."

Geronimo says playing off Jackson-Davis -- who draws major defensive attention -- is a big factor.

"I'm able to play with Trayce a lot now," Geronimo says. "I'm getting more time on the floor. I've been able to read what he does. I know where to be, when to cut, when to try to score. He's doing a great job of finding me."

Great jobs were everywhere you looked during the two victories that snapped a three-game losing skid.

"These wins build confidence for our team," Jackson-Davis says. "After we beat Wisconsin, a lot of people probably thought we'd lay an egg at Illinois because they were such a hot team. We had to battle and grind and did it on the defensive end."

Jackson-Davis says it took time to adjust to the loss of Thompson and point guard Xavier Johnson because of injuries.

"We have (freshman Jalen Hood-Schifino) playing primary point guard," Jackson-Davis says. "We have (Geronimo) at (power forward). We needed time to figure things out."

It might be simplistic to say the Jackson-Davis-called team meeting before the Wisconsin game was the key turn-around catalyst, although it certainly played a part.

"It was me talking to our guys," he says. "Telling them to relax and take it one game at a time, one possession at a time, and everything will take care of itself. That's what we've been doing."

Woodson is fine with player-led input.

"I try to control the locker room as much as I can, but when players want to get together, I have no problems with that.

"We were dead in the water going into the Wisconsin game. It all started on the defensive end. Now our defense has picked it back up. It's putting us in position to win."

Overall, consider the improvement a collective decision that enough was enough, that it was time to take a stand and do what needed to be done:

Follow the defensive game plan.

Play hard.

"You take it one game at a time and get them to buy into what you want done from a defensive standpoint," Woodson says. "That sets the tone."

Now comes Michigan State, which is coming off a 70-57 home win over a strong Rutgers team that had beaten IU and Purdue. It's led by guard Tyson Walker (14.6 points, 35 3-pointers, 81.8-percent free throw shooting), forward Joey Hauser (13.4 points, 7.7 rebounds, 35 3-pointers, 89.7-percent free throw shooting) and guard A.J. Haggard (12.7 points, 120 assists, 82.7-percent free throw shooting).

The Spartans are a strong free-throw shooting team. Their 75.8 percent average is their best in 17 seasons.

IU, which has lost three straight games to Michigan State, is 12-6 overall, 3-4 in the Big Ten. Given conference depth and parity, four losses might win the regular season title. Third-ranked Purdue leads with a 7-1 record. The next five teams in the standings have three losses.

"A lot of people wrote us off, but we're 3-4 and keep grinding," Jackson-Davis says. "We're three points away from being 5-2. We have to keep playing."

Adds Woodson: "Anybody can be beaten in the Big Ten. You have to come in committed for 40 minutes."

Rising Up – Geronimo Regains Difference-Making Form

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Players Mentioned

Jordan Geronimo

Jalen Hood-Schifino

Xavier Johnson

Race Thompson