Just hours prior to Tuesday night’s game against Wisconsin, IU players found out they’d be missing sophomore guard James Blackmon Jr. – and the nearly 16 points per game that came with him – for the remainder of the season.
Instead of making up for those points on the offensive end, the Hoosiers did it with defense.
They held Wisconsin to just six points through the first 12-plus minutes of the second half, on their way to a 59-58 win at Assembly Hall.
“I think the main thing was us getting stops,” senior guard Yogi Ferrell said. “We came together, had a collective mindset that we wanted to get stops.”
Offense didn’t come easy for either team. IU’s 24 first-half points is its lowest total this season.
The Hoosiers limited their own offensive opportunities by committing 19 turnovers, but made up the difference on the defensive end – an area that’s normally a struggle for a team giving up 70.1 points per game.
Against a young Wisconsin squad, the IU defense looked to be improving, and even having a little fun.
Like after the Hoosiers forced a second shot clock violation and freshman forward Thomas Bryant walked down the court begging the Assembly Hall crowd to make noise.
Or when, with 18 seconds left, sophomore guard Robert Johnson stole the ball and the Badgers’ chance to tie or go ahead.
It was defense that allowed IU to keep the lead for the final 10 minutes of a close game.
“We knew this was going to be a grind-out game, and the only way was to basically just buckle down on defense and just try and take away some of the key tendencies like Koenig and Hayes and what they wanted to do,” Ferrell said.
As the Hoosiers continue to adjust to the absence of Blackmon Jr., their second-leading scorer, freshman forward OG Anunoby is helping make that transition a little smoother.
In three games, Anunoby has scored 30 points and made his presence known beyond the arc, hitting seven of his nine attempts this season.
Tuesday night, he contributed defensively as well, helping to guard Wisconsin’s best player Nigel Hayes.
“He’s an excellent defender, and that’s for sure,” Crean said. “His confidence is growing, you can see that with the way he’s shooting the ball. As I said other times before one of the reasons we recruited him is because of the way he could shoot.”
The win over Wisconsin marks IU’s third conference win in as many tries and the team's eighth-straight victory.
But despite the improvements his team has made thus far, Crean said he doesn’t like reflecting on past refinements– those are for the end of the season. He wants to continue to see that game by game.
“I’m just obsessed with us getting better. Obsessed with it,” Crean said. “That’s the way they’ve got to be.”
