IU men's basketball beats Demons’ pressure in victory

After winning his first two exhibition games as coach at IU, Tom Crean took his Hoosiers to a victory in their regular-season debut against Northwestern State 83-65 on Saturday.

In a spirited but sloppy game, the Hoosiers broke Northwestern State’s press often, leading to several free throws and open looks at the basket.     

While the end result is exactly what IU wanted, the game was anything but flawless. Despite forcing 30 turnovers, the Hoosiers turned the ball over 23 times themselves. Seventeen of IU’s 25 made field goals came off assists, but the Hoosiers were out-rebounded by 11, allowing the Demons to grab 27 offensive rebounds.

Crean acknowledged his undersized team needs to work on its rebounding, and that it needs to become one of the best box-out teams in the country, especially once IU plays teams with more size.

“We’ve got to understand that we have to get into bodies,” Crean said. “We have to be aggressive with it.”

Members of the team credited the less-than-capacity crowd for its energy. Fans in particular took exception to Northwestern State point guards Michael and Logan McConathy – sons of coach Mike McConathy.

Sophomore Logan McConathy got into a spat with IU junior center Tijan Jobe. When Logan McConathy went to the bench, he got into an exchange with some of the students in the south bleachers. From that point on, he was booed loudly every time he touched the ball.

The crowd spent most of its time cheering for the Hoosiers, taking note of every good pass and hustle play with delight. IU freshman guard Verdell Jones, who filled the stat sheet with 18 points, five assists, four rebounds, three blocks and three steals, approved of the fans’ overall support.

“I thought it was great,” Jones said. “I thought they gave us a lot of energy when they came out.”

Other strong performances for the Hoosiers came from IU junior guard Devan Dumes and IU freshman forward Tom Pritchard. Dumes scored 21 points, and Pritchard added a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

“It was a good momentum booster for the whole team and the whole fan base,” Dumes said. “We’re happy we got the first one under our belt.”

Pritchard’s double-double came in just 24 minutes of action, partially due to early foul trouble. The freshman picked up two fouls early in the first half, but Crean had him play with them later in the half, mostly out of the necessity.

“I tried to stop my guy from catching the ball,” Pritchard said. “I had to stay up straight, something that coach calls ‘verticality.’”

The effort exhibited by the Hoosiers impressed Northwestern State coach Mike McConathy. A regular opponent against some of the bigger-name programs, McConathy said the effort shown by IU is not often matched by other top-tier opponents.

“A lot of times, you don’t see the big-time programs play as hard as they played tonight,” McConathy said. “Even though they may put it on you pretty good, they competed every play, and I think that’s a credit to the staff that Coach Crean assembled here.”