Analysis: Wittman scores career high in IU win

It’s been a while since a Wittman had a game like that, on this floor – wearing red no less.

With his father, former Big Ten Player of the Year Randy Wittman looking on, Ryan Wittman put on a show for the Assembly Hall crowd of 13,325. The elder Wittman never wore solid red on that court, though.

Ryan Wittman, a junior forward for Cornell, made the old man proud Sunday afternoon, pouring in a game-high and career-high 28 points. The younger Wittman hit 5-of-12 from behind the arc on the way to his best career game for the Big Red.

“He got a couple of baskets that we lost him on, but for the most part, he earned his baskets,” said IU coach Tom Crean, who also acknowledged father and son in what has become a ritual pregame video address to the crowd.

The older Wittman, part of the 1981 national title team and 1983 Big Ten Player of the Year, was in the crowd to watch his son. Randy Wittman is the head coach of the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves, who were in between games against Denver and Charlotte.

Cornell’s Wittman said he hasn’t been inside Assembly Hall since he was young, when he attended camps held by Bob Knight. He said he didn’t feel all that nervous, and his point total would seem to agree.

“I think its more of something you kind of look at before the game,” Ryan Wittman said. “When the game starts, you kind of just zone everything out.”

Pritchard showing well against early competition
Dunno if anyone’s noticed yet this year, but Tom Pritchard looks like an awfully promising piece to Tom Crean’s rather unfinished puzzle.

After the season’s first five games, Pritchard is just one of two freshmen in the Big Ten top 10 in scoring (14.4 PPG), and he’s seventh in the conference in field goal percentage (.596) and fourth in rebounds (7.6).

Cornell coach Steve Donahue effused praise for Pritchard’s play after the freshman forward scored 23 points shooting 7-of-7 from the field plus free throws and grabbed seven rebounds to lead IU to victory.

“I’ve been impressed with him throughout his freshman year,” Donahue said after the game. “I think he knows how to play; he’s a tough kid. I think as he gets more experienced and gets in even better condition, I think he’s going to be a very good player in the Big Ten.”

Two things have impressed me thus far about Pritchard’s early play.

One, he always gets his: He’s hit for at least 13 points in every game he’s played save one, and with the exception of a seven-point, three-rebound performance against St. Joseph’s he’s averaging 17.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.

Two, his play in the post has shown marked improvement every time out. The Ohio native has improved his positioning and reaction with his back to the basket, and his 7-for-7 evening from the floor Sunday showed signs of improved finishing for a player that has struggled to put away short buckets in traffic.

It’s early, but Pritchard has to be on the shortest list for Big Ten Freshman of the Year right now.

And now the ugly
The Hoosiers are still turning the ball over far, far too much, and it will cost them soon. Against Cornell, IU gave it away 20 times – 10 in each half – and the Big Red held a 20-12 advantage in points off turnovers.

So far this season, Crean’s team is committing an average of 18.5 turnovers per game, with a turnover ratio of minus-eight. Those, my friends, are the mathematics of defeat.

“We’ve just got to get better with the turnovers. I harp on it with them,” Crean said after the game. “We show them the stats, we show them the numbers, and it’s the old baseball analogy – and they’re going to get sick of hearing it – but we’re going to have to get into the mindset where we’re hitting singles; we’re not trying to hit triples and home runs.”

Monday rundown
Wack stats of the game:
Four different IU players had six or more rebounds, ranging from 5-foot-11 Daniel Moore to 6-foot-9 Tom Pritchard. The Hoosiers finished with a 34-18 scoring advantage in the paint.

Heard from Assembly Hall: “It’s going to hit at some point, thank god it did not hit today – we were very afraid that it had. We were so quiet before the game.”
-Tom Crean, on whether his team was suffering from “travel lag” after returning from the Maui Invitational last week

Last word
It wasn’t always pretty, but then it might never be with this team.

The Hoosiers overcame turnovers, out-rebounded Cornell with style, dominated in the paint and – most importantly – learned how to close out a game.

Twice this season, IU found itself facing a scrappy but outgunned opponent the Hoosiers just couldn’t put away. Sunday afternoon, they succeeded, as Malik Story’s 3-pointer with 3:44 left pushed the lead to 12 and essentially sealed the game. It might not seem like much, but putting games away was one of scores of lessons this team still had yet to learn in the ways of college basketball.

Cross that off the list.