IU opens with a slam against Howard on Friday

IU began the its regular season with a dunk and ended in a blowout win.

Coming home

For two of Howard’s players, Friday’s game was not just their season opener, but a homecoming.

Junior guard Kyle Riley and senior guard Curtis White both went to Pike High School in Indianapolis. While the Bison, traveling from Washington, D.C., didn’t manage to get the win in their 83-60 loss, Riley and White said they were still happy to see their families.

“It was good to come back and play for people you love,” Riley said.

The game was also a change for the Bison, who typically play for 1,000 or so fans. Friday’s sold-out crowd was a change for White.

“I’m not used to that atmosphere,” he said. “I’m not used to so many people.”

Both players had played in Assembly Hall before for their respective AAU teams. But White said playing against a team he used to watch growing up took some getting used to.

“Especially at the beginning, I couldn’t catch my wind,” White said. “I had to sit out.”

IU freshman guard Maurice Creek also played for one of his family members. Creek’s mother stopped by to see her son score a team-high 17 points on 63.6 percent shooting.

“I wanted to give her something to go back to home and say, ‘My baby did well,’” Creek said. “That’s just how it is.”

Freshman forward Derek Elston was on fire against Howard, hitting 6 of 7 field goals and scoring 14 points. Despite playing only 14 minutes, Elston tied freshman forward Christian Watford as the team’s second-leading scorer on Friday.

Elston only scored 10 and eight points in the team’s exhibition games, despite seeing more playing time in those two games than against Howard.

Deja vu

The first regular-season game was similar to the second preseason game for IU.

The Hoosiers shot 55.7 percent against Howard and 55.8 percent against St. Joseph’s, while the three-point percentage was 50 percent for both games.

Unfortunately for IU, one of last season’s weaknesses has shown in its three games. Last year, the team averaged 17.5 turnovers a game, the most in the Big Ten. So far they’ve averaged 17 turnovers, including the two preseason games.

Despite the 23-point blowout on Friday, IU coach Tom Crean said the team is still struggling to find its strengths.

“There are certain things you want to hang your hat on at the end of the day,” Crean said. “We don’t have that yet.”

Who’s the leader?

One issue that won’t be resolved quickly is the lack of veterans on the team.

Many look to junior guard Jeremiah Rivers as a natural leader because of his Big East experience, but Crean said the team is still searching for someone to look up to.

“There’s a vacuum in the team for still lack of leadership,” Crean said.

Sophomore guard Matt Roth said the short turnover between Friday and Monday’s games will teach the freshmen how to recover from and prepare for a game quickly.

“It’ll do a lot of good once we get to postseason play,” Roth said.

While the nine veterans – 10 including Rivers – are used to playing games with a short break in between, Crean said having a couple days of rest helps the entire squad.

He also reinforced the idea of players competing for minutes during practice.

“The hardest thing for older guys, they didn’t have to earn anything last year,” he said.