Guards impressive in Creek's absence

The storyline for IU heading into Thursday’s game against Michigan was which guard step up in injured freshman Maurice Creek’s absence.

Would it be senior Devan Dumes, sophomore Verdell Jones, junior Jeremiah Rivers or freshman Jordan Hulls?

As it turned out, the answer was all of them.

The Hoosiers lost their best scorer in Creek, but in his absence, the rest of the guards collectively put together an outstanding game.

“We have a really good nucleus,” Dumes said. “Missing Mo, it was a big thing for us to step up.”

Although Creek was the Hoosiers' go-to guy on offense, the IU guards needed to do a lot for the team other than simply putting the ball in the basket. Dumes, Jones, Rivers and Hulls combined for 46 points, but they did indeed do more than just score Thursday.  

Jones dished out 5 assists, while the other three pitched in 2 each. Jones recorded 3 steals, and both Dumes and Rivers had a pair as well.

Most impressively, however, was the starting guard trio of Hulls, Rivers and Jones combining for 22 of the team’s 31 rebounds. Behind 9 boards from Rivers, 8 from Jones and 5 from Hulls, the guards did exactly what IU coach Tom Crean has needed them to do since the Kentucky game - rebound.

“That’s how we have to play,” Crean said. “We’d have to play that way whether Maurice was in there or not. You’ve heard me say it: We have to get guard rebounds. We’re not big enough to just come down and play and think that we’re going to outrebound people because of our size.”

Also impressive was how well the Hoosiers took care of the ball. IU committed just a single turnover in the second half, and the team committed only two turnovers in the final 28 minutes – both by sophomore big man Tom Pritchard.  

On the other side, Rivers truly showed why he has been dubbed a defensively specialist, while Dumes played the tough defense Crean had praised him for frequently this past week.

Among other impressive stat lines, Jones recorded 20 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals. Also quite noteworthy was Jordan Hulls’ 8-for-8 effort from the foul line, including six in the final 23 seconds.  

The starting guards each played 35 minutes, while Dumes played a solid 22 minutes off the bench – especially in the first half. The senior talked about how he shared the ball well and also was solid defensively, but he was he even quicker in calling it a “good win for the team.”

Freshman forward Christian Watford was also quick to recognize the team effort, in particular those guards.  

“Everybody played great,” Watford, who scored 19 of his own, said. “Verdell was phenomenal, Jeremiah was phenomenal, Jordan was phenomenal down the stretch too. Devan played a great game, too. He shot the ball well, he hit some key shots, some tough shots. They did a great job of rebounding for us and getting the ball inside, too.”

Even Daniel Moore got in on the act, recording a big steal midway through the second half, ultimately leading to a bucket from Pritchard.  

As big as the Pittsburgh win was for the Hoosiers, this one was monumental, though Michigan’s record might not show it.

But for the cream and crimson to continue to compete in the Big Ten, they will need a similar great effort from those guards day in and day out.

It got them to 1-0 in Big Ten play – how many wins they get from here will depend on similar quality.