IU to face No. 16 Ohio State in 1st road contest

For the six freshman players on IU’s men’s basketball team, their Wednesday matchup against Ohio State will be a new experience.

They have been on the road before in their games in Puerto Rico and at the Madison Square Garden in New York. However, they have not experienced a true road game.

Sophomore forward Tom Pritchard is one of the few Hoosiers that has played in what IU coach Tom Crean called a “totally hostile environment.” He’s seen the pandemonium of Kentucky’s Rupp arena and played in Purdue’s Mackey Arena in the heated rivalry setting.

“I think they just gotta experience it,” he said. “I think they’re gonna notice once they get on the floor that a road game’s a different atmosphere. We’ve been practicing for that. It’s just something that we gotta work through, and we’ll be fine.”

Crean said it is necessary for the team to focus on the fundamentals of the game and not get frustrated if shots don’t fall. Despite the Buckeyes allowing more than a third of opposing 3-pointers to fall and the Hoosiers’ hot streak from beyond the arc lately, without execution, he said “those numbers are not good.”

“We just have to understand that we pack our shoes, we pack our uniforms,” he said of the road trip. “That doesn’t necessarily mean our jump shot is getting packed. It doesn’t necessarily mean our free-throw shooting is getting packed.

It’s corny, but they have to make sure their ability to guard, their ability to get on the glass, their ability to share the ball – those things have got to come with us. We can’t focus on ‘this person’s gotta make this many shots’ or ‘we’ve gotta get this guy that many shots.’”

Pritchard said it its important for IU to play its game, not OSU’s.

“We have to focus on our offense and defense and really stick it to them,” he said.

Ohio State, which started out the year as No. 16 in the nation and has since dropped out of the top-25 teams because of losses to Wisconsin and Michigan in Big Ten play, is currently 10-4, with its other losses to North Carolina and Butler, both currently in the top-15 in the nation.

Crean affirmed that OSU is still dangerous, regardless of their conference record.

“Every one of those guys can get to the basket,” he said. “Of all the teams we’ve played, this team really wants to attack the middle, and they’re very good at it.”

In order to keep the Buckeyes from getting to the middle, freshman forward Christian Watford said the Hoosiers must play as one.

“Just play with each other,” he said. “Just have each other’s back. No one guys going to beat us.”

IU’s first road experience will be a valuable lesson to the Hoosiers and allow them to continue their search for leadership, Crean said. His team, regardless of talent, is not a veteran squad yet, and needs to continue to learn.

“Going on the road helps you understand that,” he said. “If you’re not together on the road, if you’re not talking and echoing and all those things that go on, it can get away from you in a hurry. We have to learn how to do all of that, and I’m anxious to see how we do.”