IU defeats Franklin in exhibition opener

If you ask Franklin College, size does matter.

The IU men’s basketball team used an overpowering roster to score 54 points in the paint Wednesday in an 89-37 victory against the Division III Grizzlies at Assembly Hall.

The Hoosiers, going up against a team without a player taller than 6-foot-6-inches, owned the area around the basket with 42 rebounds, 17 of them offensive, to Franklin’s 20.

“We got momentum back a few times, and our guys never stopped competing inside of the game,” IU coach Tom Crean said. “We had some defensive goals we wanted to hit. We hit those, and that was important to us.”

The 52-point margin of victory is IU’s highest in an exhibition game under Crean.
Sophomore Christian Watford led the forwards’ charge with 25 points on 9-of-11 shooting, adding five rebounds in a team-high 24 minutes played.

“He’s really working to improve,” Crean said of Watford. “He’s very hungry, and I think he epitomizes where our team is right now.”

Sophomore forward Derek Elston chipped in with two blocks to go with his nine points and six rebounds, while junior forward Tom Pritchard had a team-high seven boards, though he did not record a basket playing with a protected left hand.

But the Hoosiers’ dominance was not contained to the inside. IU shot 7-of-17 from the 3-point line and made 58.7 percent of its shots.

Sophomore guard Maurice Creek and junior guard Matt Roth, both playing in their first game action since season-ending injuries early last year, played 20 and 15 minutes, respectively.

Creek scored 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting, 2-of-7 from the 3-point line. As he struggled at times with his outside shot, Creek used his defense to create offense with three steals.

“There’s going to be some time to get his rhythm back, and we’re going to be careful with the stretches of minutes that he plays and getting loosened back up,” Crean said of Creek.

The Hoosiers used a high-pressure defense throughout the night, forcing the Grizzlies into 28 giveaways. IU cashed in on its hustle with 41 points off turnovers, good for 46 percent of the team’s points overall.

“Obviously we’re not going to be in that percentage all the time, but it does need to move up for us to be successful,” Crean said. “We want to create off of our defense. We want to create off the backboards. We want to be relentless moving forward defensively.”

Junior guard Daniel Moore particularly reaped the benefits of quick hands, using three steals to help toward scoring 12 points.

The Hoosiers also took a number of charges, which Crean said was led by Pritchard, Elston and sophomore guard Jordan Hulls.

“We love charges here,” Hulls said. “It’s a big part of the game, it’s a big momentum changer, and we’re always going to be down to take a charge.”

As if size wasn’t a big enough advantage, the Hoosiers used their depth to create a chasm between the two teams. The Hoosiers had 10 players play 10 minutes or more, compared to Franklin’s seven.

Grizzlies guard Clay Starrett played a team-high 36 minutes, but he didn’t register a point on 0-of-4 shooting. Center Will Conoley led Franklin with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting and added a team-high five rebounds.

The differences in depth showed itself as the game wore on. The Hoosiers didn’t allow Franklin to score between the 9:09 mark and the 3:29 mark of the second half and just six points in the last 13 minutes.

Crean said the turning point came less than 1:30 into the second half when he called a timeout to correct what he thought was a poor defensive effort.

“In that situation, there was a possession there where we weren’t good,” he said. “So we needed to get that established right now that we weren’t going to play that way. It’s one thing to call a timeout. It’s one thing to say what you think. It’s a whole other thing for them to go out and carry it out. And that’s exactly what they did.”