Hulls shines again despite IU loss

MADISON, Wis. ­— On Wednesday, IU coach Tom Crean stressed how important it was for Jordan Hulls to get his shots.

Throughout much of a 69-60 loss to Wisconsin on Thursday, the sophomore guard turned his coach’s wish into a reality.

Hulls scored 10 of IU’s first 14 points, showcasing both his ability to set up from the 3-point line and drive the lane. His hot start pushed the Hoosiers to a surprising 34-30 halftime lead against the No. 17 Badgers.

He then scored four more points early in the second half to give IU a six-point lead. After Wisconsin fought back to take its first lead since 2-0, Hulls knocked down another jumper to give the Hoosiers a 48-47 lead.

But that lead, with 11:32 remaining, would be IU’s last. It would also be the last points of the game for Hulls.

Hulls had a season-high 12 shot attempts, eclipsing his previous high of nine, but IU coach Tom Crean said the inordinately high number of shots were simply by happenstance due to the flow of the game.

“We don’t come in the game and say, ‘Ok, Jordan’s got to shoot five straight times’ or ‘Jordan shouldn’t shoot until the second half,’” Crean said. “You let your best players play.”

Crean added that the 7-of-12 effort from the field says more about Hulls’ development as an attacking scorer than about anything the team did to create opportunities.

“I think there’s some growth with him on that part. I don’t think it’s anything special that we’re doing,” Crean said. “I’ve been saying he needs to shoot the ball more since last year. So it’s not like it’s anything different. But he was very aggressive [and] he moved the ball. We wanted to attack from the very beginning and he did an excellent job with that.”

Hulls attacked from the opening tip, but it wasn’t with his usual long-range shot. Hulls’ first points came on driving layups, a phase of his game Hulls said has always been there, albeit latent.

“That is part of my game. People just don’t see it very often,” he said of the drives. “They just see me spotting up, shooting threes. But I’ve been working on that, and that’s just me trying to be more aggressive on the offensive end.”

As Hulls showed as recently as the Hoosiers’ last game, a higher level of offensive aggression does not necessarily correlate with IU success.

In the 80-61 victory against Michigan last Saturday, Hulls had just four attempts, but he knocked down all of them.

After his last bucket Thursday, Hulls went 0-of-3 from the field, and Wisconsin went on a 22-12 run to close out the game.

The loss to Wisconsin — IU’s seventh straight to the conference foe ­— was another example of the Hoosiers losing despite of Hulls. Only once in IU’s nine losses has Hulls not registered a field goal, and only one other time has he scored less than 10 points.

He has now scored in double-digits in seven consecutive games, though the Hoosiers record in that span is 1-6.

But that won’t deter Hulls, who said it not only bodes well for him to take his chances but opens opportunities for teammates.

“Coaches and the other players have confidence in me to take shots,” Hulls said. “I don’t know how many shots I took tonight, but that doesn’t really matter. If I’m open, I’m going to try to shoot it and be more aggressive.”