Freshman forward finds place on court amidst flagrant fouls, elbows

Through the first three games of the season, Cody Zeller has seen teams constantly double-team him in the post as soon as he catches the ball, turning the big man into a facilitator.

That all changed Saturday.

When it became evident Savannah State was content to play Zeller straight up, the freshman went to work by scoring a career-high 23 points, leading IU to a 94-65 victory.

The 23 points nearly doubled his season average of 12 points coming into the game, and Zeller was 6-of-7 from the field for the second straight contest.

“I’m feeling really comfortable just trying to get used to these guys,” Zeller said. “I scored a lot of easy buckets tonight just on dump-offs. Everyone is just getting in the lane, dumping it off to me. I’m not doing a whole lot. We are just starting to mold now, so it’s (the transition to the college game) going well.”

The physicality of the game hasn’t fazed Zeller, either, as he has been the recipient of two flagrant fouls in the first four games. He leads the team in free throws made (22) and attempts (29).

With 8:44 minutes left in the first half, Savannah State forward Christopher Spears fouled Zeller on a breakaways, which drew the “flagrant one” foul. Zeller made the two free throws, and during the ensuing offensive possession, his layup pushed the lead to double figures for the first time Saturday.

In both flagrant foul cases, there has been no sign of retaliation from Zeller, which didn’t surprise his coach.

“Cody plays with some emotion,” IU Coach Tom Crean said. “He plays with a lot of intensity, but you never look at Cody and think he’s getting emotional about anything.”

Zeller was 11-13 from the line against Savannah State and has missed just four shots from the field this season while shooting 82.6 percent.

On a night when normally efficient scorers Victor Oladipo and Jordan Hulls were kept scoreless through the game’s first 14 minutes, Zeller and the frontcourt added the scoring punch.

Junior forward Christian Watford provided his second straight double-digit scoring performance with 19 points on 6-of-7 shooting. Watford’s ability to stretch the defense from the perimeter and the establishment of Zeller in the post provides IU with the quality frontcourt play needed to compete in the Big Ten.

“You guys are all seeing, just like we’re seeing, the togetherness of those two on the court together and how they work with one another,” Crean said. “We missed a lot of that inside the first two weeks of practice because of Christian’s injury.”

The chemistry of the two showed in the second half. With IU up 26 points and 10 minutes to play, Watford drove the lane and found Zeller in the post. Zeller patiently waited for the contact before converting the layup and getting fouled.

That play started a stretch in which Watford and Zeller combined for 17 points during five minutes, pushing the IU lead to 34 points.

“We have so many weapons on this team that it makes us tough to guard, whether they are double-teaming me, or double-teaming Christian or concentrating on our guards,” Zeller said.

Crean said Zeller was outstanding and credited his defensive performance with 11 of IU’s 55 deflections.

It has been more than a year since Zeller made his commitment to IU, and the impact he has on this team goes well beyond just the individual stats for No. 40.

“It goes back to what I’ve always said about Cody,” Crean said. “I said it when I signed him, and I’ve seen nothing that leads us to believe any differently and everything gets based on this. You can go at him, and you can play through them, and when you have a player like that, it makes everybody better.”