Column: Hoosiers play together to knock off No. 1 Michigan

With ESPN’s spotlight focused on Bloomington Saturday night, the Hoosiers put together their most complete team effort of the season to beat the No. 1 team in the nation.

Whether it was scoring, defending or good, old-fashioned hustle, every Hoosier on the court and in the stands found a way to contribute to IU’s 81-73 victory versus
Michigan.

“We came together when things were getting tight,” forward Victor Oladipo said. “Without everybody we couldn’t win. We knew we needed everybody to step up and play today, and I think everybody did a good job at that.”

After an eventful morning and an afternoon of build-up, the Hoosiers’ starters threw a colossal opening punch with an 18-to-7 run in the first 4:35 of the game that stunned the Wolverines out of the gate.

IU’s opening run saw the starters shoot 4-of-4 from downtown, including two from Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell, and a perfect 6-of-6 from the field.

With each successful shot, the noise and energy of the crowd in Assembly Hall grew until Christian Watford drilled IU’s fourth three-pointer in a row.

When Watford’s three went through, the stadium exploded into a state of euphoria. The woman in front of my seat, in one fluid motion, leapt into her significant other’s arms and made out with him for all of Michigan’s next possession.

This scene defined the opening minutes of the game perfectly to me: it was an all-out IU basketball love affair, and the players were harnessing the energy of the crowd.
“To start off the game, we always feed off the crowd,” sophomore Cody Zeller said. “We have to give a lot of credit to how great the crowd was tonight. It definitely gets us going and it’s unlike anything else.”

When IU plays at the level that they played in the opening five minutes of the game, there is not a team in the nation that can stop them.

But many times this year, IU has had problems sustaining that energy.

That was not the case Saturday night against Michigan.

Once the adrenaline of the opening minutes subsided, the Wolverines, especially sophomore Trey Burke, chipped away at IU’s lead and eventually tied the game at 40 in the early minutes of the second half.

With the first half momentum gone and their backs against the wall, the Hoosiers responded as a team by dialing up the pressure and solidifying themselves as a defensive unit.

In the next three minutes and five seconds, IU rattled off an 11-0 run the Wolverines never recovered from.

It started with the big men down low and was contagious from there.

Throughout the game, IU owned the glass, out-rebounding Michigan 39-29, behind the dominant performances from Christian Watford and Cody Zeller.

The duo of Watford and Zeller combined for 33 points (12-of-17 from the floor), but it was their combined 20 rebounds (10 each) and defensive efforts that were crucial to beat Michigan.

“Christian was everything we needed him to be tonight, very aggressive, did a very good job defensively, posted up made his foul shots, took good shots and had a great confidence about,” IU Coach Tom Crean said. “He’s constantly maturing as a two-way player all the time.”

Along with Watford and Zeller, players like Victor Oladipo, Yogi Ferrell and Jeremy Hollowell stepped up defensively to shut down the Wolverines.

“They have a good defensive team, but they have a couple of guys who in one-on-one matchups are exceptional,” Michigan Coach John Beilein said.

After the game, ESPN analyst Jay Bilas tweeted this stat: in 45 possessions Victor Oladipo guarded four different players and only allowed four points.

Individually, Oladipo is a great defender, but because he is on a team filled with skilled defenders, his talent is maximized because he can trust his teammates will be there to back him up.

Trust is what takes teams from good to great.

“I got two brothers-in-law going to the Super Bowl game tomorrow whose mantras for their team is ‘the team, the team, the team,’” Crean said.

“To me, one thing I heard a long time ago was ‘the star of the team is the team.’ I think the more we understand that and the more guys like Cody and Victor and Christian and Jordan, the more that they know that they are the product of their teammates and their success is the product of their teammates, the better we are.”

With No. 1 Michigan and No. 2 Kansas losing during the weekend, IU should move up to No. 1 in the nation today.

Fittingly, the ranking could not have been earned at a more appropriate time, because, as the world saw on Saturday night, there is no better squad in the nation when the Hoosiers are playing together as a team.