Hoosiers set season-high mark for assists

It started with a pass from sophomore forward Jeremy Hollowell to sophomore point guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell.

On the game’s first possession, IU started with an assist to get its first basket.

Then Ferrell sent a pass to Sheehey for a layup. Hollowell passed on an open look at a 3-pointer and passed inside to open freshman forward Noah Vonleh, who converted a layup and got fouled.

IU started the game with an assist on each of its first six made field goals en route to an 89-68 victory against North Florida on Saturday night at Assembly Hall.

The Hoosiers finished the game with a season-high 17 assists, their most since the tournament game against James Madison on March 22, when they also had 17.

IU Coach Tom Crean said coming into the game the Hoosiers set a goal of finishing with 17 or more assists and cutting down on turning the ball over. IU also finished with a season-low 11 turnovers.

“It’s amazing what happens when we pass the ball like that and the turnovers do cut down,” Crean said.

Ferrell finished with a season-high seven assists. IU assisted on 17 of its 32 field goals.

Crean and sophomore forward Austin Etherington said IU averaged around 17 assists per game last year. Crean said last year the team usually had a goal of 20 assists for every game, but with the talent and experience on the floor, he didn’t have to always emphasize the ball movement because the players just took care of it themselves.

However, with this year’s new team the emphasis is on low-post scoring through Vonleh and having players attack the rim and get to the foul line. Crean said this year he won’t get too worked up about the assist numbers.

He said he knows that isn’t usually his team’s key to success.

“When the ball moves like it does, it’s just really good-looking basketball in the sense of the shot may not go, but you’re getting great movement and all of a sudden it’s contagious,” Crean said.

“And it’s a fine line these days, especially with the team we have, because we want to get it in the post. We want to drive. You’ve got to get to the foul line.”

With the number of assists, it was IU’s best ball movement of the season.

A reporter asked Crean if seeing that sort of movement reminded him of last year’s team — the team he never had to worry about hitting the 20-assist benchmark.

“If I thought about that, I might have been looking in the corner for Victor, Cody or Jordan to pop in there,” Crean said.

Etherington said he knows this team is different from the team he played on last year. He said he understands it’s a different style.

But he also said he understands that when opposing teams pack it in, it makes sense for the team to make the extra pass and have more of the feel of last year’s team.

“We knew we didn’t want to over-penetrate, and knew the extra pass and one more pass is going to be there,” Etherington said. “And tonight, obviously, we did that, and we hit the best assists like we were saying.”

Follow men's basketball reporter Robby Howard on Twitter @robbyhoward1.