This Hoosier team has a lot of shortcomings. They still lack depth in the post, they turn the ball over too much and they need to box out better to prevent offensive rebounds.
But they do one thing great, and they’re lucky it’s the most important part of the game.
This team can shoot.
Nothing is more important to the game of basketball. Defense is key, but a good offensive team will still score on a great defensive team.
IU may have fallen to No. 4 Louisville 94-74, but the score doesn’t show the close game that IU made it for 32 out of 40 minutes.
The Hoosiers gave the Cardinals a scare for a while, and while moral victories are a fool’s game to play, IU showed what they could do. Nobody scored 70 on Louisville this season before IU.
I’m certainly not saying IU is one of the best in the country, but its shooting will keep them in games in which they would otherwise have no business ?being.
IU saw a really good Louisville team Tuesday and stuck with the Cardinals for most of the game. After that, the Hoosiers were visibly tired and their shooting was affected. The Hoosiers shot 0-9 from three after starting 8-11. That’s why Louisville pulled away.
Well, actually, Louisville pulled away in the first half, when IU Coach Tom Crean put an inexplicable lineup on the floor that included freshman center Jeremiah April. The Hoosiers were able to recover thanks to, yep, their shooting.
April may turn into a good player by the end of his career in Bloomington, but he’s certainly not ready to square up with one of the best players in the country in Louisville’s junior forward Montrezl Harrell.
Crean has been criticized before for his substitution patterns, but this was one of his more egregious offenses.
This game was one of the most important of the year for this Hoosier team. How often do you get to play a top-5 opponent in Madison Square Garden on ESPN for the Jimmy V Classic?
Speaking of Harrell, he had his way with the IU frontcourt. He finished shooting 10-of-13 for 21 points and 11 rebounds. And more than half of those field goals were thunderous dunks.
This game will show up as a loss on IU’s record, but I think the Hoosiers learned a lot from this game.
The frontcourt continues to be an issue, but junior forward Hanner Mosquera-Perea looked like a different player than we’ve seen. If he continues to play like that, and freshman forward Emmitt Holt keeps playing smart, the battle down low could be less damaging.
We also found out that if junior guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell is not on the floor, the offense can become stagnant. A lot of players get labeled as “glue guys” when they have good chemistry with their teammates, but Ferrell takes that term to another level. With him on the bench, IU actually does fall apart offensively.
IU needs to practice beating the press. Too many turnovers occurred before IU got into their offense. Priority No. 1 is to get the ball up the floor. Everything else comes second.
Those are the things to take away from Louisville. The first one is the most promising. Mosquera-Perea has always had that potential, and perhaps he’s finally realizing it.
crkrajew@indiana.edu
