INDIANAPOLIS – IU and Butler should play every week. I would watch.
It wasn’t the Hoosiers’ prettiest game, nor was it their best. But the IU men’s basketball team’s 82-73 victory over No. 23 Butler was the most fun to watch of any game they’ve played this year.
In a contest where freshman guard James Blackmon Jr. had only five points, the Hoosiers were particularly impressive on offense. KenPom.com ranks Butler as the 19th best defensive team in the country. IU hung up 82 on them in a game where their best scorer was basically a non-factor.
Cue Troy Williams. The sophomore forward had what I would call the best game of his career, scoring 22 points and hauling in 11 rebounds.
Williams has often been criticized for playing out of control and trying to do too much, but has shown improvement in the last two games. Over that time, Williams has looked in control and confident.
“There are times on the court where I’m going too fast,” Williams said. “I guess over these last games it’s just been coming all together. I'm starting to slow down my thinking and starting to play more aware. Lets just hope I can capitalize on it"
And over the last two games, he has capitalized. Williams has shot 53.8 percent from the field for 36 points in that span and has just two turnovers.
While Williams was IU’s best player in the first half, junior guard Yogi Ferrell owned the second. Ferrell scored all 20 of his points after intermission, including 10 in a row over a three-minute 14-second stretch, and proved that he was the best player on the court.
Ferrell put a ribbon on his performance when he hit a free throw for his 1000th career point. He becomes the 48th Hoosier to reach that number and the seventh under IU Coach Tom Crean.
Ferrell also contributed well defensively. Butler’s junior guard Kellen Dunham poured in 18 points in the first. Ferrell closed the game on the dangerous Dunham and he was limited to just five in the second.
Crean said he feels Ferrell is a severely underrated defensive player.
“He doesn’t get nearly the national credit that he deserves for what kind of two-way player he is,” Crean said. “It doesn’t matter who we ask him to guard, he’ll take that matchup and he’ll do the right things with it. And you saw what happened in the second half.”
Based on how the Hoosiers’ looked in their first 10 games of the season, I thought IU would make the tournament as an eight- or nine-seed. But tonight may have changed my mind. If Williams continues to play like that, he single-handedly can move IU up a seed or two.
He and junior forward Hanner Mosquera-Perea have shown improvement throughout the year. While Williams covered the offensive end, Mosquera-Perea contributed four blocks and altered several more shots down low.
Ferrell has watched those two grow throughout their careers and seen the improvement in their games. He emphasized the importance of them to this team, which is shallow in the frontcourt.
“Their confidence has skyrocketed,” Ferrell said. “Coming right now at this turning point especially going into the big ten season – that’s exactly what we need. Those are two key guys we’re going to need for us.”
