The IU men’s basketball team didn’t get fancy against Maryland on Thursday. They played their game and didn’t let the Terrapins get into a rhythm.
IU coach Tom Crean summed up his team’s style in two simple sentences.
“We want to play,” Crean said. “You can never underrate shooting.”
This team is built to shoot. Look at the roster and you find name after name of guys who can knock down the three. With the exception of sophomore forward Troy Williams, each starter is deadly from outside. Plus two of the Hoosiers’ top subs are weapons from deep.
That’s something IU didn’t have with junior forward Hanner Mosquera-Perea on the court. The 6-foot-9 big man obviously has his merits. He is IU’s best rebounder, rim-protector, and back-to-the-basket forward.
But, like I said, this team is a shooting team. With Mosquera-Perea of the floor, that puts another sharpshooter on the perimeter, usually sophomore forward Collin Hartman. That makes it tough on other teams who have to worry on closing out on four, and sometimes five different Hoosiers.
That brings up the question: Is IU a better team without Hanner Mosquera-Perea on the floor?
IU is now 5-1 in Big Ten conference play, something nobody expected this year. Mosquera-Perea has been healthy for three games, and injured for three games.
In the first three games, a win at Nebraska, a loss at Michigan State, and a win at home against Ohio State, IU struggled from deep. The Hoosiers shot a combined 16-of-66 from deep in those games. That’s just a paltry 24.2%, well below what this team is capable of.
In IU’s last three games, wins against Penn State, Illinois, and Maryland, the Hoosiers have caught fire. They have knocked down 35-of-68 from downtown. That’s a Kyle Korver-esque 51.5% clip.
Junior forward Yogi Ferrell, who hit 7-of-8 threes against Maryland, said that Hartman’s shooting is one of the more visible advantages of having Hartman on the floor.
“We basically start all five of us being shooters,” Ferrell said. “So when we go out there, they may think they have it matched up when we’re playing defense, but at the end of the day, they have to guard us too."
“So when Collin gets the ball on the wing, the big always flies out at him, and he just drives right by him for either a layup or a pass. And he can knock down the three.”
Now, I’m not by any means saying Mosquera-Perea is a bad player. He certainly brings an element of size to a very undersized Hoosier squad. But the fact is, this team’s success is determined by how well they shoot. And if they can get another shooter on the floor, they’ll have greater success.
The other benefit of not having a true big man inside is the additional traffic that brings to the paint. Not only do the Hoosiers have a good shooting ability, but many of them are great on the drive as well.
That includes Hartman, who Crean said is a better athlete than shooter.
“He’s a skill player, as I always remind him,” Crean said. “We offered him a scholarship not for his shooting, but for his ability to play the game – for his passing and the way he makes his teammates better.”
There’s something to be said about regressing to the mean from behind the arc after the slow start, but there’s an obvious variable that has been isolated in conference play. Even when Mosquera-Perea returns, Hartman should stay in the starting lineup.
Hartman makes this team better than Mosquera-Perea.
