Starting with Creighton on Thursday in Assembly Hall as part of the Gavitt Tipoff Games, IU could play up to four teams in the next week from power conferences after its trip to the Maui Invitational is complete next week.
But before the Hoosiers can focus on that trip to Maui, they have to focus on Creighton, which presents challenges of its own.
“It’s a real balancing act to make sure we’re getting better every day and committed to what we have to be good at but at the same time preparing for these games,” IU Coach Tom Crean said. “But right now this is a very hard preparation because frankly they’re better at what we want to be good at.”
These places where the Blue Jays are outplaying the Hoosiers are finding easy baskets in transition, attacking the rim out of its half-court offense and rebounding the ball.
In terms of rebounding, Crean said his team isn’t even close to mid-season form. In fact, the Hoosiers aren’t even at early season form as of yet. Even though the Hoosiers are excelling statistically on both the offensive and defensive glass, Crean said his eyes are telling him something different.
Crean also said if this Creighton team is supposed to finish near the bottom of the Big East as projected by many, then that will be the best conference in college basketball by a wide margin.
As for the Hoosiers, they will need to be at the top of their game offensively and defensively. Senior forward Max Bielfeldt said he isn’t sure which will be more important, just that they both will be.
“It’ll be a lot easier to say once the game’s over tomorrow night,” Bielfeldt said. “We only have two games under our belt. We’ve found some things we need to work on both offensively and defensively.”
Defensively, the Hoosiers need to locate, especially in transition, Crean said. With how fast Creighton can play, and how well it can shoot the ball, losing a defender can lead to an easy three Blue Jay points.
Because the Hoosiers have been practicing guarding their teammates the past few months, they’ve grown comfortable, Bielfeldt said. When playing a different team, they have to be hyper-sensitive on what the opponent is trying to do as a team in the break.
“Everybody has a hard job because you have to be alert and aware,” Crean said. “You can’t watch the ball or someone is going to be cutting behind you or standing wide open for a three in the corner.”
The level of the opponent will be higher, so the team’s focus will need to be heightened throughout the entire game, Crean said. But IU can’t focus too much on what lies ahead, because Creighton could run right by them.
“Right now the most important thing is they stay centered on what we’re doing Thursday night because that team is good,” Crean said. “We’ll take all those measuring sticks that we have to take as a team but right now the most important thing by far is making sure we understand how good Creighton is.”
