When Ferrell was asked to talk about his teammate’s performance — one in which Anunoby came off the bench to score 11 points while shooting 3-for-3 from beyond the arc — he described the freshman as normally a “shy, quiet guy.”
Anunoby just looked down, smiling and shaking his head.
He has been anything but quiet lately on the court as he’s helped lift the Hoosiers to a 3-0 start in conference play.
With the news that sophomore guard James Blackmon Jr. would be out for the rest of the season, IU Coach Tom Crean will look to his bench more and more heading into Sunday’s matchup with Ohio State and beyond.
Blackmon Jr. had season-ending knee surgery Tuesday afternoon. To make up for his 15.8 points per game, Crean said, he’ll need contributions from several players — that production can’t all come from the same place.
“Sixteen points are not going to come from one person, and they’re probably not going to come from two people,” he said. “They’ve got to come mixed up, and the best thing we can do is continue to make hustle points.”
This is the first significant playing time Anunoby has seen since the beginning of the season and the first time IU has needed big minutes from him in big games.
During the first three Big Ten games, Anunoby has averaged more than 14 minutes, along with 10 points and four rebounds per game.
Ferrell and freshman center Thomas Bryant said they began to see Anunoby’s potential throughout this past summer and even earlier than that.
“I’ve seen him grow a lot,” Bryant said. “I saw the potential when we came in for the summer when he was finishing with the guards instead of the bigs. That caught my eye quick.”
But it’s not just Anunoby making a difference.
Ferrell said he trusts guys like freshman guard Harrison Niego and senior forward Ryan Burton to come in and help out in Blackmon Jr.’s absence.
“You never know when your name is going to be called when you’re on the bench,” Ferrell said. “And you’ve got to have that mindset of ‘Okay, how am I going to go in and impact this game for our team to win?’”
Maybe more than anything, the Hoosiers will need their shy freshman to continue stepping up.
When asked if he saw himself as a guard or a forward, Anunoby answered simply.
“Just a basketball player,” he said.
That was it, nothing more.
“I told you he’s shy,” Ferrell said.
“It’s not true,” Anunoby responded quietly. “I’m not shy.”
