The Hoosiers have increased their defensive presence since conference play began, IU Coach Tom Crean said, and will try to continue this trend and their current 11-game win streak Saturday against Northwestern at Assembly Hall.
In IU’s first six Big Ten games, it maintained an average of 64.1 points a game.
“We’re really focusing in,” senior forward Max Biefeldt said. “We’re a lot clearer on what we want to do. There was a little uncertainty at times in the past, and I think we just really worked on that in practice and just kind of harped on the small things and playing that defense as a unit.”
One thing that has changed has been the presence of sophomore guard James Blackmon Jr.
It was announced Blackmon Jr. was injured before IU’s Big Ten opener against Rutgers. Shortly after, it was announced he would undergo season-ending surgery.
Blackmon Jr.’s injury has meant the Hoosiers have shifted their lineup by adding junior forward Collin Hartman.
But Crean has insisted this hasn’t been the reason for the Hoosiers’ recent defensive success.
“I don’t agree with that at all,” Crean said. “I think guys are getting better in practice. I don’t know how to answer that other than I don’t agree with that. It’s all about improvement.”
Crean did admit, however, that certain players have improved in Blackmon Jr.’s absence in part because they were forced to step up after Blackmon Jr.’s injury.
Players like freshman forwards OG Anunoby and Juwan Morgan and freshman center Thomas Bryant have stepped up, also in part because they are now fully healthy, Crean said.
But really the team has just improved defensively, Crean said, and it just happened to coincide with Blackmon Jr.’s injury.
In many ways, actually, the improvement started before the injury and only truly manifested once conference season began. Once the competition got to a level where the defensive improvement was necessary, that was when it became obvious, Crean said.
Blackmon Jr. was among these players who were improving defensively, but he just didn’t have the opportunity to show the defensive improvement against noticeable opponents, Crean said.
“So, the thing that people — they don’t always see, it’s like this defense, this team getting better. They don’t always see the improvement level of all of them,” Crean said. “Well, James was making improvements too. And when he got hurt, it was at a time when we were hitting the Big Ten schedule.”
Bielfeldt said Blackmon Jr.’s injury did help the defense. Not because of Blackmon himself, really, but because it forced other players to mature quickly. There wasn’t a buffer period for IU to adjust. Big Ten play was starting, so they had to mature immediately.
It forced the Hoosiers to elevate their play. Bielfeldt compared it to last season when he was at Michigan, when the Wolverines were hit with a slew of injuries.
It forced a handful of players, including Bielfeldt, to improve instantaneously. He said he thinks the same thing is happening this year at IU.
“Losing James was that same sort of effect,” Bielfeldt said. “One of our key guys goes down, and it’s that next-man-up mentality of a freshman. You have to go in there and start playing like a veteran.”
