DES MOINES, Iowa -- He was seemingly doing everything against Chattanooga.
Collin Hartman was scoring. He was rebounding and setting up his teammates for easy baskets. He was also forcing turnovers, blocking shots and diving on the floor after loose balls.
The junior forward did all this in IU’s 99-74 win against Chattanooga in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday while also wearing a sizable wrap protecting an injured right wrist.
“As you could tell tonight there wasn’t really any limitations to the way I was playing and moving the ball and making layups,” Hartman said.
He finished the game with eight points, five assists, four rebounds, three steals and a block.
One area Hartman might have been limited was with his shooting from distance. In practice Wednesday, taking jump shots were the only part he didn’t participate in. He took one corner 3-pointer Thursday night and barely hit the rim on a shot that just didn’t look quite right.
But other than that one shot, Hartman's injury never really entered anyone’s mind. Especially when he was diving onto the floor and reaching his injured wrist into a mass of bodies to try and get the ball.
“Every team needs a guy like that,” senior forward Max Bielfeldt said. “He sets the tone as far as the toughness and it’s great to have a guy like that.”
It’s those types of plays that explain why Hartman always seems to have some sort of injury. He just goes all-out, his teammates say. Bielfeldt brought up the rib injury he suffered in October after trying to take a charge against junior forward Troy Williams in practice.
Williams himself echoed this.
“Collin plays hard with every possession whether it’s on offense or on defense,” Williams said. “He just finds a way to get open, gets everybody else open and hits people when they’re open. He gets rebounds and gets big stops too.”
After hurting the wrist in IU’s Big Ten Tournament loss against Michigan on March 11, IU Coach Tom Crean altered practice so Hartman could still participate.
Freshman center Thomas Bryant said Crean forced Hartman to do things without endangering his wrist too much.
“Coach was building stuff for him to get better and have to move without using that right wrist so much,” Bryant said. “It really helped a lot that he could go out there and stay aggressive with that wrist hurting.”
Hartman was certainly aggressive Thursday. He was back-cutting along the baseline for open layups and driving toward the basket.
But it was also his play without the ball that made his performance stand out to his teammates. Not only was he working to get himself open, but he was constantly working to get his teammates open.
This was one of many ways Hartman helped the Hoosiers win Thursday. The plays off the ball, the points, the rebounds, the assists, the lock-down defending and the effort all played a part.
He did it all with an injured wrist and he’s going to need to do it again if IU is going to beat Kentucky on Saturday.
“He’s a tough kid,” senior guard Nick Zeisloft said. “He can really play the game without the ball, with the ball. He had a heck of a game tonight and he’s going to have a heck of a game Saturday as well.”
