Sophomore forward Juwan Morgan is the ultimate sixth man for the IU basketball team.
To call the 6-foot-8 Morgan a forward is oversimplifying his role because of all the different jobs he can fill on both ends of the court. The Waynesville, Missouri, native can bring the ball up the court smoothly, run the offense, rebound and guard the post and perimeter well.
He fits IU Coach Tom Crean’s motto of playing positionless basketball perfectly by filling every spot on the floor whenever he’s called upon to do so and by being a dependable teammate.
“Whenever I see somebody in there that doesn’t know what they’re doing, I try to know all five spots. That way if they’re stuck on where they need to be, then I can help them,” Morgan said. “Even when I’m in the game, running to another spot, I try to be directing traffic, making sure they know where they’re going and what to do.”
After his first two games this year, Morgan is averaging 6.5 points per game off the bench with 8.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists. The biggest part about his stat line may be he’s only turned the ball over once in that span.
Crean said he didn’t do a lot of planning Wednesday night in the win against UMass Lowell other than making sure he played a lot of guys.
Morgan logged 15 minutes last time on the floor, and different Hoosiers will find their names called Saturday against Liberty depending on the matchups.
The Hoosiers will face the Flames out of the Big South Conference in the second game of the Indiana Classic. Liberty played a close contest against NCAA tournament darling VCU in its last game. The Flames lost to the Rams by five.
Senior guard John Dawson, a transfer from Marquette, has led the way for the Flames in scoring.
Crean put both of his 6-foot-10 forwards, sophomore Thomas Bryant and freshman De’Ron Davis, on the court at the same time Wednesday because of the matchup advantage the Hoosiers had against the River Hawks at the time.
“They actually had a good shooting lineup at that point, so that put a little more pressure on those guys,” Crean said. “It was a good night to test that and put those guys in situations where defensively they have to be away from the basket more, especially De’Ron.”
While adjusting to different spots on the floor becomes a fixture for IU in these early season games against non-power five conference schools, the players have to be ready for any situation they’re put into. Morgan, on the other hand, always has to be ready.
Since that moment he stepped in as IU’s emergency point guard at the end of last year, Morgan hasn’t only gotten better at his all-around game, but he’s also a better teammate. Davis approached Morgan before the season saying he wanted to improve his overall condition of his body, and Morgan gladly helped out the young forward.
“Just pushing him in practice during times when he wants to take breaks when we’re doing full-court things,” Morgan said. “Just making sure he’s in there and getting the reps and, like, he does extra running on off-days and just being there and supporting him with that.”
