IU beat SIU-Edwardsville by an official score of a lot to a little.
The Hoosiers played great as long as you don’t look too hard at the competition.
After the UNC victory, the crowd had a rightful lull as did most of the players and everyone else in the building. On Wednesday night, IU took it to the No. 3 team in the country with a raucous crowd pushing the squad to success.
The subsequent game was bound to be a disappointment no matter the opponent.
The 40 minutes against the Cougars may have meant nothing to a vast majority, but it did matter to two Hoosiers, sophomore forward Juwan Morgan and freshman forward De'Ron Davis. With sophomore forward OG Anunoby’s high ankle sprain sidelining him for the foreseeable future, this was the first test for the two big men to show their wares.
“Let’s see what you’ve got,” thought the Hoosier faithful.
“Don’t worry,” Morgan and Davis said with their play Friday night.
Starting in place of Anunoby, Morgan went eight-for-eight from the field including a three-pointer and ten rebounds in twenty minutes. Off the bench, Davis contributed 14 points on six shots. He also had three rebounds and three assists.
The duo’s scoring took up almost 40-percent of the Hoosiers’ final total.
“When somebody goes down, we all have to be ready to step up,” Morgan said in regards to making up for Anunoby’s loss. “I don’t think it takes just one person to do everything OG does for us, but I think collectively we all have to do that for him.”
One of the main forfeitures of No. 3 possibly being out for the next few games is on the glass. This season, Anunoby had increased his total by more than three rebounds per game and one question lingered. Who would replace him?
Morgan, in particular, was breathtaking around the rim with five boards on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.
“Losing OG for this game, Juwan was rebounding for two tonight,” IU Coach Tom Crean said. “That was a tremendous hustle performance.”
Anunoby’s injury is certainly a monkey wrench in IU’s season, but it can unquestionably be endured. Before Big Ten play, which begins Dec. 28, IU plays a pretty weak schedule. 4-3 Southeast Missouri State and 2-4 Houston Baptist are the next games respectively for the Hoosiers. This is followed by the Crossroads Classic against 7-0 Butler and then home games against 2-5 Delaware State and 4-3 Austin Peay.
With the exception of Butler, it’s not a murderer’s row upcoming.
This Anunoby injury isn’t a good thing—hot take by yours truly—but it can result in some unanticipated benefits.
With ten minutes left in the second half, Morgan was subbed out as the crowd erupted celebrating his terrific play. These types of moments are few and far between for players not named Thomas Bryant, James Blackmon Jr. and Anunoby. Allowing some others to soak up the sunlight might not be the worst thing for IU.
A bit of an ego is a positive. Some may have too much—winks at the camera—but having extra playing time in meaningful minutes will work wonders for Morgan and Davis later in the season.
