It wasn’t the start that IU men’s basketball wanted. The crowd energy wasn’t as much of a factor Friday night like it was Wednesday against North Carolina, but when the IU walked off the court it increased the home win streak to 22.
IU missed its first eight shots from the field as SIU-Edwardsville had an early 4-0 lead on the Hoosiers before the first media timeout. IU Coach Tom Crean subbed in sophomore forward Zach McRoberts for super-star sophomore forward Thomas Bryant and on queue he hit a three pointer.
Junior guard James Blackmon Jr. hit two free throws on the other side of the media timeout and IU never trailed the rest of the game. The Hoosiers took care of its opponent from the Ohio Valley Conference 83-60.
“We had a slow start with our movement,” Crean said. “We were getting good shots other than maybe one, and then we picked it up and that energy and second wind came.”
On a night where sophomore forward OG Anunoby was donning a grey sweat suit, crutches and a medical boot two other young big men stepped up in his absence.
Sophomore forward Juwan Morgan earned his third career start and did not disappoint. The Waynesville, Missouri native picked up his first career double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. He was perfect from the field knocking down all eight of his shots en route to his career high night in points and rebounds.
“I think just mentally I’ve been thinking too much about shooting and things like that,” Morgan said. “I think I just got back to at where I was last year with things that helped the team and I didn’t have to make plays or anything. If I just ran hard and set a screen then I knew my teammates would find me.”
In the first half it was the other young big man that provided the spark for IU, freshman forward De’Ron Davis. The big bodied Davis checked in the game with 11:30 left in the first half and by halftime he already had a career high 10-points.
Davis led the Hoosiers from the free throw line nailing all six of his attempts finishing with a total of 14 points. After shooting just 66 percent from the line two nights before against North Carolina and entering the game just under 70 percent, the Hoosiers were 19-for-19 at one point against the Cougars.
Crean said that the team didn’t run any live scrimmage in practice the day before the game because a lot of them were banged up from playing UNC, something he’s never done in his 18 years as a coach.
“When you play a game, have a day off, then game the next day the majority of the team didn’t do anything live,” Crean said. “They did more walkthrough type things, watched a lot of film. The bulk of our main guys playing didn’t do anything cause I was certainly concerned about our energy.”
The energy inside the arena was far less from what they had experienced against the Tar Heels. With Anunoby out with injury and Bryant and Blackmon shooting a combined five-for-21 from the field, the Hoosiers found different ways to bring energy to the game Friday night in the victory.
“We have respect for every team and we have respect for the game, when the crowd isn’t into it like they are against North Carolina or teams like that we still have to play our game,” Morgan said. “We can’t let that get to us. We have to bring our own energy, we still have to get stops, still have to hit the post just like we would if North Carolina was in here.”
