In the battle of dominant big men, sophomore forward Thomas Bryant more than held his own.
Going up against one of the best centers in the country in Purdue’s Caleb Swanigan, Bryant outscored Swanigan, who came into the game the reigning Big Ten Player of the Week.
But, Bryant’s 23 points were not able to help lift IU against its rival, and the Boilermakers defeated the Hoosiers 69-64 Thursday night at Simon Skojdt Assembly Hall.
His teammates counted on him all game long and knew his value to the Hoosiers.
“Very important,” junior guard James Blackmon Jr. said. “Tonight he was very reliable. We always could go to him at any point in time and he would bail us out. The rest of just have to bring the fight that he did.”
IU’s offense struggled at times to get anything going and the Hoosiers finished the game shooting 38.6 percent from the field. Bryant alone shot 66 percent. IU’s duo of junior guards James Blackmon Jr. and Robert Johnson both had off-nights shooting, combing to go five of 25 from the field.
“I think the way Thomas is playing when you look at an individual is really, really impressive because he keeps getting better and better,” IU Coach Tom Crean said. “He had foul trouble in the first half and he recovered from that. The way he’s shooting the ball, he’s doing a lot of good things for us.”
The Hoosiers would turn to Bryant to help salvage the game and he nearly delivered. In the second half, he had 17 points as he attempted to will IU to what would have been a huge victory for its NCAA Tournament résumé.
Bryant had an attacking mentality against Purdue’s front line.
“Just staying aggressive,” Bryant said. “Just taking what the defense gives me. If they collapsed on me, my teammates know that I’ll find them.”
Bryant had to play significant minutes in the second half because freshman forward De’Ron Davis left the game midway through the half through after a collision with Purdue’s Isaac Haas. The forward rotation was also depleted late in the game because sophomore forward Juwan Morgan was dealing with foul trouble.
Bryant's effort wasn’t enough, and he fouled out with just under 50 seconds left in the game.
Bryant’s play has been on the uptick the past few weeks. He has consistently flashed the offensive potential that he showed late last season. Coming into Thursday’s game, he had been averaging 14.8 points per game in Big Ten conference play and shooting 57.5 percent from the field.
Bryant also displayed his 3-point shooting against the Boilermakers. He made three of his four attempts from beyond the arc.
He was also key to shutting down Purdue’s other big man, Haas, who was limited to only six points and shot two of eight.
“We knew what they wanted to do down low,” Bryant said. “Big Haas is a really big body down there, so we had to take the fight to him.”
The loss drops IU two games below .500 in conference play, and now they're fighting for their postseason lives.
“We’ve just got to keep fighting through the thick and thin, ups and downs,” Bryant said. “We just have to stay together, keep coming together.”
