Coming into the season IU head coach Archie Miller talked about how redshirt freshman Jerome Hunter needed to become a consistent outside-shooting threat for his team.
After suffering a lower leg injury, Hunter redshirted his first season with the program. He didn’t even practice.
Hunter saw his first minutes against true competition in the exhibition and season opener but shot a combined 2-10 from the field and 0-5 from the three-point line.
In the 85-74 win over Portland State University, Hunter had nine points off the bench but more importantly had two made 3-pointers in the first half.
“Jerome and Race were great in terms of getting in there early in the season and impacting the game,” Miller said. “I thought Jerome hit some really big shots in the first half to give us some confidence.”
Both shots Hunter made from beyond the arc came at a crucial time down the stretch of the first half. IU was only up by five points with 3:21 left. Hunter sparked his team to a late run leading into halftime.
After a missed layup by Portland State, Hunter grabbed the defensive rebound, and 10 seconds later, sophomore point guard Rob Phinisee found him outside at about the middle of the arc. Hunter stepped in as he caught the ball and hit his first three of the game for IU, and for his career.
Despite the cold streak to start the season, Hunter was confident with his shot. It gave his team the boost it needed.
“To watch him come out there, he's fearless with his shot,” Miller said. “I know that part of it.”
A little over a minute after the first made three, Hunter drained his second of the game with two minutes left in the half. It pushed the IU lead back to double-digits and gave the team momentum before halftime.
Before this season, no one knew what to expect out of Hunter. As the second highest rated recruit for IU last season, it was unknown if flashes of that same high school player would be shown a year later.
It’s only the second game of the season and not a double-digit performance, but Hunter showed the flashes IU needed to see still in November as he continues to progress and figure out his role within the team.
“Jerome, he did a great job today,” junior guard Al Durham said. “He sparked us. He came off the bench, hit two big shots for us. That takes confidence. I feel like he's going to be a really, really, really big part of our team.”
