Freshman forward Trayce Jackson-Davis raised both of his arms and made a dunking motion toward junior center Joey Brunk when they were going back down the court.
On the prior possession, senior guard Devonte Green found Brunk alone in the paint off a one-handed bounce pass. When Brunk went up for the initial layup, he missed. But he followed the missed attempt and tipped the ball in to secure the two points.
Brunk scored 16 points and pulled down eight rebounds on the evening as IU men’s basketball downed Princeton University 79-54 to move to 5-0 on the season. The transfer from Butler University doesn’t often make the flashy plays, but Wednesday night he showed how his presence in the paint will continue to play an important part.
“He (Brunk) was a huge help,” Green said. “The other team had a good big man and we needed somebody to answer the call. And Joey stepped up, and he was big for us on both sides of the ball.”
Right from the tip, Princeton doubled the post each time anyone on IU’s front court received the ball. It forced the Hoosiers to make constant passing from the post rather than backing down the defender instantly. This forced the IU big men to make a lot of decisions in the half-court offense.
Last season, IU didn’t have a true center that could put the ball on the court and make the right decisions. With Brunk, IU now has a 6-foot-11-inch center who is comfortable with dribbling out of double teams and is willing to consistently put his body on the line.
“Obviously, it's a lot more fun to play when the ball's moving around,” Brunk said. “It's not just sticking in somebody's hands. And we play three-on-three and four-on-four in practice and it builds those habits of finding each other off screens and sharing the ball and being unselfish.”
Brunk’s final points of the game came on his first dunk. Junior guard Al Durham found Brunk off the pick and roll for an alley-oop opportunity where he didn’t jump far off the ground but easily slammed it home with two hands.
Whether it’s on the defensive end or offensive end, Brunk has shown he’s capable of maintaining a cool and calming presence for a team that thrives going fast and operating in the open floor.
With the grind of the Big Ten season yet to come, Brunk has already proven he’s going to be relied on from night in and night out to perform like he did against Princeton if IU wants to be competitive.
“He was ready to play tonight,” IU head coach Archie Miller said. “I think he stepped up to the challenge in terms of us playing against a physical body down there. But Joey's a good offensive player. He just hasn't been as aggressive or assertive in games. I thought in our previous games he's tried to play the right way. But in many ways we need Joe to be selfish down there.”
