The IU men’s basketball team defeated the University of North Alabama 87-52 in an all-around team effort Sunday afternoon, leading by as much as 39 points.
Despite 18 turnovers, the Hoosiers shut the Lions down on the defensive end totaling 41 defensive rebounds, seven blocks and forcing 18 turnovers. IU was led by sophomore Armaan Franklin, who recorded two career-highs with 19 points and five 3-pointers.
“I think it was just open looks, getting the rhythm, stepping into it with confidence,” Franklin said.
North Alabama went scoreless for the first four minutes of the game until sophomore forward Trayce Jackson-Davis was called for goaltending. The Lions didn’t score their first field goal until the 14:56 mark.
While IU didn’t let North Alabama find the basket easily, IU couldn’t get much started on offense either in the first half.
The Hoosiers found ways to get to the free throw line, but shot just 12 from 22 from the line in the first half.
“We left a lot of points on the floor,” IU head coach Archie Miller said.
They also gave up 11 turnovers before halftime.
Miller said the team didn’t take care of the ball in transition and was too methodical on offensive against the zone.
Just after the under-16 minute timeout, Franklin had the ball stolen from him, but he hustled back down to the other end of the court to block freshman guard Detalian Brown in transition. Even when they couldn’t take care of the ball, the Hoosiers made up for it on defense.
A few minutes later, Franklin knocked the ball out of the Lions’ hands and pushed it in transition to senior guard Al Durham, who missed a contested 3-pointer. The opportunities were there for the Hoosiers, they just couldn’t finish in the first half.
With just two seconds left in the half, IU had a shot clock violation, giving the ball back to North Alabama. But freshman forward Jordan Geronimo picked off the Lions’ inbounds pass and made a driving layup at the buzzer.
Franklin said Miller got into the team during halftime, saying 11 turnovers is unacceptable.
“He just lit a fire under us and made a big emphasis to just take care of the ball,” Franklin said. “Once we take care of the ball, we will get easy looks.”
And that’s what they did coming out into the second half. The Hoosier had 30 field goal attempts — 20 from 3-point range — in the second half.
Junior guard Rob Phinisee opened up the half with two 3-pointers in less than five minutes, after the team only made four in the first half.
Shortly after Phinisee found his rhythm, so did Franklin. He hit back-to-back 3-pointers just before the under-12 minute timeout.
Miller said Phinisee and Franklin stepped up to give everyone else the confidence to take those shots from beyond the arc, too. Freshmen guards Anthony Leal and Khristian Lander followed and hit shots from 3-point range.
Since the schedule looks different than normal due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Miller said it’s been hard to get the freshmen the minutes they need to develop. But he said the four freshmen — Lander, Leal, Geronimo and Trey Galloway — did a really good job. The four freshmen combined for 29 points.
“It is big for our confidence,” Leal said. “We are a deep team and we have really high aspirations, so we all know that it is bigger than just any one of us. So, we are all just ready to get in and do what we can with the minutes that we are given.”
Miller said his team needs to be more than willing to shoot, and that’s what happened in the second half. IU attempted 33 3-pointers against North Alabama — which is more attempts than the team had in any game last year.
After putting away a 35-point win, the Hoosiers will now move onto the Crossroads Classic against Butler University and conference play. Miller said he doesn’t think any team in the country feels like they are where they need to be. He said these last few games have been a good reality check for his team and what they need to do to get better.
