From the bench, head coach Archie Miller yelled for sophomore guard Armaan Franklin to get the ball. Miller said after the game Sunday he wanted Franklin to receive a high ball screen and take his defender one-on-one with an isolation play as the most physical offensive threat on the team.
As the clock ticked down in the final seconds, he pulled the ball back with a crossover before rising up to knock down the jumper with 1.8 seconds remaining to give IU the 67-65 win over No. 8 Iowa.
“He did a good job, he didn’t over force it,” Miller said. “He took a nice little mid-range pull up — that’s part of Armaan’s game and he’s very good at it — and when it left his hands it looked good. Thankful it went in, overtime might have been a little too much for us.”
Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall erupted in cheers and IU’s players rushed from the bench to celebrate Franklin’s shot, which ended IU’s two-game losing streak and secured the regular season sweep of Iowa. The shot came at the end of a long game the Hoosiers had to fight to stay in.
With 1:36 remaining in the first half, the Hoosiers were teetering on the edge of a blowout. Blue Ribbon Preseason Player of the Year, senior forward Luka Garza, went to the bench with 12:30 remaining in the half with two fouls, just 2 points and a 7-point Hawkeye lead, yet IU hadn’t made a dent in the deficit.
What should have been IU’s chance to claw its way back into the game appeared to be a wasted opportunity that would lead to disaster once Garza checked back into the game in the second half.
Suddenly the lifeless Hoosiers had a spark.
Iowa swung the ball around the perimeter to find sophomore forward Jack Nunge in the corner for a wide-open 3-pointer. Junior forward Race Thompson sprinted across the lane before leaping into the air to tip the shot out of bounds.
On IU’s next possession, Franklin split two defenders with a bounce-pass across the paint into Thompson’s arms, leading to a foul and two free throws. Then on the Hawkeyes’ subsequent inbounds, freshman guard Khristian Lander knocked away the pass for a steal leading to a Jackson-Davis two-hand slam.
On the team’s next possession, Lander found himself alone after curling off a screen and spotted up for the 3-point jumper. The Hoosiers whipped the ball around the perimeter and finally into Lander’s hands before he rose up to knock down the open jumper.
In 96 seconds, IU’s 7-point deficit vanished on the back of a 9-0 run that gave them a 33-31 lead at halftime.
“We made some winning plays which is good to see,” Miller said. “On Tuesday night it was the opposite, we didn’t make enough winning plays.”
IU’s ability to not waste a long stretch without having to face the best player in the country and figure out a recipe for success kept it in the game throughout the second half.
Whenever the Hoosiers fell behind after sliding into one of their many scoring droughts, the team seemed to revert back to the mentality it had for those 96 seconds and pull itself within a possession, ultimately prevailing at the end.
“This is the month when games mean the most, and to be able to start the back half of a 20-game league schedule with a win in the back half is important,” Miller said. “We’re going to have to stay with it and keep grinding away. It’s a league of inches, but if you get a win in this league it really, really counts a lot.”
