Since coming to Bloomington three years ago, junior guard Rob Phinisee has been given a tremendous amount of responsibility within IU men’s basketball. From his first game in 2018 as a freshman, Phinisee has been a leader for the Hoosiers as a three-year starter.
The Lafayette, Indiana, native’s career stats aren’t anything special. In 80 career games, Phinisee has averaged 7.1 points, 3.1 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game, but what he brings to the court is special for IU.
“I don't care if he misses a shot. I really don't,” head coach Archie Miller said Wednesday after IU’s 82-72 win over Minnesota. “I just want him to be aggressive and make the right reads offensively. If he's open, shoot it, if somebody else is open, pass it and guard like crazy.”
Phinisee is the Hoosiers’ anchor, keeping the team from drifting too far off course during the game.
Last season, Miller often called Phinisee a “calming presence” — someone who the team could rely on to run the offense effectively and make the right plays. Phinisee often draws the assignment of the opponent’s best guard and has proven to be one of the best on-ball defenders in the Big Ten.
Phinisee has had an up-and-down season so far. He has nine games this season in which he’s scored 5 or fewer points, but also six games scoring double figures.
Miller said a reason for Phinisee’s struggles at times this season is that he thinks too much and worries about what’s happening on the floor. He starts to overanalyze all the little aspects of what’s happening in the game and it causes him to lose his aggression.
“That's pretty true,” Phinisee said Friday. “I mean, I watch a lot of film. I feel like just thinking about the other team, just what they're doing on offense and reading what they're doing on defense. He told me the other day just go out there and play free and play my game.”
Against the Golden Gophers, Phinisee did it all for the Hoosiers. He was aggressive, looking to score off the bounce, found open teammates when the defense collapsed on his drives to the basket and helped IU’s forwards by crashing the boards, all while defending one of the best point guards in the country in Marcus Carr. Phinisee finished the game with 10 points, four assists and six rebounds.
“If our guards can put together some production, our team can be better, but the production starts for Rob with his role,” Miller said. “What I'm asking him to do is defend like crazy, and has to be honest with you take care of the basketball, make guys better, if you're open, shoot it, and get back and get ready.”
As IU gets ready to take on Michigan State on Saturday, it will look for Phinisee to repeat his performance from earlier in the week.
The Spartans come to Bloomington with a 10-9 record and are currently in 11th place in the Big Ten with a 4-9 conference record. IU has won its last three games against Michigan State.
Michigan State is led by senior Joshua Langford and junior Aaron Henry. Henry leads the team in scoring at 14.3 points per game, and is second in rebounding grabbing 5.6 rebounds per game.
After taking a medical redshirt last season due to a foot injury that didn’t let him play for nearly a year and a half, Langford has yet to fully return to the production he enjoyed before suffering the injury. The fifth-year senior is averaging just 9.6 points per game — the first time since his freshman year he’s averaged under 10 points — and is shooting a career-low 36.6% from 3-point range.
Phinisee said the two keys to beating the Spartans will be improving on IU’s recent struggles rebounding and slowing them down in transition.
“Versus Ohio State and Minnesota we didn’t rebound as well as we should have,” Phinisee said. “Coming into Saturday, that’s what Michigan State’s bread and butter is, them crashing the glass and then getting out in transition. So I feel like we need to limit those two, we’ll have a good chance at winning.”
