Indiana-Gannon Recap Observations
Written By: Josh Wilson (@joshwilson33 @Inside_OutPod)
The Indiana Men’s basketball team did exactly what they needed to do Tuesday night in their lone exhibition game. They won, and stayed healthy through the game. (I have not seen any injury news as of yet). I know De’ron left after sustaining a shot to the face, and I have not received or seen any update of his condition. But in relative terms, Indiana should be good health-wise.
Now, if I were to poll the fan base on their collective feeling heading into halftime, it would’ve been an overwhelming amount of concern and frustration. The overreaction through the first 20 minutes of last night’s game was palpable. Which is exactly why the fan base has the reputation it does. Look, I was a little concerned as well. But then I told myself to step back and look at the big picture. Indiana was without it’s three experienced guards. Al Durham and Devonte Green didn’t play due to injury, and Rob Phinisee only played 14 minutes and didn’t start the game. You had a true freshman in Armaan Franklin and Damezi Anderson running the backcourt. Some truth came out in the postgame press conference from Coach Archie Miller, which explained some of the sloppiness in the first half. Armaan Franklin doesn’t know the plays from the point guard spot. That’s a huge deal! He has had little to no repetition in that spot, which happens to be the most important position on the floor. Franklin played great given the circumstances. His stat line was solid. 12 points on 5-10 shooting, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 turnovers. Can’t ask more of a true freshman playing out of position.
The frustration probably climaxed when Gannon took a 29-28 lead late in the first half, and a fuming Archie Miller called for a timeout. You could tell he was frustrated with the defensive effort from his team. After that timeout, Indiana finished the half on a 9-0 run to head into the locker room with a 37-29 lead. Also from that exact moment, Indiana outscored Gannon 56-24 the rest of the game. That timeout right before half, and the conversations inside the locker room were obviously the turning point of the game.
It also helps when your starting five outscores the other team by itself. And that’s exactly what Indiana’s starting rotation did. Outscoring Gannon 58-54, led by Justin Smith with 18 points. Can we all just pause and appreciate the performance of Smith last night? Remove the imbalance of competition, Justin Smith put together an incredible performance. With Smith, it’s never been about who, but more about him. If Justin plays within himself, and displays confidence, his ceiling can be pretty high. Elite level athleticism gives him an advantage over most people. When he packages that with concerted effort and smart decisions, he can be a tough matchup.
Indiana as a team shot 53.7% from the floor (29-54) and 33.3% from three (5-15). The biggest complaint I found from the public after the Marquette scrimmage was free throw shooting. A lot of people brought up the fact that IU made about as many as their opponent took. Which is good and dandy, but I’m a big believer in making a FREE-throw! Indiana shot right around 50-55% in that scrimmage. Last night against Gannon, IU was 21-30 (70%). Gannon shot only 23 free-throws, making 14 of them. It’s no doubt Indiana will make its own success on the defensive end and at the charity stripe. Coach Archie Miller has even said as much. So, it’s very important that they become efficient in both of those areas.
Now, the games count, starting next Tuesday when Indiana hosts Western Illinois to open up the regular season. Stay connected with us at www.Hoosiers-United.com for an in depth preview in the coming days.
Here is the full box score from last nights game.
http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=281451