Previewing Indiana vs. Illinois
By CHRIS GOFF
ISL Contributor
INDIANAPOLIS – The lesson we learned from Indiana’s Big Ten tournament opener? This team has it. They don’t display it as often as their fans would like, but these Hoosiers have an extra gear to win big games.
Indiana needed to beat Michigan on Thursday to have a realistic chance of reaching the NCAA tournament, and around the midpoint of the second half the only letters showing up in IU’s alphabet soup were “N,” “I” and “T.” But, in a way, that humbling 17-point deficit helped illustrate why the Hoosiers believe they’re much, much tougher than recent editions that might have had their spirit broken.
Because the men in crimson responded with a tidal wave of energy. No team in IU’s storied history had climbed out of a17-point hole to win a postseason game. Until Thursday afternoon. They came at Michigan with so much effort that they ripped off a 28-4 run and won with room to spare, 74-69.
If there is to be an unexpected run in this conference tourney, with the Hoosiers now effectively out of the play-in round and into the main bracket, that aggression has to be their calling card. The next test for this tournament’s No. 9 seed is to see if they can out-hustle and out-compete Illinois, the top seed.
What awaits at 11:30 a.m. Friday is a Fighting Illini outfit that went 22-8 in the regular season, including a 74-57 rout of IU at Assembly Hall in the teams’ lone meeting. I don’t think anybody who watched that game would say Indiana has as much talent as Illinois.
Sure, the Hoosiers will need better tactics if they want to pull off an upset at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The Illini’s defensive game plan back on Feb. 4 was simple: help in the paint and dare Indiana’s perimeter players to beat them with 3-point shots. The Hoosiers were only 3-of-13 from distance, not doing nearly enough damage to force coach Brad Underwood to change his game plan.
Look for IU counterpart Mike Woodson to get Trayce Jackson-Davis the ball on the move more often. The Hoosiers’ star center had a brutal offensive game against Illinois last month, shooting 3-of-9 and scoring only six points without attempting a single free throw. Too often, he was facing up against a stationary Kofi Cockburn and trying to overpower Illinois’ 7-foot, 285-pound behemoth with moves in the paint, which plays right into Cockburn’s hands.
Jackson-Davis needs to run the floor, crash the boards – he only had six the first time around – and try to drive the ball at Cockburn with fewer turns that allow Cockburn to get leverage on Jackson-Davis with a forearm and force him away from the rim.
But, looking at the big picture, the real story for Friday and the rest of the tourney is simple. The challenge is for Indiana to sustain Thursday’s second-half intensity and use its defense to suffocate opponents with superior effort and physicality.
One victory does not fix all that has been ailing IU in the execution department. But what the Hoosiers found Thursday,that confidence, that swagger, that “put the hammer down” mentality, has to be who they are. Playing that energetically is often all that separates teams in March.
Of course, it was easier to have more energy and effort Thursday when their NCAA tournament lives depended on it. Down 17,the Hoosiers had no choice but to play with an extra hint of desperation, since a loss would have effectively relegated them to the NIT. Michigan was already likely to receive a bid to the Big Dance, so there was less urgency on the eight-seeded Wolverines’ part.
Will that same fight be there Friday for IU against an Illinois team surely motivated by the chance to win this tournament and earn a high seed in the next one? The harsh reality is the Hoosiers might need another win in Indy to avoid having to play in the NCAA’s First Four gimmick in Dayton, Ohio.
Beating Illinois is a tall order. But having overcome one huge obstacle by pulling out a must-win game even after going down17, Indiana may just be ready for the next challenge.
“For me, it’s just the next game on our schedule, and we play a really good Illinois team, but I’ve never played on Friday, soit’s a new experience,” Jackson-Davis said. “I hope I see a lot of fans in the stadium, and we’re going to compete. Hopefully we can carry that energy,because I feel like that can beat anyone.”
