Robinson found just in time with Hollowell lost
By CHRIS GOFF
ISL Editor
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Hoosiers were up one with 40 seconds to go and the shot clock running down. Evan Gordon dribbled outside. Based on common sense, pretty much everyone at Assembly Hall figured the ball would eventually wind up in the hands of Yogi Ferrell.
But the Hoosiers’ star didn’t take the shot.
With the game very much undecided Tuesday, Gordon instead executed a dribble handoff to Stanford Robinson. On a night Ferrell had done so much, Robinson offered another option with the game hanging in the balance.
Indiana’s freshman reserve caught the ball at the top of the key, took two dribbles and hopped up for a layup that the Badgers could only pin for goaltending. The drive gave the Hoosiers a three-point lead.
“That’s a big deal: I think it’s really important because what we keep trying to get these guys to understand is we’re a concept team,” coach Tom Crean said.
The Hoosiers run a Ferrell-heavy offense that relies on him to attack the basket and then take advantage of all the attention he draws. Indiana’s sophomore frees teammates for shots and creates scores for himself.
But the underlying idea of Crean’s approach is that Ferrell cannot be the only Hoosier who’s aggressive on offense.
Jeremy Hollowell was supposed to be a solid alternative in terms of getting to the rim, finding shots and attacking the paint. But Hollowell was benched on Saturday afternoon against Penn State after operating as an incredibly inefficient offensive player for two months. Enter Robinson, a quick, athletic guard with great burst.
“He’s got a lot of fight in him,” said Crean, who views Robinson as a creator to aid Ferrell. “Absolutely, he’s a natural at that. He’s got a gift of that.”
Robinson has been breaking out of late. Against Wisconsin, he had a season-high 13 points and five rebounds. He scored nine in the Hoosiers’ win over Penn State on Saturday and had 11 on Jan. 4 against Michigan State.
“Yogi told me lanes were open and told me to just keep going because that’s one of my strong points,” said Robinson, who also had eight rebounds in a game earlier this year. “So one of my leaders telling me to just keep going, I felt like I had the freedom to just be me.”
If playing time is any indication, Indiana likes Robinson being himself.
He is averaging 22.8 minutes in his past four games, 10 minutes more than what he’d averaged prior to that stretch. Causal relationship or not, Indiana has won two – and nearly three – of those four games, including the huge victory over Wisconsin, one the Hoosiers badly needed.
The 6-foot-4 lefty has shown he can finish through contact: Robinson had shot 56.4 percent at the rim entering Tuesday, according to Hoop-Math.com. Hollowell had made just 44.4 percent at the rim, a poor rate of finishing for a power forward, and he had thus far been ineffective as a pick-and-roll player.
So just as Hollowell endures a crisis of “focus,” according to Crean, Robinson’s scoring off the pine is addressing that loss.
Also, Robinson’s shot-creating capability may be providing enough space for Indiana’s perimeter scorers to operate. Indiana is knocking down 40.9 percent of its 3-pointers in its past four games. For context, the Hoosiers are shooting 33.8 percent from beyond the arc on the season.
Against Wisconsin, the Hoosiers picked apart a good defense with penetration, and Robinson deserves plenty of credit for that development. With some of the Big Ten’s most athletic players, Indiana should continue to excel at breaking down defenses.
“It’s very important we get to the basket,” Crean said. “We need to get in the lane. You just keep doing that. I thought it was a change when we put (Robinson) in. We took off, so he was a big part of all of that.”
Follow Chris Goff on Twitter: chrisgoff_ISL.
