Hoosiers, Bulldogs prevail at the Crossroads Classic
By TYLER SMITH (@TylerSmith_ISL)
ISL Editor
INDIANAPOLIS — There’s nothing better than basketball in Indiana. The Crossroads Classic is an opportunity every year to see the Hoosiers, Boilers, Irish, and Bulldogs in one building. In the ninth annual Crossroads Classic, the Indiana Hoosiers defeated Notre Dame 62-60, while the Butler Bulldogs defeated Purdue by the final score of 70-61.
There have been several big comebacks in the history of the Classic. Notre Dame nearly completed another one in Saturday’s first game, while the Boilers came up short trying to do the same in the second. Notre Dame trailed Indiana by 17 points early in the second half before putting together a massive run. The Irish then led by five with less than five minutes to play. They also led 60-59 in the final minute. Indiana freshman Armaan Franklin splashed a corner three and the Hoosiers (11-1) survived their epic collapse.
Coming into this game, Franklin was 4-of-27 from behind the arc on the season. He went 4-for-5 in this game, putting together both a game and career-high 17 points.
“Armaan was big all day and showed his courage,” said Head Coach Archie Miller. “He always has a great attitude. He had a bad percentage coming in, but he can shoot it. He’s a smooth offensive player. He’s a terrific kid, and you really pull for guys like that.”
Former Hoosier and current Pacer Victor Oladipo was court-side for the win. Franklin said Oladipo gave him some encouraging words- “He told me to keep my confidence up, even when I’m missing. I’ve been putting extra work in before and after practice which has helped.”
Another key for Indiana was winning the rebounding battle. They were +10 on the boards, thanks to Joey Brunk’s 14-rebound performance.
It wasn’t pretty, but the Hoosiers improved to 6-3 all time in the Classic. “We’re fortunate,” said Archie Miller. “For a while there we looked like a good team. For a while there we didn’t. But we’ll take it. Different guys have been stepping up in big spots since the Wisconsin loss. That day, we didn’t have any leadership, one through eleven. But lately, there’s been more of a voice.”
For Notre Dame (8-4), it had to be a demoralizing loss to come all the way back only to lose in the closing seconds.
“Sometimes you don’t deserve to win when you play defense for 15 minutes instead of 40,” said Irish coach Mike Brey. “They (IU) are so potent in the paint. We did a good job guarding the 3 until late.”
The Irish fell to 4-5 all time in the Crossroads Classic, including just 1-3 against Indiana.
In the second game, the #17th ranked Butler Bulldogs (11-1) defeated the Purdue Boilermakers (7-5). Purdue trailed by 17 halfway through the second half before making things interesting. They were shooting just 27% for the game before connecting on six straight shots to cut the lead to 3.
In the end, the Bulldogs did enough to get the job done. Their balanced attacked (five players scoring 8+ points) was too much for the Boilers offense to keep up.
“Playing in this event each year, it’s great for the state of Indiana,” said Butler Coach LaVall Jordan. “It’s four teams out there who are really well-coached, competing like crazy. Everybody’s fighting for their program. Proud of our guys for showing resiliency. This is a group that has a ton of trust and love for each other.”
On the other side, Purdue Coach Matt Painter is looking for consistency from his team. “Our concentration level has to be better,” Painter said. “You’re going to have games where you don’t hit many outside shots, but when you have lots of looks at the rim and don’t finish, that’s hard to overcome. When you have a team that hasn’t done it before, the failures are easier to respond to than the success. When you beat Virginia, is that an outlier? Is this an outlier? Those are the things you have to work through. We need to get more consistent.”
It wasn’t the best basketball on Saturday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. But it was still basketball. Fans should try and make it out to the Crossroads Classic in future years to experience these in-state teams going to battle for their programs.
