Hoosiers continue building tournament resume
By TYLER SMITH
ISL Editor
BLOOMINGTON, IND.– The eye-test may say the Indiana Hoosiers are a bubble team. But their resume is starting to say otherwise. They don’t have any bad losses (and won’t all season based on their remaining schedule), and on Thursday night, they added another huge win.
Number 11 Michigan State was in town, and Assembly Hall was rocking. The Hoosiers led for 95% of the game, and got the job done in the final minutes, by a final score of 67-63- winning their fifth straight game at home against ranked teams dating back to last season. It was also Archie Miller and Indiana’s third straight victory over Tom Izzo and the Spartans.
“Really proud of our team,” said Miller. “This atmosphere is second to none. Free-throws were disappointing, but we were able to make enough plays. We have some poise. We’re not perfect but I think our team believes if we play hard we can beat anybody.”
The Hoosiers only made four 3-pointers the entire night, but two of them came at the perfect time from Junior Al Durham. He connected at the buzzer of the first half to give Indiana a 37-30 lead at the break. He then hit the game’s biggest shot, breaking a 60-60 tie in the closing minutes.
“I’ve been practicing that shot all week,” Durham said. “It felt great leaving my hands. My teammates believed in me and it felt good.”
The Hoosiers are now 15-4 on the season and 5-3 in conference play. They absolutely have a tournament resume at this point in the season, and will surely be ranked if they can get one more big win on Sunday against Maryland.
Joey Brunk was also huge on Thursday night, putting together 14 points, six rebounds, and giving IU a much needed basket underneath in the final minute.
“We had a lot of belief in each other,” said Brunk. “We weren’t going to quit fighting. We have great fans. They were out early and rocking from the jump.”
Archie Miller knows how big this victory was, but he also knows it’s just one game in a long season. “You can’t have any slippage when it comes to the daily process. Our guys have had a good approach, win or lose, to the process over the last month. This league is very difficult. Every night is tough. Our guys from last year know how hard winning is. You can’t take it for granted. Now we put this one to sleep and get ready for another tough one on Sunday.”
The Hoosiers still can’t shoot from either line on the court. But they’re still in a great position moving forward. And if they can take care of the ball like they did on Thursday (7 turnovers), they’ll have a real chance to make some noise this season.
