Morgan dominates on senior day, Hoosiers stay hot
By CALEB LYNN
ISL Contributor
BLOOMINGTON, Ind — It was Juwan Morgan’s day. The Hoosier senior delivered a special performance against Rutgers Sunday afternoon with 25 points on 11-of-13 shooting while collecting seven rebounds. The Hoosiers took care of Rutgers from start to finish, moving their winning streak to fou games.
Over the last two games when his team needed it most, Morgan has put up 45 points and 17 rebounds which led to Indiana Coach Archie Miller praising Morgan’s efforts as a senior.
“You know, Seniors do one of two things,” Miller said. “They either run away because it is too hard and it’s on them, or they just fight and Juwan is a fighter. Fighters fight. He’s given us unbelievable toughness on the back board these last four or five games where we needed to rebound and he’s given us presence this week in particular around the rim where he scored the ball.”
For Morgan, his last game could not have been better as he nailed his first ten shots of the game which led to some roars from the crowd every time he made a bucket.
“I think it was as good as it could have been,” Morgan said. “Just going out the last time on this court in front of all these fans.”
The Senior speech for J-Mo was just as powerful as his game. He made sure people understood his story and how he thought he was ready for the pressure to be a Hoosier and play for over 17,222 fans. However, it can be hard when you are from a town that only has 5,230 people in it.
“I thought I was ready but I was not,” Morgan said. “And I just thank the coaching staff, Coach (Tom) Crean… And Yogi (Ferrell), Troy (Williams), and Max (Biefeldt) for just bringing me along. And then I want to thank this coaching staff as well. As much as I hated that they always made me play the 5 (center position), I could not thank them enough for just giving me an opportunity to really, I guess just branch out and do some things that are special here…”
Coach Miller, on the first day he was hired as the Coach for the Hoosiers (March 25, 2017) called Juwan as well and let him know that he just wanted to get to work, play defense, and get out and run.
Miller also gave his team some positive comments on just where they are and how they have overcome such a tricky season.
“I hope you guys have seen how hard they have worked to come back off the ground a few times,” Miller said. “It is definitely been a year with a lot of ups and downs with a lot of injuries and obviously a couple of losing streaks that did not feel good. But I feel like we have been playing as well as we have all season long and we look forward to another opportunity to get out there and play next week in the Big Ten Tournament.”
Indiana’s next game will be Thursday as they will take on the Ohio State Buckeyes at 12:30 PM as they look to get revenge after being defeated with the score of 55-52 on February 10. It’s very possible that this will be a “play-in” game for the NCAA Tournament between two bubble teams.
