Hoosiers take down another top-ranked team
By TYLER SMITH (@TylerSmith_ISL)
ISL Editor
(Photo by @insidethehall)
BLOOMINGTON — There’s been a common theme among Tom Crean’s Indiana teams over the years: the occasional embarrassing loss, but the ability to still knock off some of the big dogs of college basketball. Thus far, the 2016-2017 Hoosiers have been no different. An impressive win over #3 Kansas and a surprising loss to IPFW while ranked #3 set the stage for a showdown with #3 North Carolina at Assembly Hall.
Just like the past several years, fans questioned how the Hoosiers could beat a team like North Carolina after losing to a small school like Fort Wayne. And just like those previous years, Indiana rose to the challenge, taking down the Tar Heels 76-67 in front of a raucous home crowd. Apparently, you don’t want to be ranked #3 this season in college basketball.
At this point, it shouldn’t surprise anyone when the Hoosiers knock off a great team at home. Indiana is now 7-1 since 2011 when facing Top-5 teams at Assembly Hall. They are now tied with Duke for the most wins over Top-3 teams in that same time span. They also lead the Big-Ten in overall wins over ranked opponents in the last five seasons.
“It means a lot,” sophomore Thomas Bryant said. “As a team, it means taking a big step forward.”
His teammate Robert Johnson added, “It started with our mindset right from the tip. We just wanted to take away their strengths. Our coaching staff did a great job of helping us prepare for that.”
The Hoosiers came out firing, and never trailed in the game. They built a 17-point lead nine minutes into the game, and Bryant hadn’t even attempted a shot at that point. They went into halftime with a 41-29 advantage, and held North Carolina to 36% from the field.
The Tar Heels are too good to go away quietly, and they made their run in the second half. They cut the lead to four at one point, making Assembly Hall a little tense. Junior James Blackmon Jr. then connected on the game’s biggest shot, a step-back three that pushed the lead to seven and got the crowd going crazy once again. Indiana was able to close the game from there.
“Our guys are absolutely spent,” Coach Tom Crean said after the win. “This is one of the games where they left every bit of it out there. That’s why I’m so proud of them.”
The defense was impressive, and the offense was balanced. The Hoosiers had five players in double-figures, led by OG Anunoby with 16 points. James Blackmon Jr. had 14, Bryant scored 12, while Robert Johnson and Josh Newkirk added 11, and 10 themselves.
The question now is, can the Hoosiers play at this level consistently, or will they keep playing to the level of their competition?
“I think if we learned anything valuable from last week, it’s that you’ve got to have an edge every night, because the other team does,” Crean said. “It’s not easy every night. That’s why the togetherness and the responsibility for one another becomes really important. We’re going to grow in that. We’re going to go through some of that with this team. Hopefully we will learn to get more consistent with it.”
The Hoosiers will now have three more home games against smaller schools before a showdown with Butler on December 17th in the Crossroads Classic.
