Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to watch this one yet. Paying $15 to hover over the computer to watch a game that doesn't count is distinctly less appealing than waiting for the BTN replay on Tuesday. So, what I am about to say is based on the box score only. These are my observations:
- First, this was, by my rough calculations, a 67 possession game. A decent but not blistering pace.
- My favorite number: 7 turnovers. Of course the level of competition matters, but if this were a real game IU's 10.4 offensive turnover percentage would have been the second-best performance of the Crean era. Particularly encouraging were the numbers of IU's point guards: Jordan Hulls and Verdell Jones III combined for 11 assists and no turnovers. IU assisted 16 of 29 made baskets.
- My least favorite number: 9-19 from three point range for UIndy. Let's hope this isn't a sign of things to come for IU's perimeter defense.
- The freshmen: Cody Zeller was ruthlessly efficient, scoring 16 points on 5-7 from the field and 6-8 from the line. He led the team with 8 rebounds. Certainly, this is of limited value, given UIndy's significant size advantage, but it's still nice to see. Austin Etherington had a rough start. No points and three fouls in 8 minutes. Remy Abell scored five points on 2-4 from the field, 1-1 from deep. Also, he had 3 rebounds, nice numbers for a guard who played only 9 minutes.
- Will Sheehey led IU with 18 points on 8-11 shooting.
- Hulls, in addition to playing turnover-free, was statistically flawless as a shooter: 14 points on 3-3/2-2/6-6.
- Victor Oladipo scored 9 points on 3-7 shooting and had four rebounds.
- Christian Watford must be recovering from his injury. He scored only 6 points on 2-9 from the field and was an uncharacteristically average 4-6 from the line.