For the IU men’s basketball team, an 85-72 win against Lamar wasn’t the highlight of Saturday night.
It wasn’t freshman guard James Blackmon, Jr.’s 21 points, freshman forward Emmitt Holt’s smooth college debut or another hot shooting performance.
For the Hoosiers, the best part of the evening was Devin Davis’ return to Assembly Hall.
“It was really a surprise for him to be here,” Blackmon said. “He’s like a brother to all of us, so we were really excited. It actually gave us a little boost for the game.”
Davis made his first appearance in Assembly Hall since being struck by a car on Nov. 1. The accident left him hospitalized with a traumatic brain injury until his release from a rehabilitation facility three days ago.
“We were happy,” junior guard Yogi Ferrell said. “We were all jumping on him, like a dogpile kind of. We were all happy to see him. Wish he could’ve sat on the bench, but he sat behind. He got in the huddles.”
With all 15 Hoosiers in the building for the first time, IU coasted for much of the second half against an overmatched Lamar squad.
In the opening minutes, IU again rode a strong shooting performance from Blackmon. The country’s leading freshman scorer hit three of his five 3-pointers in the game’s first eight minutes. He finished with a game-high 21 points.
Blackmon has made at least three 3-pointers in all four games of his college career. He leads all Hoosiers with 22.8 points per game this season.
“I felt like on offense, we were good on all cylinders,” Blackmon said.
Blackmon’s 14 first-half points helped IU stretch the lead to as many as 17 points in the first half. A lifeless final five minutes of the half – which included two IU turnovers and three Lamar offensive rebounds – allowed the Cardinals to cut the deficit to eight points at halftime.
In the midst of a stretch that will have them play three games in five days, the Hoosiers eased their way through the second half – IU’s lead held between nine and 14 points for the entire half.
The Hoosiers’ lack of energy led IU Coach Tom Crean to play an unusual lineup in the final two and a half minutes. He substituted out forwards Troy Williams and Hanner Mosquera-Perea, replacing them with guards Nick Zeisloft and Stanford Robinson. The move left IU with five guards on the floor, the tallest being Blackmon and Zeisloft and 6-foot-4.
Crean said the decision to play such an unconventional lineup came from a conversation he had with former NBA coach Doug Collins a decade ago.
“He said, ‘Play your five toughest players,’” Crean said. “He said don’t worry about position, don’t worry about egos, just play your five toughest players, and I’ve always filed that away. There are times that we’ve done it, and tonight was one of them.”
One component of that toughness was rebounding. For the first time in three games, IU corralled more rebounds than its opponent. Blackmon led the Hoosiers with six rebounds, Williams pulled in five and Mosquera-Perea and Davis recorded four rebounds.
Mosquera-Perea has seen his rebounding numbers plummet since a career-high 12 rebounds against Mississippi Valley State on Nov. 14. He didn’t record a single rebound against SMU on Thursday and pulled in just one in the first half Saturday.
The win moves IU to 4-0 on the season. Its next game will take place Monday night against an Eastern Washington team Crean described as one of the best shooting squads in the nation.
“We’ve got a short period of time to improve because the team we’re playing on Monday night, Eastern Washington, may not be a household name program of players, but their 3-point shooting is as good as any non-conference,” Crean said.
Eastern Washington has two opponents in common with IU as part of the Hoosiers Showcase. The Eagles blew out Texas Southern but fell to SMU – IU has beaten both teams already.
Crean said winning hard-fought games over teams like Lamar has let him realize things about his players that will benefit IU in the long run.
“We could tell a lot of times who the veterans were, who had been playing a lot of minutes, and who they weren’t,” Crean said. “The more I watch this team, the more I think we may have a few close games. Every part of that experience is better.”
