University of Massachusetts Lowell is not Kansas.
I repeat ... UMass Lowell, a team that has only been playing Division I basketball for four years, is not Kansas.
With that said, one moment from the game between IU and UMass Lowell stands out to me over anything that happened in the victory over the No. 3 team in the nation.
Just over five minutes remain in the first half when junior guard Josh Newkirk brings the ball up the floor and finds sophomore forward Juwan Morgan around the three-point line. Morgan finds a cutting James Blackmon Jr. on the baseline, and JBJ finishes with a reverse layup.
It’s not remarkable. In the grand scheme of things, it’s a nothing play against a nothing team, but it was simultaneously stunning.
Two passes, easy layup. It’s not too difficult sometimes.
What frustrated me about the Kansas game was how tough IU made things for itself. Threes were hoisted and fortunately made, yet that’s not a dependable strategy for a team expecting to do big things this season.
What this squad has to be able to accomplish, especially in the games against top opponents, is making things easy for itself.
Free throws, backdoor cuts, fast break layups. These points slowly but surely add up, and eventually, in a highly contested game against a Big Ten foe, they can mean all the difference.
Back in my playing days, which essentially started and ended with middle school basketball, I learned about the pump fake.
I had to find a way to get to the basket, and my “athleticism” wasn’t going to get me there. Thus, I started to fake passes. This led to defenders jumping and me looking like I knew what I was doing on the court.
It’s such a simple move, but it works wonders.
I’m not giving the Hoosiers advice. Although, if anyone on the team is reading this, try a pump fake every once in a while. It would make me happy and ensure my middle school career wasn’t played in vain.
What I am saying is that in this long slog of a college basketball season, it’s the easy buckets that make or break a season. Everyone remembers the Christian Watford shot to beat No. 1 Kentucky in 2011. But do you remember the Victor Oladipo steal — after a missed IU shot — and subsequent layup to close the gap to a two-point UK lead with 14:04 left in the first half?
Every bucket, no matter the degree of difficulty, comes with a certain amount of points. It’s up to the Hoosiers to find an un-demanding way to score.
IU will rely on the three. We saw that against Kansas, and I’m pretty sure it will be a calling card for the team this season. However, when the legs are dead, the sunbeams get in the way and the shots aren’t falling, it’s going to be the open stress-free shots around the rim that get the Hoosiers over the hump.
“At one point in the first half, once we figured it out, we had 15 straight scores going through the paint,” IU Coach Tom Crean said. “And with the uniqueness of guys that can drive it, handle it, pass it, post it, we can get there different ways.”
Even though the competition was much weaker than the first game, the ball movement and overall ability by IU to slash towards the rim for easy shots or free throws is a boon against any team. It’s one of the reasons they are always so threatening.
UMass Lowell is not Kansas, but when the Hoosiers are making the smart play and scoring at will near the rim, Kansas might as well be UMass Lowell.
