Much has been made of the importance of IU junior forward Hanner Mosquera-Perea’s role on this year’s team. IU’s only post player with any experience has to learn to control the paint and consistently alter shots.
Or so they said...
I don’t want to jump to conclusions after one game, but freshman forward Emmitt Holt looked like the real deal in IU’s 81-69 defeat of Pittsburgh on Tuesday night in Assembly Hall. He’s good enough to be considered a potential starter moving ?forward.
The only problem: He’s 6-foot-7, undersized for a Big Ten post player. One-on-one, teams with a talented big will dominate him down low.
That isn’t to say Mosquera-Perea would become obsolete. He is an important piece on this team and will continue to get minutes, but with the emergence of Holt, his role in a man-to-man defense isn’t as essential.
“Not only did Emmitt play very well, but I thought the fact that Hanner came back in the second half after playing so few minutes because of the foul situation,” IU Coach Tom Crean said. “That’s the sign of consistency that we have to get from him.”
So IU needs to play Holt more but doesn’t want him matched up down low in isolation situations.
The clear solution: playing the 2-3 zone that Crean has tried to implement for years in Bloomington.
And he might finally have the team that can be successful with it.
If Holt can keep contributing defensively the way he did against Pitt in the 2-3, IU’s defense might not be the liability everyone predicted it would be at the beginning of the ?season.
Crean seemed to realize that as well.
The Hoosiers spent the entire second half in the 2-3 and allowed 32 points. However, 11 of those points came on fastbreaks before IU could get back to set up the defense.
“The key for us was we wanted to take away penetration as much as possible,” Crean said.
One of the benefits of a 2-3 zone is that driving lanes close as soon as they appear. Pitt didn’t have any success driving and most of their points in the paint came from offensive ?rebounds.
Pittsburgh looked lost when they had to set up offensively. Time after time, the Panthers took the ball down the court and passed around the perimeter trying to get an angle for a post touch, only to realize there was just five seconds on the shot clock. Situations like that lead to a lot of forced 3-pointers.
The best way to break the zone is shooting over it and, granted, the Panthers are not a great shooting team. They hit just seven-of-26 three-point attempts against IU. IU has more long, athletic guards than previous years, causing more difficult entry passes and faster close-outs.
The fact is, if IU can establish their zone early on in games, it would take a lot of pressure off Mosquera-Perea’s shoulders. He and Holt would have backside help if the ball-handler spins to the middle of the paint.
There are teams on IU’s upcoming nonconference schedule that could pose a problem for the Hoosiers if they don’t go to a zone-based defense.
Louisville will be a problem for IU regardless of defensive strategy, but they will obliterate the Hoosiers if IU stays in man-to-man defense.
Nobody on IU can match up defensively with the Cardinal’s junior forward Montrezl Harrell. He would dominate one-on-one against any Hoosier.
Georgetown will also pose a problem inside. Senior Hoya center Joshua Smith stands a monstrous 6-foot-10 and weighs 350 pounds. He actually lost weight in the offseason, so he’s even stronger than he sounds.
Holt and Mosquera-Perea, who both give up 125 pounds to Smith, would obviously have trouble matched up with the Hoya Hulk.
But it’s dangerous to get ahead of ourselves. Frankly, IU looked reminiscent of the Sweet Sixteen game against Syracuse two years ago.
In that matchup, the Orange, notorious for their 2-3 zone, hounded the Hoosiers inside and forced contested threes as the shot clock wound down.
IU isn’t as good as that Syracuse team, but their defense could be a poor man’s version of that unit if they keep playing like they did ?tonight.
And if they do play like they did tonight, and the offense stays hot, watch out. This team will surprise people.
crkrajew@indiana.edu
