Quiet big man speaks loudly when needed

If silence is golden, then Tom Pritchard is worth billions.

The freshman forward is so quiet that IU coach Tom Crean implemented a new team rule earlier this fall.

If Pritchard doesn’t yell after he dunks, everyone has to run. Everyone.

“We have to get that emotion out of him,” Crean said. “He’s going to be a good player. He just can’t be a quiet player.”

That description epitomizes the dilemma facing the 6-foot-9 frosh from Westlake, Ohio. In the Hoosiers’ first exhibition game last Friday, Pritchard showed how good of a player he can be, scoring 20 points and pulling down a game-high 10 rebounds before fouling out late in the game.

“If he made his layups, he would have had 30 tonight, wouldn’t he?” Crean asked reporters after the game.

On the team’s media day last month, Pritchard acknowledged the rule and admitted being vocal on the court is one of his weaknesses.

One reason Pritchard said he is quiet is because he isn’t used to the spotlight. Until his senior year at St. Edward, Pritchard was primarily a role player. The star of the team, Michigan State freshman Delvon Roe, scored most of the points and attracted most of the attention. That is, until Roe went down with a season-ending injury his senior year, making the reluctant post player “The Man” of his team.

Pritchard blossomed.

He averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds per game, shooting nearly 60 percent from the field. The forward, who had just hoped to make the basketball team his freshman year, was now being recruited by colleges. Well, kind of.

The way Pritchard was discovered is one of those unforgettable stories that seems too good to be true. Former IU men’s basketball coach Kelvin Sampson was at an AAU tournament recruiting a different player when he saw a player who he believed was Xavier recruit Kenny Frease.

Frease was playing well, but Sampson thought the player was spoken for. That is, until he realized that “Frease” was shooting left-handed, despite the real Frease being a righty. Sampson discovered the error, and Pritchard’s recruitment began.

When Sampson resigned in February, Pritchard’s commitment did not waver. As in high school, Pritchard was originally thought to be a role player early in college. Now, Crean has described him as a cornerstone of the program.

“I’m always driving him to be a better offensive player around the basket,” Crean said Friday. “He’s going to be a heck of a player.”

Crean noticed that when Pritchard fouled out of the game Friday night, fans responded by giving him a standing ovation.

After the game, Pritchard was one of three players brought to the media room to speak with reporters.

Since he arrived on campus, Crean has been trying to get Pritchard to speak up. On Friday, there was finally something the freshman found worth talking about.

Glancing at the stat sheet after the game, Pritchard saw he had zero assists for the game. The self-described “natural” passer made his case.

“I was just going to say, they have me with zero assists. I know I had a pass to ‘V’ coming down the lane,” Pritchard said in reference to a pass that led to a basket by freshman guard Verdell Jones.

Crean wasn’t in the room, but he most likely would have been proud of his freshman getting vocal unprompted.

Despite his impressive stat line, Pritchard admitted he didn’t finish “very well today, and I need to work on that.” In the exhibition game, Pritchard often rebounded his own missed shot over an undersized Anderson team and scored.

Another area Pritchard will have to address is playing defense without fouling. Pritchard, junior center Tijan Jobe and senior forward Kyle Taber are the only post players at Crean’s disposal this season, which makes Pritchard’s time on the court that much more valuable.

“He’s huge (to us),” said junior guard Devan Dumes on Friday.

After Pritchard missed a layup Friday night, Dumes, one of the few veterans on the roster, pulled him aside.

“We don’t have a D.J. White on this team,” Dumes told Pritchard. “You have to be that man.”

“He’s a big factor to us; he may be the biggest,” Dumes said. “I’m not putting no pressure on him, since he’s sitting right by me, but maybe the biggest.”

Pritchard smiled. It was someone else’s turn to be vocal.