IU defeats Grace 96-73

Everyone has talked to Jeremiah Rivers about the dances he did while sitting out last season.

For 30 minutes Wednesday night, he couldn’t find a rhythm. The timing was off. With about eight minutes left in the second half, Rivers found forward Tom Pritchard before putting in two dunks of his own in the open court.

His play set off a run for IU that ended with a 20-point lead and an eventual 96-73 victory for IU. The Hoosiers added separation in the second half, though the game had been close throughout as Grace College buried 3-point shots and challenged IU’s transition defense for easy layups.

The first half saw a team still growing as it was stunned in the opening minutes and couldn’t pull away from an NAIA team projected to finish sixth in its conference. It took them nearly 30 minutes before they could capture a lead of eight points.

“We knew that we were going to be pushed because of how well Grace runs their offense,” IU coach Tom Crean said. “Our players might have been a little surprised.”

Hampered with injury for the entire week leading up to its first exhibition game, IU struggled to find chemistry on the court. It finally broke through with key defensive plays that led to a double-digit lead against the less-talented Grace College.

On the offensive end, Christian Watford led IU 19 points and 11 rebounds. The freshman credited IU’s win to its play near the end of the second half.

“We did a great job at getting stops and got some key turnovers that pushed us over the edge,” he said.

It seemed that Grace College would be the victor for a moment. They began the game hitting 3-point shots, as IU traded them with 2-pointers.

Grace coach Jim Kessler said the outside shot can be the equalizer, no matter who the opponent on the opposite side of the court
is.
 
“We shot the ball well early,” he said. “If you shoot the ball, you can be with anybody.”

As the game wore on, the shots that fell Grace is the first half slowly began to roll out of the rim. IU started to pick up its pace, and made touch layups its more physically imposing players missed in the first half.

The progression was the sign of a young team finding its way and gaining confidence at the minutes ticked off the clock.

Kessler called the team “as young as you can be.”

“Youth has to mature and has to grow,” he said. “You don’t grow until you get on the court. You can talk all you want about practice and show video tape until you’re blue in the face, but you have to be on the court and play, and learn together.”