Defense propels IU in first two games of season

Before the season, IU coach Tom Crean emphasized how important a strong defense would be to his team’s success.

Two games into the 2010 campaign, he’s getting the results he hoped for.

The Hoosiers held Wright State to 32 percent shooting in a 67-44 victory Sunday at Assembly Hall, forcing 12 turnovers and crashing the boards for a 40-to-20 rebounding advantage.

The plus-20 rebounding advantage was the highest in Crean’s tenure as coach at IU, and the 44 points allowed is the second-lowest total.

“There were so many times in the game where we could have backed away a little bit because the offense wasn’t in flow,” Crean said. “We weren’t getting easy things. We had turnovers, but we never got our head down, especially on the defensive end.”

IU scored 16 points off the turnovers, with 18 points coming on the fast break. Junior guard Verdell Jones led the ball-hawking defense with three steals.

Thirty-five of the Hoosiers’ rebounds came on the defensive end, a big boost  for a team that finished last in the Big Ten in defensive rebounding last season.

“We’ve got to have a team rebounding mindset,” Crean said. “I thought our guys did a really good job of getting inside the lane, getting inside their man, especially when the shot went up because they did a lot of different things to create opportunities for them to score, and our guys responded to that.”

Sophomore forward Christian Watford recorded his first double-double of the season, adding a team-high 10 rebounds to his 17 points.

Watford thought he had only nine rebounds when Jones was at the foul line with 3:49 remaining and a 62-37 lead, so he put in a request to the junior.

“On the free throw, Christian told me to miss it so he could get a double-double, and I missed it and he still didn’t get the rebound,” Jones said with a smile. “I was a little bit upset about that one.”

The defensive effort was merely an encore of IU’s performance to open the season Friday against Florida Gulf Coast. In the 88-60 victory, the Hoosiers held the Eagles to a 34 percent shooting effort, adding 40 rebounds. IU also replicated its blocked shots total Sunday, swatting five balls in both weekend contests.

Defensive stops were at an extra premium with the IU offense not helping the cause.

The Hoosiers had 24 and 21 turnovers in the weekend games, respectively, while committing a combined 51 fouls. In each game, one IU player fouled out.

The players and Crean unanimously said the turnover numbers need to be drastically reduced, but the coach added the defensive mentality is getting closer to his ideal. Now, it’s all about putting it together on a regular basis.

“I think anytime you have a team that is young in certain areas, hasn’t had success and hasn’t had it handed down to them how to play. ... the consistency is what we’re looking for every day,” Crean said. “And I hope I can say at the end of the year that we were really, really consistent."