IU basketball is back to making history

Charity isn’t charity until it’s used for the greater good.

On Saturday, the IU men’s basketball team took advantage of some charity for a good cause.

The Hoosiers (4-0) lived at the charity stripe, knocking down 35 free throws to lead them to a 94-65 victory against Savannah State (1-3) at Assembly Hall.

IU Coach Tom Crean chalked up the 29-point win to IU’s 35-17 advantage in free throws made.

“There’s no question that when you’re making more free throws than your opponent is attempting, you’re not going to lose many games,” Crean said.

The 35-of-47 output from the foul line was more than any amount made and attempted by IU in the Crean era.

The Hoosiers’ ability to reach the foul line was premeditated by their emphasis to get the ball down low.

IU junior forward Christian Watford said the players knew they’d be able to exploit Savannah State’s lack of size in the post.

“We just wanted to get the ball inside,” Watford said. “We knew they couldn’t really match up with us inside.”

While the Hoosiers were eventually able to draw fouls in the interior, Savannah State was able to keep things close early. Just less than nine minutes into the game, IU was tied with the Tigers at 14-14.

Watford said Savannah State was able to have early success on the inside.
“We let them get a little too deep in penetration in the first half,” Watford said. “We wanted to kind of just level them off, and that was a big emphasis going into halftime.”

A 13-0 run fueled an IU offense that went into the locker room having shot 94.7 percent (18-of-19) from the charity stripe in the first half. The Hoosiers wouldn’t look back at their double-digit lead and were able to widen the gap throughout the second half by drawing more fouls.

By game’s end, the Hoosiers’ three leading scorers were all able to find success on the interior, which led to free-throw attempts.

Freshman forward Cody Zeller led all scorers with a career-high 23 points and shot 11-of-13 from the line. Watford cruised to a season-high 19 points and made all five free-throw attempts. Sophomore guard Will Sheehey kept up with that mantra, scoring a career-high 15 points and shot 9-for-12 from the charity stripe.

While the Hoosiers shot only 3-for-6 from three-point range, Sheehey said it was IU’s aggressiveness that led to the 29-point win.

“If we can just continue to keep sharing the ball and being aggressive toward the basket, I know we had a lot of free throws tonight, so if we can keep attacking the rim, we can score with the clock stopped,” Sheehey said.

Crean said his team had no problem dealing with the physicality on the inside.
“Our guys are doing a very good job of handling that, and they know the ramifications,” Crean said. “I don’t think we have wallflowers.”

IU will have a chance to improve to 5-0 in the first 11 days of the young season when it takes on Gardner-Webb at 6:30 p.m. Monday in Assembly Hall.

While the Hoosiers have won first four games by 20 points or more for the first time since the 1938-39 season, Crean said there are still strides to be made.

“There’s a ton of room for improvement for this team in the short term,” Crean said. “But I think the long-term potential of it is there, too, and I think that’s really important.”