IU faces difficult matchup against Minnesota team

In conference play last season, the IU men’s basketball team thrived in Bloomington, securing an 8-1 record on Branch McCracken Court against Big Ten opponents.

However, the Hoosiers failed to defend their home court against Minnesota.

As the No. 8 Golden Gophers come into Assembly Hall on Saturday to face IU Coach Tom Crean’s No. 5 squad, defense may determine whether or not the Hoosiers can exact revenge against the only team able to beat IU at home last year in the regular season.

Crean said his Hoosiers are well-prepared for Minnesota’s defense in their first top-10 matchup of the season.

Playing the first two games of the conference season on the road, as well as a neutral court game against the No. 14 Butler Bulldogs, exposed the Hoosiers to the physical game of uncalled fouls they will see in the future this season during conference play, Crean said.

“When you prepare for the Big Ten, you’re going to deal with a lot of fouling,” Crean said. “You’re going to deal with a lot of fouls that aren’t called because they aren’t going to call them at all.”

“That’s the way Butler makes you play. They’re going to put so much pressure, in my mind, on the referees in the game to make calls, and we didn’t handle that well.
“But, like Tim Buckley said, we win that game, maybe we don’t understand how important it is to play through those things.”

Crean said, as they battled against those rough conference defenses of Iowa and Penn State, the Hoosiers responded, holding both teams to a combined 32 percent field-goal percentage.

He said preparing for a defense like Minnesota’s comes down to more than just in-game experience.

“The best way we can deal with it is to put hand pads and body pads and slam up into guys when they’re going to the basket and hold guys on cuts, and you start to prepare for it,” Crean said. “I think that’s one of the reasons you see the low-scoring affairs you have. We don’t really want to play that way. We want to get out and play and spread the court and be active and get the game going up in transition.”

On Saturday, banging against pads and fighting through several bodies to get to the hoop will become a reality for the Hoosiers, who are against one of the biggest lineups in the Big Ten.

Minnesota comes to Bloomington with six players standing 6 feet 8 inches or taller.
In particular, sophomore center Elliott Eliason (6 feet 11 inches, 260 pounds) and sophomore forward Maurice Walker (6 feet 10 inches, 289 pounds) pose a big presence inside the paint.

Both players have averaged less than four rebounds and four points per game so far this season, but, with sophomore forward Cody Zeller and the rest of IU’s inside game, they take up a lot of space in the paint. This may make it more difficult for IU players like junior guard Victor Oaldipo, who thrive in the fast break, to get to the basket with the ease they have been used to this season.

Graduate student forward Trevor Mbakwe may not be as tall or as big as either of the two sophomores, but he has made a larger impact on both ends of the floor this season.

Currently, Mbakwe leads the Big Ten in pulling down offensive rebounds with three rebounds per game, headlining a Minnesota squad that also paces the Big Ten as a team in that category.

Mbakwe also sits at   eighth in the conference in defensive rebounds per game (4.9), putting him in second in the Big Ten for total rebound average.

He is also one of three Golden Gophers in the top 15 of the Big Ten in blocked shots.

Crean noted his preseason Big Ten Player of the Year Zeller has received criticism for not playing up to expectations so far this season. The same pressure to perform at a high level will be present when he plays against Minnesota’s potent team Saturday.

Crean said he thinks Zeller is on track for a player in the middle of his second season of college basketball.

“He’s doing a lot more than most people could ever imagine doing with his size,” Crean said. “When you look at the athleticism, when you look at the quick twitch, when you look at his ability to go from point A to point B, when you look at the beating and the pounding he takes every game and the effort he puts forth defensively and offensively, Cody’s just scratching the surface.

“It’s so easy to forget that he’s 19 years of age. It’s so easy to forget this is just his 15th game of his second season.”