Column: Hoosiers play to their strengths - slashing and perimeter defense - in win over Oakland

This isn’t your older brother’s IU team.

The Hoosiers (8-2) showed their true colors last night in an 81-54 win against the Oakland Grizzlies.

IU is at their best when slashing to the bucket while preventing the opponent from doing the same.

But this is starkly different than last year’s team.

Last season IU featured proficient shooters in Jordan Hulls and Christian Watford. Victor Oladipo wasn’t too shabby either, shooting 44 percent from behind the arc last year.

All those players are gone.

And IU’s identity has accordingly changed.

This year’s team is gritty. A squad full of pure athletes who can defend anyone on the perimeter.

The perimeter defense is a huge difference in this year’s team. Last year, it was Oladipo who was the best perimeter defender and then there was a big drop off.

Not this year.

Case and point — IU’s defense against Oakland guard Travis Bader.

Before the game, Bader had been leading the nation with 4.4 three-pointers made a game and was a career 40 percent 3-point shooter.

Bader had a streak of 62 straight games with a 3-pointer.

That streak died in Bloomington.

He was 0-10 from behind the arc against IU, and 2-15 from the field. He even had open looks, but the Hoosier defense was already in his head.

It wasn’t just one player shutting Bader down.

By my count seven different Hoosiers — from 6-foot guard Kevin ‘Yogi’ Ferrell to 6-foot-8 forward Jeremy Hollowell — defended Bader at different points during the game.

“We switched a lot,” Crean said. “... And (switching) has got to become a strength for us.”

IU was switching almost every pick set for the sharp shooter, giving him no space to get comfortable.

At one point, Oakland set a screen for Bader’s screener.

So a Grizzly set a screen for a Grizzly setting a screen for a Grizzly. But last night, a polar bear couldn’t get Bader open.

On the play, freshman forward Collin Hartman was able to close out and contest a Bader jumper, which he missed.

It wasn’t just Bader who was struggling.

In the first half, besides guard Mitch Baenziger, who had a stellar first half going 4-for-4, Oakland shot 20 percent from the field and didn’t make a three.

On offense, IU showed what they do best — drive to the basket.

The Hoosiers scored 50 points in the half, shooting an unreal 60 percent from the field and 67 percent from behind the arc.

IU didn’t settle for contested jumpers. They put their head down and earned 15 trips to the line in the first half.

Once again, guard Evan Gordon, a graduate student transfer from Arizona State, continued to shed the moniker as the ‘other’ Gordon to have played for IU.

He was 10-12 from the field for a game-high 26 points.

Gordon’s knowledge of angles and where the opponent’s defense is helping is fun to watch.

He’s only 6-feet tall and not the best athlete, but he is as good as finishing around the basket as any other Hoosier.

What he does best is drive to the basket, and that will give IU the best chance to be playing meaningful ball in March.

A slashing team who plays suffocating perimeter defense. That’s this year’s identity.

­— ehoopfer@indiana.edu
Follow columnist Evan Hoopfer on Twitter @EvanHoopfer.