The freshman center had played in just three games this season: a 51-point win against Mississippi Valley State, a 46-point win against Savannah State and a 20-point loss to Louisville.
April only plays in blowouts. So when he checked into Sunday’s game against Rutgers, all that was left to determine was the final score. He ended up scoring four points, pulling in two rebounds and blocking a shot in the final minutes of IU’s ?84-54 win in Piscataway, N.J.
IU (19-9, 9-6) put the game away early in its first trip to Piscataway. The Hoosiers took the lead with 9:24 left in the first half and never let it go, easing their way past the Scarlet Knights ?(10-18, 2-13).
The Hoosiers dominated in almost every statistical category. They outrebounded the Scarlet Knights, 45-32. IU shot 53 percent from the field to Rutgers’ 37 percent. It made more 3-pointers and converted them at a higher rate. It made more free throws in fewer attempts, pulled in more offensive rebounds, blocked more shots and recorded more assists.
Junior guard Yogi Ferrell and freshman guard James Blackmon Jr. each scored a game-high 17 points. Ferrell added six assists and six rebounds, while Blackmon contributed seven rebounds.
The ease of Sunday’s win begs the question: can anything really be learned from a 30-point win against the Big Ten’s worst team?
IU Coach Tom Crean thinks so.
“Every game matters,” Crean said. “We had a couple mistakes. We had a couple things that we thought were there, and they were aggressive, but we settled in ... This time of year, we’re trying to make sure we’re doing a good job of teaching and reaffirming skills, but there’s a lot of reminders.”
Three games remain on IU’s regular-season schedule. Two of those come at home, where IU has lost only twice this season. Its only road game is at Northwestern, which sits just 2.5 games ahead of Rutgers in the Big Ten standings. The Hoosiers will then return to Bloomington to close the regular season against Iowa and Michigan State.
At this point, IU is all but guaranteed a berth in the NCAA Tournament — the Hoosiers are a projected No. 7 seed by ESPN.com’s Joe Lunardi. All that’s left to play for is seeding and an extra bye game in the Big Ten ?Tournament.
With the Big Ten’s expansion to 14 schools, four teams will receive a double-bye in the conference tournament. IU sits just outside of those spots in fifth.
Crean said he hadn’t given any thought to the postseason, no matter how close it’s getting.
“We haven’t even looked at that,” he said. “We’re not thinking about that yet. That’ll come up, but it’s really not an issue. Our issue right now is try to make sure that we’re rested and sharp and on edge to go up and play Northwestern, just like we needed to be here.”
