Thomas Bryant was wide open.
He was rolling toward the basket after setting a screen for sophomore guard James Blackmon Jr. His man left him, and he caught Blackmon’s pass.
Eastern Illinois’ Trae Anderson tried playing help defense, and his effort was rewarded with Bryant’s legs coming down on top of his shoulders after the freshman center dunked Friday night in Assembly Hall.
The dunk accounted for two of Bryant’s 11 points in IU’s 88-49 win against EIU in the first game of the regular season.
“He loves the game, loves the team and just loves being here,” senior forward Max Bielfeldt said. “It’s a lot of fun to play next to him because of all the positive energy he’s bringing.”
Sometimes that energy isn’t positive, like after that second half dunk. After he landed on Branch McCracken court, Bryant extended his arms and stared down Anderson as he was skipping backward toward the defensive end.
He was rewarded with a technical foul.
As soon as the technical was called, sophomore guard Rob Johnson and senior guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell were talking to Bryant, trying to bring him back down.
Bryant wasn’t done celebrating, though.
After Johnson and Ferrell were done talking, he looked toward the student section and let out a scream, high-stepping a little bit while nodding his head.
He was enjoying his first college game, and continued to enjoy it during the media timeout, hopping over to the IU bench and celebrating with anyone in sight.
“With the technical foul though, it’s the youth, and I think he’s learned from that,” Bielfeldt said. “Just being able to adjust and understand that he’s expected to do that. He’s expected to make those big plays. When he understands that he’s really going to mature as a player.”
IU Coach Tom Crean said he doesn’t have a problem with emotion.
Emotion leads to energy and enthusiasm which infects the entire team, just as long as the emotion is contained.
“Thomas has got tremendous energy, and he plays with emotion,” Crean said. “The one key you want with any player, young or old, is not to play emotional. There’s a big difference.”
Bryant played with that level of energy all night, finishing one rebound short of a double-double in 19 minutes of action. He was fouled three times in the first four minutes Friday and each time he was excited.
After the first two, he got up and started clapping, staring at the students behind the basket urging them to get on his level.
After the third time, he was helped up from the floor and bounced across the court to the bench for the duration of the media timeout.
But after this media timeout and the one after his technical foul, Crean kept him in the game. He was happy with the way Bryant responded after coming back to the bench in the second half, and early in the season, this is a learning experience.
“I kept him out there because he handled it well, he really did,” Crean said. “He came back out, and he played and he really settled in. He’s going to have to be in a lot of tough, hostile and adverse situations this year so the more that he can learn from the game the better he’s going to be.”
