IU is reeling.
After winning three straight games, the Hoosiers have dropped two straight road games, which came by a combined margin of 43 points.
IU is back at home Wednesday facing a critical game against Penn State, hoping to avoid a three-game losing streak.
A major reason for IU’s recent slide has been the absence of several key contributors, including senior forward Collin Hartman, sophomore forward OG Anuonby and junior guard James Blackmon Jr., who is out indefinitely.
“They’re going through a real life lesson right now, I mean they really are,” Crean said. “When you deal with the adversity of losing not only players, but key players, absolutely key go-to players on the team, it forces everybody up a level of responsibility, some more than others.”
Without Blackmon, IU’s leading scorer, in the lineup against Northwestern on Sunday, IU’s offense struggled and had its lowest scoring output of the season.
However, sophomore forward Thomas Bryant had arguably his best game of the season, tying his career high in scoring with 23 points and pulling down 12 rebounds.
Morgan, who figures to be relatively healthy for Wednesday’s game, said he has confidence in his teammates and their ability to step up.
“We have to stay knowing that next man up has to come in and play,” Morgan said. “They weren’t recruited here or getting signed here just to take a spot on the bench. They’re here to play and they have to be ready any time something happens.”
Penn State’s defense is the Nittany Lions’ best weapon this season. Penn State has the nation’s 32nd best defense according to KenPom.com’s adjusted efficiency ranking.
IU has had a problem turning the ball over and Penn State is an above-average team in terms of forcing miscues.
The Nittany Lions have forced miscues on 20.9 percent of their possessions, good for 56th in the country.
With injuries mounting, it isn’t just the players who have been out that have been affected. Freshman forward Curtis Jones has been hobbled with an ankle injury and only played three minutes against Northwestern.
Sophomore forward Juwan Morgan has also been dealing with a variety of injuries.
“It’s tough because he’s not the same right now,” Crean said. “There’s no question that he’s got to improve his health and once his health improves, his game will improve.”
With Blackmon out, freshman guard Devonte Green stepped in and got the start against the Wildcats. He struggled, hitting just one out of seven shots and registering two turnovers.
“He needs to be ready to shoot and be confident, knock the ball down,” Crean said on his radio show on WHCC 105.1 FM. “Sometimes he’s trying to rush or trying to shot fake. But I think for a guy in his first start, in a Big Ten game and on the road, he did a pretty good job, and I think he’ll be even better next game.”
IU has already beat Penn State this season but needed the heroics of Blackmon to hold off a late rally by the Nittany Lions. Blackmon sunk the game-winning shot and finished with 17 points.
Since its loss to IU, Penn State has gone 1-2, beating Illinois at home and losing on the road at Wisconsin and Purdue.
Junior guard Shep Garner is Penn State’s leading scorer, averaging 12.4 points per game and is the team leader in shots attempted a game at 10.5.
Garner had 15 points when the two teams played, and he shot well from three, going four of seven from beyond the arc.
Against IU, freshman guard Tony Carr led Penn State with 24 points. Carr did a lot of his damage at the free throw line, where he hit 10 of 11 attempts.
Following the loss to Northwestern, Crean was confident in his team and its ability to turn the season around.
“We’ve just got to keep improving, we really do,” Crean said. “We can’t do anything about what we don’t have, who we don’t have. We can’t do anything about that.”
