The IU men's basketball team welcomed Halloween costumes into Assembly Hall Saturday afternoon as they had a 30-minute intersquad scrimmage.
Here are four key points from the scrimmage on freshman Austin Ethrington and Matt Roth, the post play of freshman Cody Zeller, a healthy Derek Elston and the sophomore duo of Victor Oladipo and Will Sheehey.
ETHERINGTON AND ROTH DO MORE THAN JUST SHOOTING
After Verdell Jones III, VIctor Oladipo and Christian Watford moved over to the Crimson team following the first half, the perimeter scoring for the Cream team fell on the shoulders of Austin Etherington and Matt Roth.
Roth has had an up and down four years in Bloomington, fighting through a foot injury that forced him to miss all but two games of his sophomore season.
The Cream team continually found Roth for open looks as he hit 5-7 shots from behind the arc and even showed the ability to hit a pull-up jumper off the dribble.
Following the scrimmage, assistant coach Tim Buckley said Roth does a great job of getting 'lost in the game.'
"When that ball's moving around and defense have to rotate and collapse whether it's in the post or it's off the dribble-drive Matt can get lost on that perimeter and as you well know if the defense starts to come out on on him quickly he can just keep stepping back so he pretty much has unlimited range."
Cody Zeller has received almost all of the attention in the freshman class but Etherington showed flashes of why he will challenge for minutes in a crowded perimeter.
The 6'7" Etherington knocked down a pair of first half threes and finished the scrimmage with 10 points and five rebounds. He played the most minutes (27 of 30) of any player on the Cream roster.
"Austin shot the ball really well," Buckley said. "The biggest thing for him and younger guys in general is playing through fatigue, playing through mistakes but he has the ability to stretch the floor for us and shoot the ball."
"I think Austin is really carving out a versatile type role where he can play out on the wing, he can be the trailer in the break. I think a lot of it is going to depend on his ability to defend some different possessions. He doesn't play like a freshman."
Heading into his freshman year, Etherington wants to show people he is much more than a one-dimensional player.
"I know people thought that I could only shoot and I just try to prove to everyone that I can play defense and that I can cut to the basket and create shots for everyone else to," Etherington said.
ZELLER EVENTUALLY GETS POST TOUCHES
At Big Ten Media Day on Thursday, coach Tom Crean preached the importance of getting Zeller post touches.
The first 15 minutes saw Zeller rarely get the ball down on the block but the halftime message became pretty evident less than two minutes into the second half.
Zeller received the ball down low on three straight trips to start the second half with the Crimson team scoring on each possession.
On the afternoon, Zeller had 12 points on 4-5 shooting and Buckely talked about the need to feed the 2011 Indiana Mr. Basketball.
"I would say our emphasis has been on recognition from the perimeter guys and he can also continue to do a better job because obviously that is going to be apart of the team's scouting report now," Buckley said. "The other thing he has is great patience in the post."
In the first half, Zeller did commit five personal fouls something Buckely isn't worried about with the Hoosiers less than two weeks away from their season opener
"I think you can point to those things to how and get better," Buckley said. "I think he was put in situations today where he's not going to do a lot of that but it's a teaching point that he can improve on."
ELSTON BACK AND HEALTHY
When forward Bobby Cappobianco transferred following last season, one of the biggest questions heading into the off-season was whether or not IU had enough quality frontcourt depth to make the jump in the Big Ten Conference.
Junior Derek Elston provided a possible answer to that question on Saturday afternoon scoring 12 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, three more than any other player.
Throughout the 2011-2012 season, Elston fought through nagging injuries that held him from playing anywhere close to 100%.
"Obviously he's struggled a lot with injuries over the past couple of years and a lot of them were just minor tweaks here and there but they really affected his play," Elston said. "I thought he did a good job tonight running the floor."
Elston had three offensive rebounds in the 30-minute scrimmage and had an impressive spin move to go along with a dunk. With forward Tom Pritchard sidelined with an ankle injury, Elston was the lone scholarship post player on the Cream team.
Assistant coach Steve McClain sees a new Elston out on the court and is happy to have him back.
"I've had two or three people walk up to me already, fans, were like 'boy it was fun to see Derek look like he was moving,' McClain said. "He couldn't of gone up and dunk that if he wanted to last year."
OLADIPO AND SHEEHEY GO AT IT
In the first half of Saturday's scrimmage, the two sophomores guarded each other when the Sheehey was on the offensive end.
Having similar games and being classmates only added to the intensity of the match-up as each had their moments.
Oladipo finished the scrimmage with 16 points on 7-12 shooting and had seven rebounds. The high-energy sophomore ignited the crowd with his dunks and had three offensive rebounds in the first half.
Playing for the Crimson team in the entire scrimmage, Sheehey was the team's leading scorer with 14 points while playing a team-high 28 minutes.
Similar to the Midnight Madness a few weeks ago, Sheehey looked to be much more aggressive on the offensive end routinely getting into the lane for pull-up jumpers.
After coming off the bench for much his freshman season, Sheehey is now challenging for a starting spot and his coaches have taken notice.
Buckley said Sheehey's dedication in Cook Hall is the main reason for his improvement.
"He's in that gym 24/7 working on his game," Buckley said. "I think he's expanding his game. I think that he, Victor and Jordan have led the way awhile for that and now all the other guys are starting to come in and work extra. You can see his body changing a little bit"
