IU-Michigan Postgame Show: Elder and Future Statesmen Set Tone for Blowout

Assembly Call Classic 00:00 / 1:06:02 1X

In the most pivotal moment of Tuesday night’s game in Ann Arbor, Indiana’s elder and future statesmen stepped up in a big way.

With the score 15-4, and Indiana not executing Tom Crean’s gameplan of staying close to Michigan’s sharp-hooters, Crean took a timeout and excoriated his senior leader Yogi Ferrell.

What happened next is exactly what should happen when a team and its coach are connected, and when a team has strong internal leadership.

Yogi responded with four straight points. Then senior Nick Zeisloft responded with a 3. Then senior Max Bielfeldt drained another 3. Indiana’s elder statesmen had settled the Hoosiers back into the game.

Then it was time for the future statesmen to the step up.

Thomas Bryant is clearly Indiana’s best freshman. He’s fantastic. But he’s so good that he may only be around for one season, certainly two at the most.

But OG Anunoby and Juwan Morgan will be part of this program’s foundation moving forward, for at least the next three years, and the two previously unheralded freshmen are offering more and more evidence each game that they will be ready for the responsibility.

OG had one of his patented steal-and-dunks, and then Juwan had a terrific sequence where he played smart defense, forced a steal (which Yogi corralled), and then ran the floor to receive a beautiful bounce pass from Yogi that was converted into a bucket.

That tied the game at 24-24, and Indiana would go on to score the next 21 points in the half.

And while those 21 straight points were breathtaking to watch, it was the tough, hard-fought sequence before it that set Indiana’s dominant run up. And that sequence was a result of Indiana’s current and future leaders doing what leaders do on the road: taking a punch, shaking it off, and buckling down to make smart, fundamental play after smart, fundamental play.

In terms of Indiana’s present and its future, it was the most encouraging sequence of basketball we’ve seen from the Hoosiers all year. And it was the Banner Moment in a game filled with them.

What a performance by the Hoosiers. We broke it all down on the latest edition of The Assembly Call IU Postgame Show.