MADISON, Wis. — One glance at the Wisconsin roster showed few options tall or athletic enough to stop Cody Zeller.
But Zeller, who entered Thursday night’s game averaging 15.1 points per game, went scoreless in the first half and finished with just seven points in 19 minutes.
The 6-foot-11 freshman picked up his second foul that forced him to the bench for the final 4:30 of the first half and as a result, he never established much of a rhythm.
“There were a couple times we tried to feed him the ball, they three-quartered, and we didn’t give him a chance to set up and post up the way that he needed to,” coach Tom Crean said. “We tried to force the ball in rather than allow him to get set.”
Christian Watford — who helped compensate for Zeller’s absence with 12 points — admitted that Zeller’s time on the bench made things difficult for the Hoosiers.
“It hurt us a lot, having an inside presence like Cody, he’s been there for us all year,” Watford said. “He was in foul trouble, but there’s still no excuse. Other guys got to step up.”
HOOSIERS SHOOT WELL ENOUGH TO WIN
Indiana had no trouble finding the bottom of the net Thursday night, but posted a season-low 50 points in large part because of Wisconsin’s deliberate pace.
The Hoosiers hit 50 percent of their first half shots, finished at 45.7 percent for the game and put together an 11-0 scoring run midway through the first half.
Though Crean felt his team adjusted nicely to Bo Ryan’s pass-heavy swing offense, he noted that key rebounds down the stretch may have been the difference.
“We answered the bell on the pace of play,” Crean said. “They’re going to play at a snail’s pace, it’s what they do, and you’ve got to steal possessions. We rebounded the ball very well for most of the game. They got a couple of big rebounds at the end. We struggled getting those balls.”
As I walked out of the media room last night, the sound of a ball pounding Branch McCracken Court immediately hit my ears.
During Tom Crean’s first three years at Indiana, when certain players weren’t scoring, the Hoosiers had no chance to win.
