Now that I’ve had 36 hours to regroup from the loss to Xavier on Saturday evening, I found it appropriate this morning to take a look at the film. There were plenty of pivotal moments to choose from, but the fastbreak dunk by Derrick Brown that resulted in a broken net took the cake.
1. A somewhat wild shot by Armon Bassett is tipped unsuccessfully by D.J. White.
2. After the tip by White, Derrick Brown tips the ball and then grabs the rebound. Brown immediately looks for Stanley Burrell.
Losing early in the year is never as bad as it feels — last night, it felt like anger with a capital ANGER — but the next day comes and the frustration wears off and you start to focus in on reality again. And after a couple viewings of last night’s game (I’m going to shelf the ISU game for now), it’s clear there are deficiencies in this team. Some of them are correctable, and some are not; the rub is in knowing one from the other.
Below, a nebulously divided list:
Correctable
– Eric Gordon’s struggles. The bottom line is that as good as Gordon is, he is not infallible. He remains a freshman, prone to freshman frustrations, overexertions and mistakes. Credit Xavier’s physical defense, especially guard Stanley Burrell (who stayed in front of Gordon on nearly every possession), and the way the Musketeers refused to rotate away from Gordon the entire night. Xavier drew the blueprint for beating IU: Make Gordon settle for contested jump shots, and make the rest of the Hoosiers step up offensively.
That didn’t happen last night — IU was woeful from the three point line, and besides D.J. White’s first good game the Hoosiers had little presence in the paint — but it won’t happen every night. IU will shoot better, and Gordon will find the difference between asserting himself and forcing things. The chances that teams will be able to shut him down, and rely on poor play from everyone else, seem pretty slim.
(After the jump: Defensive discussion, the arrogance of youth, Uncorrectables that I hope are actually correctable, and sour grapes.)
No. 8 Indiana shot just 38.5 percent from the field and fell to Xavier 80-65 Saturday night in the Chicago Invitational Challenge at the Sears Centre.
The Hoosiers (4-1) hit just 1 of 15 three-point attempts and Stanley Burrell held Eric Gordon in check for most of the game.
Gordon finished with 20 points, but shot just 4 of 12 from the field.
C.J. Anderson and B.J. Raymond led Xavier (4-1) with 19 points each. The Musketeers shot 46 percent and hit 20 of 30 free throws.
The game was close throughout the first half, but foul trouble for D.J. White and Gordon led to a Xavier run that gave the Musketeers an 11-point halftime lead.
Indiana never got closer than eight in the second half.
White played his best game of the season for the Hoosiers, totaling 16 points on 7 of 9 shooting.
However, the Hoosier backcourt struggled from the field. Armon Bassett, Jordan Crawford, Jamarcus Ellis and Gordon combined to shoot just 16 of 50 from the field.
Indiana will return to action Tuesday night in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge opposite Georgia Tech in Assembly Hall.
Related:
Opponent: Xavier (Chicago Invitational Challenge)
Date: Saturday, November 24, 2007 | 8:36 EST
Arena: Sears Centre (10,000) – Hoffman Estates, Illinois
TV: Big Ten Network; Radio: IU Radio Network
Probable Starters:
Game Notes (Adobe Reader required to view):
As always, your predictions and comments are welcome in the game thread.
The Hoosiers will wrap up the Chicago Invitational Challenge tonight against Xavier of the Atlantic 10 Conference.
The Musketeers are 3-1 on the season with their only loss coming at Miami (OH) 59-57 back on Nov. 13. The Hoosiers lead the all-time series 8-0.
Xavier advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament a season ago and lost three seniors, but many publications thought highly enough of the Musketeers to include them in their preseason rankings.
Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports had them at No. 20, Andy Katz of ESPN ranked them No. 22 and the Sporting News pegged them at No. 25.
Head coach Sean Miller will rely heavily on his senior backcourt of Drew Lavender and Stanley Burrell. The 5-7 Lavender is a first team preseason All-Atlantic 10 selection. Burrell, a 6-3 guard, entered the season 25th on Xavier’s all-time scoring list and was a third team All-Atlantic 10 preseason selection.
Up front, 6-9 senior Josh Duncan returns from an injury that forced him out of starting lineup late last season. Duncan is leading the Musketeers in scoring at 13.0 ppg. 6-8 sophomore Derrick Brown joins Duncan in the paint and is the leading rebounder (7.0 rpg) and second leading scorer (12.5 ppg).
C.J. Anderson and B.J. Raymond (both 12.3 ppg) are also keys to the Xavier attack. In all, six Musketeers are scoring in double figures.
To learn more about the Xavier program, click here.
