Photo’s courtesy of IU Athletics
Will Sheehey crossed over to his right, spun back around his defender to the left, creating just enough space to gracefully finish with an elegant finger roll putting the Hoosiers up 16 at the end of the first Half.
The Hoosiers never looked back.
IU defeated Stony Brook 96-66 in Friday night’s season opener at Assembly Hall.
Getting the Hoosiers off to an electric start was sophomore forward Victor Oladipo, who sparked the Hoosiers offense with a career high 16 points, starting with an acrobatic reverse layup just four seconds into the game.
“He scored a lot of different ways, he was a great facilitator and didn’t look for shots that weren’t there,” Tom Crean said of Oladipo. “He attacked the rim and really needed to get him up the sideline and he did a good job of that and got some momentum going early with that which gave him confidence.”
“I was looking to help get my team going early,” Oladipo said. “They were slow getting to me at the beginning especially, so I was just trying to attack and get to the basket as fast as I could and finish strong.”
Oladipo, who was placed with the challenge of guarding Bryan Dougher – Stony Brook’s top scorer and an America East preseason All-Conference selection – was also able to focus his energy on the defensive end of the court, holding the senior standout to just four points on 1-8 shooting.
“He drew the assignment of their best players, he drew the assignment of their go-to shooter/scorer,” Crean said. “That guy [Dougher] when you look back at last year, when he plays well they play well. He wanted that challenge and I thought he did a good job.”
Although not playing in the second half due to flu-reduced minutes, Will Sheehey finished with 13 points on 5-6 shooting to help the Hoosiers pull away from the Seawolves.
“If he wasn’t feeling well in the first half, then hopefully he’ll stay sick like that more often,” Crean joked after the game. “I thought he really did a good job of coming in, bringing energy and reading the game.”
Despite appearing sluggish and out of their element in the first half, IU gained confidence as the game went along. A late half surge gave the Hoosiers a commanding 45-28 lead at halftime.
The Hoosier’s excellent start to the second half was due in large to improved rebounding, effective defense which led to easy buckets in transition, and an outstanding effort from Cody Zeller.
“We let them get comfortable early, that’s why they stuck around,” Verdell Jones said. “During a time out coach Crean and coach Buckley really got into us saying we’re not here to give up 60 or 70 points, we’re here to shut teams out. I think that really got us motivated.”
After shaking off the first game jitters, the Hoosiers came out loose in the second half and executed to perfection, exalting the crowd to its feet after Cody Zeller’s third bucket in as many minutes to give IU a 57-39 lead.
The Hoosier’s excellent start to the second half was due in large to improved rebounding, effective defense which led to easy buckets in transition, and an outstanding effort from Cody Zeller.
Zeller, who after a slow start finished with a Hoosier triple-double – 16 points, 10 rebounds and 12 pass deflections.
“When you get that kind of activity from your freshman, a big player like that, that’s really good,” Crean said.
But Crean is not the only one benefiting from the addition of Zeller.
“It was outstanding, remarkable,” Jones said of Zeller’s first game. “It’s very rare to see a freshman come in and do what he did to impact the game today.”
“I saw I had seven assists but it’s easy when you look up and see a seven footer to toss it in for him to catch and dunk.”
Jordan Hulls, who has established himself as the early season team leader and commandeer of the Hoosier offense finished with four points and six assists.
Despite being quiet from behind the arc, Hulls impacted the game with his ability to set the tempo and get other players on the court involved, setting up Matt Roth for back-to-back three’s to ice the game midway through the second half.
Quietly but significantly impacting the game was junior forward Derek Elston, whose improved midrange jumpshot overshadowed his presence in the paint, helping to add another element to the Hoosier offense.
Along with Matt Roth’s eight points, Elston’s 11 points in just 14 minutes off the bench helped space the floor and pick up right where the starters left off.
“I’m really excited for Derek and Matt,” Crean said. “Derek has been playing really well the last two weeks. He’s confident, healthy and he’s growing up. His body didn’t let him do that last year.”
IU, who put up 96 points on Stony Brook’s defense – ranked 15th in scoring defense (60.4) and 9th in field-goal percentage defense (.390) nationally last year – will look to expand off their opening game success against Chattanooga on Sunday, and improve to 2-0.
