BLOOMINGTON– Mike Woodson smiled wide, punching the air as the buzzer sounded on a nail-biter of a win Wednesday night, 76-74, over St. John's in the Gavitt Tipoff Games.
Victory moved Woodson's team to 3-0, and handed him his first win over a high-major opponent. It was not without stress for Indiana, but it also felt like the Hoosiers grew up a little bit in the process. Our postgame Q&A was predictably lively. Let's talk about it:
This is a thread we tugged on a little bit in our Insider Video, and it might be something we explore further down the line: I think right now, Indiana is a team that hasn't won a lot, figuring out how to win. There's not a single minute of NCAA tournament experience on this roster, even after all the transfers Mike Woodson brought in last spring. These players have played largely for teams that have struggled in their respective conferences, and now they are, collectively, trying to measure up to much more substantial expectations at a program that wants to consider itself a blue blood. That process is difficult, and if it can be managed, it's going to take time. I've tried less to dodge your question than to reframe it, because I don't think the sentiment is totally wrong. Time will give us an answer. I just think right here, right now, the most accurate thing we can say is we're watching a team learn, collectively, how to win, and whether it can measure itself up to that task.
Insider:Biggest takeaway from Hoosiers' narrow win over St. John's? IU has a bench it can trust.
Behind enemy lines:Here's why a Purdue manager was wearing a Boilers jersey courtside at IU's game
I'm not sure if it's the most obvious thing to most people, but for me, the confidence of Indiana's second unit right now is making an enormous difference. The last couple years, between injuries and inexperience, IU struggled to find impact players off the bench. That was at both ends of the floor. Early on, the Hoosiers are being driven by Trayce Jackson-Davis and Race Thompson. But when Mike Woodson goes to the bench, he's getting quality minutes from Rob Phinisee, Tamar Bates, Jordan Geronimo, etc. Michael Durr has looked good in glimpses. We could go on.
Maybe long term one or two of those guys push their way into the starting lineup. But then that moves someone quality to the bench. Through three games, there hasn't been a ton of drop-off from starters to reserves. That's been really important.
I think it'll be better rebounding the ball than it was tonight. This game had alot of weird caroms because St. John's kept shooting deep 3s. I don't think this will be an elite rebounding team, largely because I don't think this group is going to hammer the offensive glass. But it will be fine most nights.
Free throws, yea, gotta be better there. To the broader point, I think this team absolutely can be a top-20 team if it irons out its flaws. Free-throw shooting isn't the only one, and it's not a guarantee the Hoosiers will. But the sage wisdom of Kelvin Sampson is always valuable on nights like this: You don't play February basketball in November.
If Indiana is playing February basketball in February, it will be a top-20 team in my estimation.
Somebody somewhere, not very far from here, wrote that this could be an important game for Jordan Geronimo. [inserts smug gif]
These bench performances have been a continuation of what we saw as last season wore on. Geronimo has always been a player who we knew would need time to polish some aspects of his game. The key for him has always been making sure his defense, his activity and his length were pluses any time he was on the floor, as he worked through other stuff. The offensive confidence he showed Wednesday night is another potential step forward. There were flashes of that in The Bahamas in August. But that sequence where he hit the 3 and then had the reverse layup was crucial, and felt like a watershed moment for him.
Wouldn't worry about finding more minutes for him. I suspect he's finding them for himself.
Again, this has got to get fixed. IU can live with being a 33-35% 3-point shooting team. Free throws have to become more automatic.
Woodson said postgame he felt Thompson and Jackson-Davis matched up better with St. John's and its smaller lineups. Not sure if that's a baseline limitation for Durr or if it's more about his physical progress post-injury. But clearly Woodson wanted to keep Thompson or Geronimo at the four as much as possible.
For one night, given Indiana had been very solid on the defensive glass in its first two games, I'd chalk it up to St. John's attempting 27 3s and getting some weird rebound angles. It also felt in the gym like IU may have put a little too much emotional energy into that first half—with the crowd and the atmosphere and everything—and kind of had to drag its way through some stretches in the second.
This feels like one of those things we just need further context on. If Indiana is fivegames into Big Ten play and this is still a problem, then tonight was a harbinger of things to come. If not, it was a blip down to the aforementioned issues.
It's too early to worry about anybody other than IU. Generally, you want your conference to perform well in non-league play, to improve strength of schedule and opportunities for quality wins. But worrying about anyone but yourself before Thanksgiving is wasting energy unnecessarily.
I actually don't think he's been that bad, to be honest. I know that goes against what some corners of his fan base think. Right now, Rob Phinisee is effectively IU's sixth man. That said, he's not and likely never will be the Hoosiers' biggest scoring threat coming off the bench. His remit is ball security, creativity and defense. It's clearly been a bit of a climb for him out of last season's struggles, but to me, even going back to The Bahamas, he's looked more assertive and more vocal. Once the competition turns tough for good in January, I also suspect his defensive impact will be more obvious. So I guess what I'm saying is, I think he's been alright. It just depends on how you're grading his performance right now.
Follow IndyStar reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.
