Aiden Sherrell was completely trapped in the right corner, nowhere to go with the ball and two Bellarmine defenders in his face.
He turned and contorted, looking for a way out before his eyes landed on the left wing and a wide open Trevor Manhertz. Sherrell, a full 7-feet tall, hurled the ball over the Knights and into Manhertz’s waiting hands for 3 points and a 30-15 Hoosiers lead.
Six minutes later, that lead ballooned to 50-26 as Indiana men’s basketball proved far too much for an overmatched Bellermine
team on Thursday night in Assembly Hall. Sherrell’s decisive heave was one of 11 passes that helped lead to 16 made field goals in the first half.
This is an Indiana team oozing with potential and it was all over the court in the first half. Darren Harris was on fire, going 3-6 from 3-point range to lead the Hoosiers in scoring with 15 points. Markus Burton was dealing, dishing out three of those 11 assists. The defense was suffocating, holding Bellarmine to just 44% from the field and some late-clock circus shots.
Yes, this was a buy game. Yes, Indiana was supposed to be doing this But there’s still a few things worth learning from the matchup to take into the future, especially with Syracuse looming next week as the Hoosiers’ first high major opponent.
For instance, the way a good amount of this collapsed in the second half.
Indiana went from scoring 50 in the first half on 57.1% shooting to scoring 42 in the second on 44.1% shooting. The Hoosiers also went from allowing just 23 points out of the Knights in the first to allowing 43, which is getting outscored in the latter half.
Some of this is due to Darian DeVries, rightfully sending an end-of-the-bench lineup onto the floor with several minutes to go. That’s a non-issue. What is an issue is that the ball stopped moving and instead found the Knights with Indiana falling to just five assists in the second half with nine turnovers that turned into 11 of those 43 Bellarmine points. The 3-point shooting went off a cliff too, with Indiana finishing 4-17 from beyond the arc in the second.
Those are forgivable results against Bellarmine, tinkering with the game in hand. That won’t cut it against any of the high-major opponents looming in the non-conference, let alone the Big Ten gauntlet that awaits afterward.
Are these issues to take to heart and doubt this team right here, right now? No, of course not. These Hoosiers have played two games that count and won both pretty decisively. But they’re worth keeping note of now in case trends develop.
Trends like Markus Burton’s fouling tendency. Indiana’s starting point guard fouled out of this one with multiple minutes to go in the second half after getting deep into foul trouble in the season opener earlier this week. This after having similar foul numbers in the exhibition slate.
That’s something established that needs fixed sooner rather than later. You’d rather have problems in November than March, so there’s plenty of time to fix that one in particular.
Indiana gets several days to rethink these halves before making the short trip north to Indianapolis to face Syracuse next Monday.
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