Indiana wraps up busy week against Southeast Missouri
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- No. 13 Indiana will conclude what so far has been a taxing but triumphant stretch of four games in eight days when Southeast Missouri State visits Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Sunday afternoon. The Hoosiers (6-1) are looking to extend their home win streak to 23 games, which would tie for the sixth-longest streak in program history. The last three victories have come in the past five days, but the Hoosiers probably won't have one of their best players. Sophomore forward OG Anunoby missed Friday's 83-60 home rout of Southern Illinois-Edwardsville with a sprained left ankle. Coach Tom Crean's Indiana team is young and talented without a senior in the lineup, so the legs have stayed reasonably fresh in a demanding stretch that included an exhausting 76-67 home win over No. 3 North Carolina on Wednesday night. Anunoby led the team in scoring in his past two games with 37 points combined before suffering the injury late against the Tar Heels. "I don't think it's long term," Crean said Friday of Anunoby, who is averaging 12.5 points and 6.0 rebounds. "But I'm not banking on him. But we'll see. Every ankle responds differently." The Redhawks (4-3) began the season with an 81-62 loss at Illinois before winning three of four by double digits. Their most recent game was Thursday, an 87-63 home win over Central Arkansas in which they erased a seven-point halftime deficit with a 36-1 run. "Twenty-eight assists on 33 made baskets indicates you are really sharing the basketball," Redhawks coach Rick Ray said after the win. Ray is in his second season at the Ohio Valley Conference school and is familiar with Indiana from his days as an assistant coach. He spent four seasons under Matt Painter at Big Ten rival Purdue through 2010 and was on Indiana State's staff under Royce Waltman for seven years through 2004. "Guys are starting to believe and starting to buy in," Ray said. "We've still got a long ways to go defensively, but we've got some options on the offensive end that when our defense is not clicking on all cylinders, we still have the ability to score." Senior guard Antonius Cleveland averages 16 points for Southeast Missouri State. Senior forward Trey Kellum averages 12.9 points and 7.0 rebounds. Freshman forward Denzel Mahoney is scoring 10.6 per game. "I know they went into Illinois and got after them," said Crean, who is in his ninth season at Indiana. "So we won't take them lightly." Junior guard James Blackmon Jr. has a team-high 17.6-point average for a deep Hoosiers squad. Sophomore Juwan Morgan started for Anunoby on Friday and scored a career-high 18 points while also matching a career rebounding best with 10. Freshman reserve forward De'Ron Davis also scored a career-high 14 points. "It's pretty taxing as far as our stamina," Morgan said of the four-game stretch, "but I think it's more mental than physical." Indiana improved to 21-0 against the OVC with Friday's blowout. Crean was impressed by how his team handled the energy drain from knocking off previously unbeaten North Carolina. "I've coached a lot of games as an assistant and as head coach, and I've not been part of many that had that level of intensity, effort, energy, toughness and talent, all at the same time," he said of facing the Tar Heels. |