IU 95 St. Joe's (IN) 67....and bigtennetwork.com sucks

To say I am not happy with bigtennetwork.com would be an understatement.  Even though I knew I could watch a better quality and free version of the second exhibition game by recording tomorrow's re-airing on Student U, my excitement to see the game caused me to pay the $2.99 for the online version.  The online games are archived so that you don't have to watch them live and can watch them at your convenience.  My plan was to fire up the computer after the kids were in bed and watch the Hoosiers kick the shit out of St. Joe's.  Well, when I went to log-in and watch, the game wasn't there.  My purchase of the first exhibition game was still there, but not tonight's game that should have just ended by the time I logged in.  As I type this with the time past 11pm, the game is still not there. 

So, for tonight, I had to rely on reading IU sites and blogs and checking out the box score. 

I will still be recording the tomorrow afternoon's airing on the BTN and watching it tomorrow night.  For now, I will provide my impressions from the box score and other articles that I have read.  If anything else jumps out at me after watching the actual footage, I will put up another post.

Here are my impressions from the second exhibition game:

• FTs by Freshmen:  After a perfect 13-13 from the line in the first exhibition game, the freshmen followed that up with 23-26 in the second (Watford 7-8, Creek 7-8, Hulls 4-4, Maniru 3-4, Elston 2-2).
• Allowing Offensive Rebounds:  The Hoosiers allowed St. Joe's to grab 21 offensive rebounds....not so good.
• FG Shooting:  IU was 17-26 (65.4%) in the first half, including 3-5 from the arc.
• Maurice Creek:  After a sub-par performance in the first exhibition, Creek bounced back with an impressive overall effort -- team leading 16 pts (4-5 FGs, 1-2 3PT, 7-8 FTs), 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and 0 turnovers.

• Bawa Muniru:  Good to see Bawa in a Hoosier uniform.  7 pts, 2 rebounds, and 3 blocks in 8 minutes.  I'm not sure yet if he is going to be ready to play meaningful minutes this year or not, but the one area that this team desperately needs him is shot-blocking.  This is another guy that you absolutely have to love.  Postgame quote: "I enjoy every bit of it and I wouldn't change it for nothing."  See youtube video below for postgame player reactions -- Bawa is at the end.  What a specimen this guy is.
• Jordan Hulls:  Pretty much played a perfect game in the first exhibition game, but had a rough outing in the second with 5 turnovers and only 1 assist.
• Jeremiah Rivers:  Impressive with 15 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 block, and only 1 turnover.
• Verdell Jones:  Needs to get those turnover numbers down.  5 more TOs in this game.  I understand that he tries to make things happen and is often successful, but he still needs to learn to take better care of the basketball.
• Christian Watford:  Not as spectacular as the debut, but another solid effort.
• Tom Pritchard:  His FTs look uglier than last year....0-4 in this game.
• Derek Elston:  Not stealing any headlines, but I have liked his activity and production in the two exhibition games (18 pts and 15 rebounds in 35 minutes in the two games).
• Matt Roth:  I said this a lot last year....if you are a shooter, you are going to be measured by how well you shoot the ball.  Matt Roth, 2-2 from the arc, nice job young man.
• Devan Dumes:  Good to see him get a few minutes after sitting out the first game with a sore knee.  Hopefully, he will be close to 100% for the season opener.
  

REGULAR SEASON OPENER:  Friday at 8pm ET (7pm CT) on the Big Ten Network.




Photo Credit: IDS