IU Needs Oladipo's Heroics to Beat D-II Ferris State

With just 7:30 to go in the game, the hapless Hoosiers found themselves down 53-40 to Division II Ferris State.  That was the point where I declared the game over.  IU had no life -- missing layups, missing threes, turnovers, bad defense, and getting out-rebounded.  IU was shooting 31% and Ferris State was shooting 51%.  I was praying that Cody Zeller was not watching.  It's one thing for a 5-star recruit to dream about being a part of bringing the glory back to old IU, but this game was making those dreams look like an impossibility.

Sure, IU was without Verdell Jones and Guy-Marc Michel.  And yes, Mo Creek is still trying to get back to form and was just 1-for-9 from the arc at this point in the game.  But still, there's no excuse to be losing by 13 points to Ferris State in Assembly Hall.

At this point in the game, Oladipo hadn't looked great.  His aggressive play on defense had led to him getting burnt a couple times and he had the rim stuff one of his dunk attempts (looked like he was too far underneath the basket).  But by the game's end, Oladipo would be the hero and would finish with a mighty impressive stat line.

From the 13-point deficit with 7:30 to go, the game stayed at an 8-10 point deficit for the next few minutes.  In fact, IU was still down 9 points with 2:22 left when Mo Creek finally found the range from downtown to suddenly cut the lead to 6 and IU had its first sign of life.

Immediately following Mo's trey, Oladipo got a steal, then turned it over, and then got a block in a 12-second span.  Even though it included a turnover, the steal and the block really showed what Oladipo is capable of.

Still down by 6 points, Creek got a steal and Oladipo got fouled with 1:33 left.  I was interested to see how Oladipo would do at the line in a late-game situation and he nailed them both to cut it to 4.

Ferris State then scored to get it back to 6 and then Oladipo was fouled again with 1:06 to go.  Again, he nailed both freebies to cut it to 4.

There would be no scoring on the next 3 possessions thanks to a Ferris turnover, a missed 3 by Creek, and 2 missed FTs by Ferris.

So, IU was still down 4 points with 19 seconds left.  With just 10 seconds left, Oladipo hit a 3 and was fouled!  Down by 1, Oladipo went to the line and calmly hit the free throw to tie the game, but the drama was not nearly over.

On Ferris State's possession, Oladipo was defending the ball when he got screened near mid-court.  His man went streaking toward the lane with Oladipo trailing by two steps and nobody else from IU stopping the ball!  This guy had a wide-open lane to the game-winning layup when Oladipo came flying in out of nowhere to make the game-saving blocked shot!

But the drama still was not over.  There was still 1.5 seconds left and Ferris had the ball out of bounds.  They inbounded to the elbow, can't remember if there was a dribble or not, and then put a 15-footer in the air as the buzzer sounded......swish.  The Hoosiers just lost to D-II Ferris State in an exhibition game.  There were no replays shown on the live streaming, but I thought he got it off when watching it live.  But the officials went to the replay and ended up waiving it off.

The Hoosiers had new life and they would take full advantage.  OT started with a bucket by Watford, a 3 by Creek, a 3 by Hulls, 2 FTs by Watford, and a steal and dunk by Oladipo to open the extra stanza on a 12-0 run and an 18-0 run going back to regulation.  The game was over at that point.

In the end, there was plenty to be concerned with the way they played the first 37 1/2 minutes of the game.  The good news is that they found a way to win and hopefully will learn some valuable lessons from this one.

Additional news and notes:

• Matt Roth - Had his knee rolled up on and left game.  No word yet, but it did not look good.
• Verdell Jones III - Did not play again due to ankle injury.  Previous reports were that he would be ready for the season opener on Friday, but there hasn't been any recent updates.
• Guy-Marc Michel - Did not play due to still waiting on NCAA ruling on amateur status.  Very little news or updates on this topic.
• Victor Oladipo - 14 points, 9 rebounds, 5 steals, 2 blocks, 5-5 FTs (all in final 93 seconds of regulation), game-tying 4-point play with 10 seconds left, game-saving blocked shot with 1 second left.
• Christian Watford - 25 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steals, 1 assist, a perfect 12-12 from the line.
• Maurice Creek - Only 3-13 from the arc, but two of the makes were big ones -- one late in regulation to start the comeback and one early in overtime.  Definitely still rusty and hobbled a bit, but I thought he was moving better in this game than the previous exhibition game. 
• The devil, I mean, Jordan Hulls had 6, 6, 6 (points, rebounds, assists)
• Tom Pritchard had 6 early points followed by nothing but 5 fouls the rest of the game.
• Jeremiah Rivers was the 11th man off the bench and did not come in the game until 6:32 to go in the first half, but he did end up logging 16 minutes.
• IU was 5-25 from the arc in regulation.
• IU was 23-28 from the line.  Watford, Oladipo, and Pritchard were 19-19.  Elston was 0-3.  Ferrist State was 20-38 including many key misses down the stretch.
• IU shot 35.7% in the first half, 28.1% in the second half, and 100% in OT.  Ferris State was 51.9%, 31.8%, and 25.0% respectively.
• IU was outrebounded by 1.
• IU had 20 turnovers, but forced 25.

Recruiting News:

• Cody Zeller is expected to announce his decision on Wednesday.
• Regardless of Cody's decision, IU fans will overreact.

Season Opener:

• Florida Gulf Coast
• Assembly Hall
• Friday evening at 6:30pm ET/5:30pm CT
• TV: Big Ten Network

Go Hoosiers!