Game Thread: IU vs FGCU - 11/7 @ 6:30 on BTN

[HoosierFan1994 4,715]

Woof. That was rough. Was a little expected but with their best player out...

1) Gabe Cupps. He is the man. Lucky he is a Hoosier. 

2) X-Gabe-Trey is going to be the way to go I think. Not a coincidence things got better with those three. 

3) Enjoy Ware while he is here. Unique skillset. 

4) Hope Mgbako learns that your ranking doesn't matter once you step foot on the court. 

5) Not a promising game from Walker, Gunn, and Banks. Need more from them. 

[IUHoosier5 1,494]

There’s no way MM plays that bad and has that few of minutes the rest of the season. Gunn and Banks were disappointing, but it’s one game and I’m sure they know it, too. Hopefully this lights a fire in the second unit’s behinds because, outside of Cupps, they were a net-negative on the night - and they’re supposed to be a key contributor in this team’s potential. I want to see the entire team play well against Army. 

[str8baller 5,056]

14 minutes ago, DChoosier said:

I actually thought it was good to see how well Cupps could stay in front of his guy on D.

He might not be a great athlete, but his lateral quickness is really good.  He has the makings of a really good pg. 

[coonhounds 8,787]

I mean a backcourt of Cupps/Fland would have been pretty good.

I take cups. Cupps is iu championship material if we put right players around him imo

Sent from my SM-A326U using Tapatalk

[AZ Hoosier 6,551]

9 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

Whew that game was a trip. I'll take a win no matter how we get it. 

Obviously so much to improve on... not even worth listing it all right now. I'll focus on the positives for the moment... 

--Ware. Does anything need to be said? A double double in his debut. Can't ask for much more than that. 

--Gabe Cupps. I probably wouldn't have believed you before the exhibitions if you told me the most impactful freshman/one who would be playing at the end of the game with the outcome on the line, would be him instead of Mgbako. But this kid clearly has such a work ethic. It's fun to root him on.  

--We all wanted to see more from Galloway... He wasn't perfect tonight by any means but I think its pretty clear he's improved again during the offseason. XJ also was frustrating at times and can play a lot better. But I'm encouraged at how he was able to take over when we needed him to. 

So much to clean up.. but it's game one with a very new roster. We need to build chemistry and learn the defense ASAP. But there is plenty of talent here. We have the ingredients for a very fun season and competitive team. 

As we've basically all said... it's going to take time. Not always going to be pretty. But its all about peaking at the right time in this game. 

Won the game. Won the boards. Shot 51% from the field, 31% from beyond the arc, and 63% from the stripe.

Ware had an awesome game and changed a few shots. Cupps is going to be "the man" in short order - a real pesky little defender that will be a fan fave quickly. Reneau should have more than 2 boards, and still seems pretty foul-prone. Mgbako seemed a bit tentative, but no doubt he'll settle in. X and Galloway sere solid.

FGCU is a scrappy team that just didn't quit. Good win for an opener, but much work to do.

[Banksyrules 4,525]

I love playing these scrappy teams and not cupcakes.  They actually reveal our weaknesses and now have actual good game footage to show and improve our players. 

[RaceToTheTop 24,954]

5 minutes ago, HoosierFan1994 said:

Woof. That was rough. Was a little expected but with their best player out...

1) Gabe Cupps. He is the man. Lucky he is a Hoosier. 

2) X-Gabe-Trey is going to be the way to go I think. Not a coincidence things got better with those three. 

3) Enjoy Ware while he is here. Unique skillset. 

4) Hope Mgbako learns that your ranking doesn't matter once you step foot on the court. 

5) Not a promising game from Walker, Gunn, and Banks. Need more from them. 

X-Gabe-Trey worked tonight, but I don't think it works against P5 teams.  FGCU's game is perimeter and drive oriented.

I wouldn't worry about #4.  He certainly wasn't pouting.

In terms of Walker, I thought we got exactly what we needed from him.  Gunn and Banks we didn't.  Banks earned his quick hook tonight.

I do think this would have been a decent game to have Sparks once Reneau was in foul trouble.  Fundamentally sound big man and I think would have blocked out where others weren't.

[Home Jersey 6,628]

10 minutes ago, HoosierFan1994 said:

Woof. That was rough. Was a little expected but with their best player out...

1) Gabe Cupps. He is the man. Lucky he is a Hoosier. 

2) X-Gabe-Trey is going to be the way to go I think. Not a coincidence things got better with those three. 

3) Enjoy Ware while he is here. Unique skillset. 

4) Hope Mgbako learns that your ranking doesn't matter once you step foot on the court. 

5) Not a promising game from Walker, Gunn, and Banks. Need more from them. 

I agree on all fronts. RE: 4, I think based on the way Mack was acting on the bench, it's not that he's thinking about his ranking. I think he's just genuinely lost on defense to the point that Woodson couldn't afford to have him out there down the stretch. 

He's got to pick that up but I think the spirit he brought on the bench is encouraging in the sense that he has the physical tools. He's just got to learn to keep his mouth running on D and stay consistent. 

We need him to do so much more than he showed tonight. And Walker, Gunn and Banks were pretty disappointing. I find Gunn so frustrating at times. Walker was forcing shots that just isn't his game. As a senior, he's got to be smarter than that.

[str8baller 5,056]

2 minutes ago, Banksyrules said:

I love playing these scrappy teams and not cupcakes.  They actually reveal are weaknesses and now have actual good game footage to show and improve our players. 

Definitely. We could’ve played St Jackson NW St and pulled away to win by 20 with a bunch of dunks, but it wouldn’t have helped us as much as this game.  
 

FGCU is bottom of the B1G level at best, but they were able to push a young team and exploit some weaknesses. I think this pays more dividends in the long run. 

[Home Jersey 6,628]

 

[Home Jersey 6,628]

 

[str8baller 5,056]

13 minutes ago, HoosierFan1994 said:

Woof. That was rough. Was a little expected but with their best player out...

1) Gabe Cupps. He is the man. Lucky he is a Hoosier. 

2) X-Gabe-Trey is going to be the way to go I think. Not a coincidence things got better with those three. 

3) Enjoy Ware while he is here. Unique skillset. 

4) Hope Mgbako learns that your ranking doesn't matter once you step foot on the court. 

5) Not a promising game from Walker, Gunn, and Banks. Need more from them. 

I’ll push back a little for the sake of conversation. 
 

1) agree. glad he’s here

 2) doubt it. We’ll need MM to be “the man” some games. Also, we have no guard depth. Cupps can’t play with Galloway and XJ all game. He’ll have to back them up. I can see those 3 closing some games tho. 
 

3) I still think he struggles with contact. He’ll have some rough patches in the B1G.

4) He’ll be fine

 5) Probably one real spot for the 3 of them. Can’t see this team going more than 8 deep successfully most games

[IU - Kaulie 1,891]

13 minutes ago, RaceToTheTop said:

X-Gabe-Trey worked tonight, but I don't think it works against P5 teams.  FGCU's game is perimeter and drive oriented.

I wouldn't worry about #4.  He certainly wasn't pouting.

In terms of Walker, I thought we got exactly what we needed from him.  Gunn and Banks we didn't.  Banks earned his quick hook tonight.

I do think this would have been a decent game to have Sparks once Reneau was in foul trouble.  Fundamentally sound big man and I think would have blocked out where others weren't.

Since this was my first time to see him play what am I missing with MM?  I saw he can make some catch and shoot jumpers but where does the ranking coming from? What is the skill set?   I really am not trying be negative but I didn’t see a lot of effort and like I said earlier he is not Romeo cool.  So I’m assuming he just had a poor game then?
 

I thought Walker tried but that was not good.  

[RaceToTheTop 24,954]

9 minutes ago, IU - Kaulie said:

Since this was my first time to see him play what am I missing with MM?  I saw he can make some catch and shoot jumpers but where does the ranking coming from?  What is the skill set?    I really am not trying be negative but I didn’t see a lot of effort and like I said earlier he is not Romeo cool.  So I’m assuming he just had a poor game then?
 

I thought Walker tried but that was not good.  

Yes, he had a poor game.  He's a 6'8" kid who shoots the ball very, very well.  We were struggling with ball movement so that didn't help tonight.  I know that two exhibitions were against lesser competition, but he did hit 4 of 7 threes in those games.  Line on him out of high school was that he had both an excellent mid range and perimeter game with a developing ability to get to the rim.  And size wise he's ideal as an 18 year old freshman.

In terms of Walker, he's really our fourth big man after Ware, Reneau, and Sparks.  He rebounded well and defensively did pretty well.  That's exactly what you want from your fourth big, IMO.

[IUFAN1976 2,787]

14 minutes ago, str8baller said:

Definitely. We could’ve played St Jackson NW St and pulled away to win by 20 with a bunch of dunks, but it wouldn’t have helped us as much as this game.  
 

FGCU is bottom of the B1G level at best, but they were able to push a young team and exploit some weaknesses. I think this pays more dividends in the long run. 

When they get their point guard back FGCU is a little better than Penn State, Nebraska and Minnesota.  I actually think they are as good as us right now and could finish 6-8 in the B10, IMO

[94Bulldog 584]

46 minutes ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

Galloway: 16 pts, 4 rebs, 2 assts

Reneau: 15 pts, 1 reb, 2 assts

Ware: 13 pts, 12 rebs, 4 assts, 3 blks

Johnson: 14 pts, 4 rebs, 1 asst

For those wondering, Galloways over/under on pts was 7.5. 

Malik’s was 9.5.  Johnson was either 12.5 or 13.5.  And Ware topped his of 12.5 with that last free throw.  That last free throw was very important in my house.  

[yogisballin 2,297]

I’m going to go ahead and say a few things that will probably not be liked by most here. He’s probably our most “skilled” player at a position than any we have but MR may be best coming off of bench. He hurt us on perimeter d and rebounding. And Cupps over XJ? 
 

XJ is so frustrating to me. He would make a great backup option. Just my opinion

[IUFAN1976 2,787]

22 minutes ago, Banksyrules said:

I love playing these scrappy teams and not cupcakes.  They actually reveal our weaknesses and now have actual good game footage to show and improve our players. 

Yes, we need a contested game like this but not the 1st game when you definitely have chemistry issues on both sides of the ball.  But they will learn a lot from this game!

[go iu bb 5,526]

I missed most of the game so some help would be welcome. I'm looking at the box score and see Mgbako played only 18 minutes. Was he ineffective (not much in the way of stats in that time) or did he get injured?

[RaceToTheTop 24,954]

1 minute ago, IUFAN1976 said:

When they get their point guard back FGCU is a little better than Penn State, Nebraska and Minnesota.  I actually think they are as good as us right now and could finish 6-8 in the B10, IMO

FWIW, Torvik has Florida Gulf Coast rated at #123 entering the IU game.  He puts them above Penn State and on par with Minnesota.

Nebraska, though, is a decent team.  Certainly wouldn't put them in the Minnesota/Penn State territory.