This was late October, and Indiana guard Roderick Wilmont was discussing the aggressive approach new coach Kelvin Sampson was introducing. It was rooted in grit and willfulness, on marauding defenders and ardent rebounders, which made it similar to the philosophy long propounded by Tom Izzo at Michigan State.
I knew that and Wilmont knew that. So I tossed him this one: What do you think it will be like when you play Michigan State?
“To tell you the honest truth,” he said, “the first half might be 5-5. I mean, that’s the way Coach Izzo coaches, and that’s the way Coach [Sampson] coaches. It’s all about rebounding and defense. If both teams are playing defense, that means there’s no scoring.”
We both chuckled, but there was every reason to believe it would go down like that when they met Sunday.
The Spartans were atop the Big Ten in scoring defense at 55.4 points a game and field-goal defense at 36.9 percent. The Hoosiers were among the top five in those categories, holding opponents to 56.9 points a game and 39.1 percent shooting.
Neither possessed an offense much more potent than the Bad Rex Bears, and both prided themselves, fittingly enough on NFL playoff weekend, on delivering hits more suitable to Soldier Field than the hardwood.
That is why Sunday’s events at Assembly Hall were as unexpected as a Republican mayor of Chicago. The Spartans had not given up more than 65 points in any of their previous 16 games. But they surrendered their 66th point with 6 minutes 22 seconds left. The Spartans had allowed just one team to shoot better than 46 percent and had held 12 below 40. But the Hoosiers hit 15 of their first 27 shots and finished 27 of 60 (45 percent).
The Spartans had dominated so many opponents that they had a scoring margin of 13.8 points, third in the conference behind Wisconsin and Ohio State. But it was the Hoosiers who ran away to a 73-51 victory that should serve as fair warning to the rest of the Big Ten.
Indiana had already given hints of its possibilities on a November trip to Duke, losing by four, and last week at Ohio State, losing by seven. But Sunday the Hoosiers announced themselves with all the subtlety of a Brian Urlacher hit.
They got 21 points from forward D.J. White, whom the Spartans could not control down low. They got 16 points from forward Lance Stemler and 11 from guard Earl Calloway, who also handed out six assists while committing no turnovers in 34 minutes.
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They got 30 rebounds (12 offensive) to the Spartans’ 26 (just five offensive), and they got 24 points off 20 turnovers by the Spartans (13-4, 0-2).
Those were the performances that blew up the expectations for this game and allowed Indiana (10-4, 1-1) to deliver on the promise it showed in Durham and Columbus.
“We learned from those experiences,” Calloway said. “We’re just growing. We’re learning how to win these games.”
Said Sampson: “I’ve said this every year I’ve been a coach–at this level, at least. It’s hard to play February basketball in November, especially when you have new coaches, new players, and they’re all playing to please you instead of just playing.
“It takes a while to get to a point where you can be a good team. But I can see our kids growing, getting better.”
Is Indiana a good team yet?
“I don’t know . . . and I don’t want to answer that,” Sampson said. “We don’t have a large margin of error. We don’t have a lot of size. We just have to scrap and claw and fight. But we’re getting better.”
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