IU's new-found size to get another test vs. Bellarmine

BLOOMINGTON – The question posed to Ottawa basketball coach James Derouin after his team’s 82-54 exhibition loss to Indiana last Tuesday was as inevitable as his response.

What’s changed about Indiana, between what you saw in 2014 and now?

“What comes to mind first,” Derouin responded, “is the size.”

IU coach Tom Crean wasted no time bringing his recently added height to bear against the Gee-Gees, starting freshman center Thomas Bryant and Michigan graduate transfer forward Max Bielfeldt. In the Hoosiers’ exhibition finale Monday against Bellarmine, that size might get tested even more.

After spending the 2014-15 season leaning on a three-guard starting lineup and rotations that spread the floor to mitigate IU’s glaring lack of size, Crean can enjoy greater balance this winter.

Bryant announced his arrival with a double-double against Ottawa, and Bielfeldt – who started three times in 30 games last season in Ann Arbor – added eight points and eight rebounds.

Bielfeldt’s move into the starting lineup might not be permanent. Crean has repeated several times already this preseason that his starting five will be determined by matchups. For one exhibition game, it was Robert Johnson who had to make way, the sophomore playing from the bench Tuesday.

Whatever Crean’s long-term intentions, IU’s win opened a window into how those bigger lineups might change the Hoosiers this season, with injury-limited Collin Hartman (ribs) also playing 17 minutes off the bench.

How did it go?

“There was an aggressiveness from Thomas, from Troy (Williams), from Max to a degree, from Yogi (Ferrell), Collin to a degree,” Crean said. “(If) we get ourselves to a point where we get very aggressive, no matter who is on the floor, of getting to the offensive glass, staying back, staying in no man’s land, we’ll get better.”

The impact of that length on defense was even more directly felt against an Ottawa team that hit 18-of-30 3-pointers against the Hoosiers in their only loss during the 2014 five-game foreign tour in Canada.

In that game, the Gee-Gees exploited those guard-heavy lineups, driving the line to kick out to open shooters. It was the first sign of defensive problems that would plague the Hoosiers all season.

Ottawa worked its share of open 3-pointers Tuesday, but the visitors hit only 5-of-26 from behind the arc. Fatigue might have played a part – Ottawa has played 10 games in this preseason – but IU assistant coach Chuck Martin said film review showed the Hoosiers contested 80 percent of the Gee-Gees' 3s.

Martin wouldn’t discount the impact of being able to deploy lineups including some combination of Bryant, Bielfeldt, Hartman, Juwan Morgan and even OG Anunoby.

“You realize defensively, it makes us a better team, because we’re able to shrink the court,” Martin said.

Bellarmine, the No. 4 team in the country in Division II preseason, will give that size a different test; the Knights started 6-9, 6-10, 6-10 in their frontcourt in an exhibition against Louisville on Nov. 1.They have played the Cardinals and Cincinnati, losing 71-55 and 81-60, respectively.

Martin called Bellarmine “one of the better passing teams I’ve seen in a long time,” and he said the Knights’ frontcourt in particular “really resembles a quality Division I program.”

With just one exhibition left before the regular season, Monday night might test Crean’s bigger lineups even more. The Hoosiers will hope that impact in defense and rebounding holds firm.

“It seems like everything is carved out when shots go up,” sophomore guard James Blackmon Jr. said. “It makes it easier for us.”

Follow Star reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.