VCU looks to stymie the deadly shooting of Indiana
Tradition is the first thing that comes to mind when talking about the Indiana Hoosiers.
VCU held Wichita State to 38.7 percent shooting Thursday night, and look to duplicate that effort against Indiana. (Chris Conway/CT)
Scott Wyant
Staff Writer
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PORTLAND, Ore. – Tradition is the first thing that comes to mind when talking about the Indiana Hoosiers.
A staple in the Indiana program has been great shooters. At the top of that list are standouts like Steve Alford and Isiah Thomas.
Tom Crean’s squad is no different, ranking second in the country in three-point field goal percentage (41.4 percent) and sixth in overall percentage (49 percent). In Thursday’s second round win over New Mexico State, the Hoosiers shot 59.3 percent from the field and 53.8 percent from beyond the arc. After looking at the eye-popping stats, the Rams remain confident in their HAVOC system but know Indiana will present some challenges.
“We’re gonna have to stay attacking, stay aggressive but we’re gonna have to be on high alert because they gotta lot of spot shooters,” sophomore guard Rob Brandenberg said. “They’re very dangerous from the three-point line so we’ve got to run them off three and contest every shot.”
Briante Weber, the national leader in steal percentage, believes the Rams will need to get out on the deadly shooters of Indiana.
“(We need to) take them out of the set and pressure the ball, fingers to their eye brows so they can’t get the shot off,” said Weber.
“We have to get to shooters, have to, urgent, gotta play with a lot of urgency,” said Brandenberg.
Without senior point guard Verdell Jones III, VCU’s pressure may play an even more important role in attacking the Hoosiers.
“We’ve got to get at the guards even more, keep on attacking,” Brandenberg said. “We may not get all the turnovers we want but the key is to speed them up and make them play uncomfortable.”