My Two Cents: Sunday's Win Just What the Doctor Ordered For Indiana's Four Freshmen

Indiana needed a game like Sunday, where all four players in this heralded freshmen class could get plenty of minutes and gain some confidence. It worked perfectly.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — We still have no idea how competitive Indiana will be when the Big Ten basketball season starts a week and change from now. But what we're absolutely sure of is that the Hoosiers' freshmen will have to play well for this team to contend night after night.

That's why Sunday was so important, and why the 87-52 blowout win over North Alabama will pay huge dividends down the road. The only way you can instill confidence in freshmen is during a game, and Sunday was really the first opportunity in a while to do that.

Playing a tough schedule is great and entertaining, but it's also limited Archie Miller's ability to give the freshmen a steady stream of playing time. Only Trey Galloway has really done that so far. Anthony Leal, Khristian Lander and Jordan Geronimo haven't made much of an impact yet.

Emphasis on yet.

"Our schedule hasn't permitted us the luxury of playing long stretches of time with our young guys,'' Miller said. 'Our schedule hasn't given us the opportunity to see what kind of rotations work out a little bit better. Today, as we built a lead, it was a point of emphasis to get more playing time for those guys. .We're going to need them as the season continues to go.

"All four guys did a really good job of coming into the deal. We're trying to develop our depth and trying to gain more confidence with those guys. All four are very important to what we're doing. Today was a good day for a lot of guys to get in there and get in the mix and get some confidence. As they keep getting older and getting more experience, our team has a chance to develop as a complete group.''

All four of them played well and did good things, getting a combined 68 minutes of playing time. Let's take a quick look at their days, and what Miller thought about it. 

Trey Galloway

Galloway was 5-for-6 from the field, and that included a three-pointer, finishing the day with 11 points in 21 minutes.

He also had a thunderous dunk early that got the cardboard cutouts up off their imaginary feet.

Freshman Trey Galloway throws it DOWN for @IndianaMBB 😳🔥 pic.twitter.com/jUCZ37XRyG

— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) December 13, 2020

It was his second double-figure scoring night of the season – he had 13 in the season opener against Tennessee Tech — but in the four high-profile games in between, he scored only 11 combined points while still playing 21 minutes a game.

So Sunday's solid performance was a big confidence boost for him.

"(Trey Galloway) is going to be a good player in this league for a long time,'' Miller said.

Galloway has benefited from all this early playing time, and he's getting comfortable quickly. It's a tough way to get thrown into the fire, but he's responded well.

“The season has just been so different,” Miller said, “but the great thing about our schedule, whether you like it or not, we’ve played really good teams, and it’s probably given us a reality check of what we need to do to get better.”

Anthony Leal

The reigning Indiana Mr. Basketball scored his first points as a Hoosier on Sunday, knocking down a three-pointer and making a free throw. He had been 0-for-3 from the field in 37 minutes prior to that.

It was good to see him catch-and-shoot on Sunday, because he's been a little hesitant to fire away so far this season. He's passed up several good looks, too, especially in the Stanford game. It's clear he's still trying to get comfortable out there, so Sunday might be a good jumping-off point for him.

"I’m happy for Anthony. I think Anthony’s done an unbelievable job of understanding our system, and being in the right places at the right time,'' Miller said. "To have him knock down a shot today is good, because I think he can help us, especially with the outside shooting. He's very, very dependable.''

Leal is learning his role, and Sunday will be a nice step in the process.

"It's big for our confidence,'' said Leal, a Bloomington South product. "We're a deep team and we have really high aspirations, so we all know that it's bigger than just  any one of us. We're all just ready to do what he can with the minutes we're given. That's the mindset and just do all we can with the minutes we get.''

Khristian Lander

Point guard Khristian Lander had his best game as a Hoosier on Sunday, making two three-pointers and all four free throws in his 10-point day.  It was nice to see him knock down a couple shots, considering he was just 2-for-13 from three prior to Sunday.

We have to be patient with him. He should be sitting in a senior English class at Reitz High School right now, but when he reclassified into this class, we knew there would be some growing pains.

And we need to accept that. But we also know he's going to be great some day. We just don't know when. 

"Khristian, he just needs more experience,'' Miller said. "He's like your youngest son. It's like having a couple of older brothers and he's your youngest son, and as a parent you keep saying 'keep an eye on that young one, he's going to be special on day.'

"In the meantime, he's just got to grow up. And as he continues to grow up, you'll see more and more range on his shot, hopefully you'll see more and more of the playmaking as he gains more experience, because we're going to need the guard play.''

Jordan Geronimo 

Indiana's only out-of-state recruit came to town with a reputation for athletic and highlight reels. It's coming. He played 16 minutes on Sunday, scoring four points and grabbing four rebounds. 

"Jordan to me is fantastic, he just needs opportunity,'' Miller said. "You can see some of the highlight athleticism plays that he was able to make just going and getting the ball. Our rebounding right now is a big concern right now, and Jordan adds value there. His ability to get his hands on balls and go get it has been great.''

It will be nice to see how much of a stepping stone this game will be for these four. There's no denying that seeing shot go in is critically important, and now that needs to carry over. 

Miller will need all four of these guys to play well the rest of the way, even if it's only for short spurts. Freshmen can only grown up so fast, and it's something that can't be rushed, as much as we'd like to.