IUS men’s basketball improved to 3-0 in conference play by beating Brescia University on Jan. 12 by a score of 107-75.
IU Southeast got off to a hot start and took a 14-point lead to the halftime break behind 18 first half points for Jazzmarr Ferguson, senior guard.
Ferguson ended the game with 29 points on 9-for-17 shooting from the floor. He also had eight assists.
“I just feel like in the first half I picked and chose my spots where I needed to be aggressive,” Ferguson said. “In the second half, when the defense was keying on me, I tended to find my teammates.”
The Grenadiers played an unselfish game by head coach Wiley Brown’s standards.
“We had 27 assists,” Brown said. “They’re playing team basketball — not only offensively, but defensively. Their rotation was really good, and we got a couple of charges on the defensive end.”
Brown also praised his team’s leadership both on and off the court.
“We’ve got veteran leadership like [Rick Bodiford, senior guard] and Ferguson,” Brown said. “I can’t say enough about Ferguson. He is a great leader — not only on the court but in the classroom. He keeps these guys together, and, with his leadership, he is really helping these guys out. He’s our guy.”
Brescia head coach Joe Pechota spoke about the lack of aggression his team played with.
“I wanted to be a little more aggressive,” Pechota said. “We worked on being aggressive. When you’re passive against an over-aggressive team in the system that Brown runs, you play right into their hands. When you’re aggressive, then you put them into a position where, OK, now can you consistently make defensive plays, but if we don’t do our end, it doesn’t matter.”
Pechota said the game plan was spot on with what Brescia needed to do to win but didn’t execute it.
“I thought we had a great game plan,” Pechota said. “It was just inconsistently executed.”
The Grenadiers had four other players with double-figure points in addition to Ferguson’s 29 points.
Brice Ferguson, sophomore forward, recorded a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. James Johnson, senior forward, had 17 points, OJ Bell, freshman forward, netted 12 and Nick Gagel, junior guard, scored 11.
The Bearcats had three players netting double-digit points. Aaron Tandy, senior guard, had a team high 18 points, Brett Jackson, freshman forward, had 14, and Trace Ewing, freshman guard, had 12.
IU Southeast forced 13 total turnovers thanks to the full court pressure. Eleven of the 13 turnovers were steals recorded seven of the nine Grenadiers to see playing time.
“That’s Grenadier basketball,” Brown said. “When I first came here, I told them we are going to play up and down. That means we’re going to press every time we get a chance to press, and, if we aren’t pressing, we are in a full court man-to-man.
“We like to play fast-paced,” Brown said. “Our opponents like to come in and hold the games up in the 60s. We want to get the game up into the 80s and 90s. That’s how we play. It’s exciting for the fans to watch, and we love playing like that.”
Ferguson talked about the team’s pressing ability and conditioning being a big advantage for them.
“When we pick up full court, we feel like we’re a better conditioned team than most of the teams we play,” Ferguson said. “We wear them down, everybody gets in the flow and we try to make the games fun.”
Brown also talked about conditioning as the team goes forward in the season.
“I think there are certain individuals that need to work on it,” Brown said. “[Steve Hendrick, junior guard] has to work on his conditioning. We got broken down on defense there for a while because he’s not in shape.”
Brown also went on to talk about Joseph Lawson, freshman forward.
“Joseph Lawson, he’s a freshman, but this kid is talented,” Brown said. “He hasn’t showed all he can do yet. He’s got to get in shape, which he’s getting better at, and now he’s got to get his will and determination.”
The Grenadiers and Bearcats square off again at Brescia on Tuesday, Feb. 15, at 8 p.m.
By BRENT KULWICKI
Staff
bkulwick@ius.edu