A BEAR TO GUARD
Yogi hits seven 3-pointers on his way to 27 points to lead IU over Michigan,
BLOOMINGTON — Indiana coach Tom Crean has a new description for Yogi Ferrell.
“I wouldn’t call him a point guard, I would call him a lead guard,” Crean said after IU’s 63-52 win over No. 10 Michigan on Sunday. “Because when you’re capable of doing the things he can do, on both ends of the court, and you’re leading your team, you’re a lead guard.”
On offense, Ferrell made a career-best seven 3-pointers and scored 27 points, three shy of his career high. On defense, he helped limit Michigan’s top scorer, Nik Stauskas, to six points on 1-of-6 shooting.
“We had no answers for Yogi,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “It wasn’t an assist game. It was get the ball into Yogi’s hands and then they’re either going to rebound it, or play off of residual action.”
Ferrell’s performance helped the Hoosiers (14-8, 4-5 Big Ten) end Michigan’s 10-game winning streak.
The Wolverines (16-5, 8-1 Big Ten) fell to 1-16 at Assembly Hall since 1996.
“We got this win with our resilience on defense, and especially the fans cheering us on,” Ferrell said. “It just shows how well we’ve been practicing since the loss to Nebraska (on Thursday).”
Ferrell opened the scoring with a 3-pointer, and used long-distance shots to break the last two of the game’s five ties. The last came when a Derrick Walton Jr. 3-pointer tied the score at 29 with 16:41 to play.
Troy Williams rebounded a miss by Stanford Robinson and dished to Ferrell, whose fifth 3-pointer put the Hoosiers ahead for good.
“Once I hit the first couple, they all felt good,” Ferrell said. “Once I had an opening, I was just going to let it fly.”
“When Yogi gets into a rhythm, there’s no stopping him,” said Noah Vonleh, who had 10 points and 12 rebounds for the Hoosiers.
“You have to have Yogi in movement,” Crean said. “He’s going to be guarded, and he’s going to be guarded by the whole team. That’s just the way it is. The more that he stands, or the more he has it in his hands, or the more he’s dribbling in certain areas, the more it plays into the defense’s hands.”
Walton led Michigan with 13 points, taking advantage of being fouled twice on 3-point attempts to shoot 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.
The Hoosiers didn’t go to the line until there was 13:36 to play.
“All we wanted to do was just drive the ball, and I feel like guys like Stan and Evan (Gordon) did a great job pushing it up the court,” Vonleh said.
Caris LeVert added 12 points and Jordan Morgan had five points and 10 rebounds for the Wolverines.