If you like an exciting brand of basketball, you might want to get over to The Jungle sooner rather than later to catch the IU Indy men’s basketball team play this winter.
Their home opener against Long Island (1-1) had a little bit of everything: pressing and trapping even after misses, fast breaks in both directions, thundering dunks (looking at you, Jaxon Edwards), and a true freshman who lit up the gym from three-point land. Well, everything except what the jazzed-up home crowd really wanted, which was a win for the Jaguars (0-2).
A late blip on the offensive side of the ball prevented that, and it was the Sharks–coached by former NBA veteran, Rod Strickland–who were picked unanimously by Northeast Conference coaches to win their league and who went away with the victory, 94-90.
“Here’s the thing,” first-year IU Indy head coach Ben Howlett said after the game, “no one feels sorry for us…we’re going to get this thing right. It’s just that there’s some speed bumps along the way, and that’s where we’re at right now.”
Division I basketball coaches don’t have time to settle for moral victories, and of course everyone wants to see a winner, but basketball writers and blogs aren’t coaches, and they can afford to notice the charge the Jaguars’ sent through the gym. And the reality that their new style may make them one of one teams in the Horizon League that become everyone else’s least favorite team to play. Win or lose, they will likely dictate the pace in almost every single game they play.
LIU had 17 turnovers in the first half–four more than the group’s average for a full game in 2024-25–though they would settle down and find a bit more control in the second half, finishing the game with 23 giveaways, after IU Indy noticeably backed away from backcourt pressing for much of the second half.
“It was just because we were getting scored on, you know?” Howlett said about the adjustment after his team led 53-46 at the half (though there were 15 lead changes in the game). “Their game plan was to catch it on the run and drive it to the rim. And right now we don’t have, you know, a rim protector, we don’t have one of those guys, so I just felt like, ‘Let’s slow the game down,’ we even went zone one possession and got a stop there. We just didn’t make enough plays down the stretch.”
The critical juncture was just under two minutes left in the game. The two teams had been trading blows when the Jaguars turned the ball over on three possessions in a row–they finished with 14 in the game–with two of those three coming from senior 6-7 forward, Finley Woodward.
“Not his best day today today,” Howlett said about about one of his veteran leaders. “Just too many turnovers, especially late in the game. He was very loose with the basketball, but I know he’ll show up tomorrow, and he’ll show up Saturday. This means a lot to him, being here, and it means a lot to him to establish the culture here. So he’s a guy I’m not going to worry about.”
IU Indy also appeared to downshift, starting 6-8 freshman forward Reece Hagy in both halves, though he played less than eight minutes in the game and without attracting any real foul trouble. “We played small because we’re not very big,” Howlett said with a laugh. “…I thought, you know, Reese maybe was a bit nervous and that’s okay. I understand that…so we went small…the guys fought.”
A couple guys Howlett didn’t have to worry very much about during the game against Long Island were freshman Maguire Mitchell, who started, as he also did in the team’s 118-102 loss to Ohio State just three days prior, and led the team in scoring with 22 on 6-for-12 shooting from three, and Matt Compas, an NAIA transfer who didn’t start but pitched in 20 points off the bench.
“It’s game two of 31,” Compas said, “so we just have to stay positive, regroup tomorrow…Prepare for the next game and come out with a lot of energy, ready to play.”
The Jaguars won’t have to wait long for that next game, as they travel across town to play the Butler in historic Hinkle Fieldhouse on Saturday at 5 p.m. Eastern time. IU Indy last played the Bulldogs–who memorably made it all the way to the national championship in both 2010 and 2011–in 2021, which was actually the closest at 56-47 that the two have ever played. The Jags have never beaten the cross-town rival that now plays in the Big East, and after beating University of Southern Indiana by 30 on Wednesday, expect Butler to have noticed that this year’s IU Indy may look a little different than the previous seven Jaguar teams that matched up against them.
“It’s going to be a challenge,” Howlett said, “but I would rather play a team like Butler than a team that I know we’re going to beat. It’s fool’s gold when you lose a game and then go play someone you’re better than and going to beat.”
