Zeller leads Indiana past Stony Brook, 96-66
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana’s fans couldn’t wait to officially welcome Cody Zeller to Assembly Hall.
Similarly, they won’t forget his opening act any time soon.
With chants of “Co-dy Zel-ler” reverberating throughout the Hoosiers’ home arena, the highly-touted freshman scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, leading Indiana to a 96-66 victory over Stony Brook in his college debut.
“We really want to get him the ball and guys were really looking to get it to him, but he was playing against a kid that looks like he could play in the NFL on Sundays,” Indiana coach Tom Crean said. “(Zeller) played a very complete game for a freshman.”
Zeller’s opening act immediately pumped excitement back into a program that has endured three straight losing seasons.
But it wasn’t just what Zeller did with the ball in his hands that impressed Crean.
In addition to posting a double-double, Zeller had three steals, two blocks and two assists. He was 5 of 6 from the field and 6 of 8 from the free-throw line. He stayed out of foul trouble and when he wasn’t the center of attention offensively, he was content to let his teammates do the heavy lifting.
Victor Oladipo matched his career-high with 16 points. Will Sheehy scored all 13 of his points, one short of his career high, in the first half. Sheehey sat out the second half with the flu. Derek Elston scored 11 points off the bench, and Verdell Jones had seven points and seven assists.
It was virtually perfect.
The combination led Indiana (1-0) to its 14th consecutive opening-night win, its 27th straight home-opening win and its most lopsided season-opening victory since a 34-point blowout over Nicholls State in 2005.
“We knew that if we played at our pace and maintained the pace that we wanted, we’d get fast-break baskets,” Oladipo said. “I think we sped them up a lot, and they weren’t able to get into their sets real easy.”
Zeller was a big reason for it.
Indiana’s reigning Mr. Basketball was so poised Friday that when a Stony Brook player intentionally punched him in the midsection, Zeller continued playing until a foul call stopped the action. During the break, he explained to Crean what happened, then calmly recounted the play to the officials who looked at the replay monitor. A few minutes later, the refs ejected Danny Carter for a Flagrant 2 foul and sent Zeller to the free-throw line for two free throws after Indiana guard Matt Roth shot the first set.
“That really pushed them ahead, but it wasn’t that, they just kept it on all night,” Stony Brook coach Steve Pikiell said. “We just didn’t execute the way we needed to when we needed to and our defense was nonexistent against a really good team.”
Stony Brook (0-1), picked second in the America East, was led by Anthony Jackson with 14 points. Dallis Joyner and Marcus Rouse each had 10.
The Seawolves’ biggest problem was getting stops.
Indiana shot 60 percent from the field in the first half, 70.4 percent in the second half and finished the game at 65.4 percent. The Hoosiers also made 21 of 24 free throws and finished with their third-highest scoring total since Crean took over as coach four years ago.
Crean was more satisfied with how the Hoosiers responded to the challenge.
“There was some action with the Flagrant 2 and the Flagrant 1, but we just moved on,” he said. “Steve is a very, very good coach, and (Indiana’s players) knew we were really going to have to be solid.”
As it turned out, they were.
After Stony Brook jumped out to an 18-14 lead with 11:46 left in the first half, Indiana roared back to take a 22-21 lead.
Then came the Flagrant 2 call.
Roth made both of his free throws and Zeller made 1 of 2, starting an 18-4 run that put Indiana up 40-25 with 2:13 left in the half.
Stony Brook never got closer than 12 the rest of the way.
“It was definitely fun playing in front of this crowd,” Zeller said with a smile. “I felt like in the first half, (the defense) was focused on me, and a couple of other guys stepped up, and the second half, I got free a couple of times.”