Bobby Word hit one of the biggest shots of ORU's season back on Jan. 7, a 3-pointer that very easily could have altered the course of the Golden Eagles' season. ORU, in a matter of seconds, went from a deflating home loss to IUPUI to extending the game to overtime, where it handled its business in extra time and got the victory.
An early home loss in Summit League play would have been crushing. The magnitude of Word's trey may be greater than any of us realize. That could have been the tipping point that sent the Golden Eagles to a disastrous conference run.
No such scenario was necessary when ORU and IUPUI rekindled their season series on Thursday in Indy.
The Jaguars asserted their customary muck-it-up style early in the first half, jumping out to a six-point lead only five minutes into the game. ORU, through, worked its way back and took a one-point lead into the locker room at halftime.
Then the Golden Eagles took off. Eleven straight points to start the second half provided ORU a 12-point lead, an edge that the Golden Eagles would not relinquish.
(The #NextDayNumbers by Blake Freeland and the ORU media relations department are fantastic. Always worth a look following each ORU game.)
In terms of road victories this season, I'd probably classify it as ORU's second-best. To rally at South Dakota and prevail in the final seconds was huge, so I'd rank that No. 1. But to thoroughly dismantle IUPUI at the Fairgrounds Coliseum — a feat that really no one had accomplished this year — is massively impressive.
It doesn't get any easier Saturday when the Golden Eagles head to northeast Indiana to take on IPFW, a team that's playing its best basketball of the season right now.
The good: Have to start with Scott Sutton. In his 16th season as ORU's coach, Sutton has now posted 300 wins in 503 games. That's a winning percentage of 59.6 percent — not bad for a coach that routinely puts together a gauntlet of a schedule for his teams during non-conference play.
After churning out the most impressive performance by a road team at the Indianapolis Fairgrounds, Sutton was calm, collected and more grateful for a road win than anything else.
"A road win, those are sweet," he said. "Told our guys after the game and they had all congratulated me — and they seemed more excited than I was — but because of how important this game was ... I'll remember this win for a long time."
And he should. There were plenty of positives to draw from it...
- Korey Billbury. Not sure the junior from Booker T. Washington can play much better — outside of the shooting department. Billbury finished with 20 points, but credit most of that to his 8-of-9 display from the free throw line. He was 6 of 17 from the field and 0 of 2 from beyond the arc.
His ability to put the ball through the hoop could have been better, but when he's grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out six assists, it's hard to nitpick, really. Outside of a two-rebound showing at Denver on Jan. 21, Billbury has hauled in at least seven rebounds since starting Summit League play on Jan. 2.
An all-around performance like that from Billbury every night would make the Golden Eagles that much harder to beat.
- Denell Henderson is becoming a legitimate rim protector. Since blocking two shots in the closing seconds of the win at South Dakota, the senior from Demascus, Ark., has developed a knack for swatting shots. He turned back a career high six blocks against IUPUI.
Henderson is also becoming a consistent offensive weapon. Providing a secondary option outside of Obi Emegano and Billbury, Henderson has posted double-digit scoring efforts in his last three contests and four of his last five.
Having someone be a last line of defense around the rim who can also provide a basket on offense is a coveted commodity at any level of basketball.
Nice to see Henderson really turning it on as he enters the home stretch of his collegiate career.
- Hey, a Brandon Conley sighting. A welcome sight, indeed.
Touted as the team's potential breakout player of the year, Conley has struggled offensively while finding himself in constant foul trouble.
He bucked those trends against IUPUI.
He played a season high 30 minutes. He scored 12 points. He grabbed six rebounds. He was 5 of 6 from the field. He was 2 of 2 at the foul line.
If Conley is going to provided numbers like that every night, the rest of the Summit League will need a lifeline. When Conley and Henderson combine for 24 points, ORU is likely to win about 97 percent of its game. Mark it down.
- The Golden Eagles owned most of the final 20 minutes against IUPUI. Even Sutton acknowledged that.
"I thought the second half was about as complete of a game — or a half — as we've played in quite some time," Sutton said. "You shoot the heck out of the basketball. [And] I thought our defense was outstanding in spurts."
Making 66.7 percent (16 of 24) from the field is always a plus. IUPUI shot 48.1 percent (13 of 27) from the floor, but it wasn't nearly enough to keep pace with ORU.
The bad: The turnover total for ORU against IUPUI was far from superb. Sixteen giveaways marked the Golden Eagles' highest total in a Summit League game this year, exceeding the 15 turnovers at Denver.
The Golden Eagles cleaned up their act a little bit in the second half — seven turnovers, instead of nine in the first half — but better ball control is key to winning games the remainder of the regular season.
- Word played hero the first time around against IUPUI. He opted for a role reversal the second time around.
He checked in early on in the first half, and he immediately helped IUPUI gain its largest lead of the game. It all started at the 14:58 mark of the first half.
First, Word missed a dunk. Second, he hung on the rim after the failed dunk attempt. Third, he was slapped with a technical foul for hanging on the iron. Fourth, Marcellus Barksdale made both free throws, via the technical foul.
Certainly a four-pronged sequence that Word can't be pleased with.
He ended up playing 10 minutes with three points and an assist.
- The Word technical contributed to an already slow start for ORU. The Golden Eagles didn't score their 10th point until the 9:10 mark of the first half.
Slow starts have become rather alarming for ORU. Have to erase those sooner rather than later.
The reality: ORU is still in third place by itself in the Summit League standings, but the race for the regular-season crown go tighter on Thursday. Thanks to IPFW, South Dakota State fell out of first place, and North Dakota State reclaimed its spot atop the standings, thanks to a win over Omaha.
It appears that it'll be a three-team race to the title, with ORU still trying to play a little bit of catch-up.
If the Golden Eagles want to continue mounting their comeback in the Summit League standings, they'll have to tackle a tough IPFW team on Saturday. It certainly won't be easy.
The Mastodons watched South Dakota State put together a decent offensive performance, while still blowing out the Jackrabbits by 10 points.
A win of any kind at IPFW on Saturday could surpass ORU's win at South Dakota as the best road victory of the year for the Golden Eagles.
Plus, it'd kickstart Sutton's pursuit of win No. 400.
Good stuff! The important thing in the Summit League is not to win it; it's to finish in the top two. No #3-seeds-or-worse have ever won the tournament by sweeping three straight nights!
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