Indiana junior guard Al Durham was working next to a freshman guard in Armaan Franklin and sophomore guar Rob Phinisee – who he hadn't been paired with all preseason – and still posted a career day against Western Illinois on Tuesday.
Indiana was able to jump to a quick lead early in its season-opener Tuesday against Western Illinois, and, after missing the exhibition against Gannon for a knee injury, junior guard Al Durham was at the heart of the offensive jump.
He connected on a short turn-around jumper for his first score of the game, then followed it up with a long two-pointer on an assist from freshman guard Armaan Franklin. He capped his individual 7-0 run with a three-point shot – the first of Indiana’s season.
The junior captain eventually finished the 98-65 win just one point shy of his career-high in points (22) with a 21-point performance that only trailed junior forward Justin Smith among all scorers.
“He did the same thing in the Marquette game,” head coach Archie Miller said after the game Tuesday. “He ran our team, played with great tempo, was smart, and, again, tonight was able to make some shots, and I think that's a positive sign for his confidence level.”
Miller had been loading the praise on his junior guard all of October, leading up to the season-opener Tuesday, going as far as to say that Durham looked like the best player on the court at times during the preseason.
The head coach had repeated that Durham is going to be “a big part” of the efforts Indiana makes on the court this season. He repeated it again after the game Tuesday.
“Al's an important part to what we do,” Miller said. “He's an older player, he's a junior now. And he's played a lot of minutes. He's a leader on our team.”
Miller went into detail about his trust in Durham wherever he plays, and he was out of position Tuesday, handling the ball at point guard more often than he typically would if sophomore guard Rob Phinisee and senior guard Devonte Green were more available. Miller said the pairing of Phinisee and Durham was so green that the two hadn’t played together yet during the preseason because of Phinisee’s abdomen injury that kept him out of practice most of October.
And after averaging just 8.3 points per game in 2018-19, Durham hit all seven of his shots, including three three-pointers, in a career performance.
“I feel like I prepared for this moment, and it went my way today,” Durham said.
It went his way because he was the facilitator all 27 minutes he played. Miller called plays directly to him on offense and defense, and he was obviously the most productive communicator on the floor.
He said after the game that Miller wants the team to push the ball and keep the offense up-tempo, and while that’s clear in year three of the Archie Miller Era, Durham was manifesting what his head coach wanted on the court – something Miller mentioned when asked why he thought Durham was voted a team captain. He understands what Miller expects and has improved his game in major ways.
Whether that effort is repeatable against teams with much more resistance than a Summit League team that finished last season with 10 wins is yet to be determined, but the performance Durham displayed Tuesday is what Miller has been pushing all preseason long.
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