Indiana redshirt freshman forward Jerome Hunter entered his second season in Bloomington with expectations high, but it will take some time for him to work his way off a minutes restriction, into a role and toward a comfort level at which he can perform before the fruits of his labor begin to pay off.
For the first eight minutes of Tuesday night’s season-opener against Western Illinois, milestone after milestone was hit to above-average applause in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, as freshman forward Trayce Jackson-Davis recorded his first bucket and block as a Hoosier and freshman guard Armaan Franklin added his first score and assists.
All three of the newcomers – thanks to senior guard Devonte Green’s hamstring injury – were slotted in the starting lineup, including transfer Joey Brunk at center, and made their ways onto the court before redshirt freshman Jerome Hunter checked in for the first time in his career.
There’s been a dissonance between the anticipation felt between Hunter and his true freshman teammates – the kind of anticipation that takes on some distortion after being held off for a calendar year. He’s playing his first games under a microscope that most freshmen contributors do but with the expectation that he will add what was promised when he signed out of 2018 quicker than those who signed out of 2019.
But that might not – and likely will not – be the case.
“Being out just made me realize how much a year can really mean to you of not playing the game of basketball,” Hunter said Friday afternoon. “Going out there running up and down the court, that even felt different just from sitting out a year.”
Versatility with an extreme capability of creating shots, particularly from outside, was how Hunter was described to the fanbase by many who had scouted him. After averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds per game at Pickerington North High School in Ohio, Hunter was one of the most anticipated freshmen, outside of Romeo Langford, coming out of the 2018 class.
Coming off a 2017-18 season when Indiana scored the 11th-most points per game in the Big Ten and had the second-worst three-point percentage, the Hoosiers were thirsty for shooters. But Langford didn’t provide from behind the arc, and Green was inconsistent. Indiana remained near the bottom of the conference in three-point shooting, while fans of the program fantasized about the prospect of Hunter being healthy and hitting from three.
But a lower-leg injury that required a couple surgical procedures prevented him from ever seeing the court as a true freshman and limited him throughout the preseason leading up to this season. It wasn’t announced that he was cleared to practice until late-September.
When the time came for Indiana’s exhibition, Archie Miller tempered expectations by explaining how he just wanted to see Hunter play in front of a crowd, with actual competition and officials and inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Miller approached Hunter as a true freshman.
To the dismay of many waiting fans, Hunter went 0-for-5 (0-for-4 from three).
“First live action in over a year. Did not participate in any games and/or practices as a freshman,” Miller said about Hunter after the Gannon exhibition. “To be honest with you, he's making those shots. He can make those shots.”
Miller noted that Hunter looked more physical and more confident in the second half of the exhibition but that he still needed to be “more sure” with the ball. Being unsure could affect his shot.
That carried over into the season-opener against Western Illinois, when he started to go inside and score in transition rather than attempting outside shots. He finished the game 2-for-5 and missed his only three-pointer in 16 minutes – “about where he is right now,” Miller said in terms of a minutes restriction.
While the outside shots haven’t connected, the most encouraging sign for Hunter was the time he spent on the court with Justin Smith, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Al Durham, cruising on an 18-2 run late in the first half because of the length and speed in that lineup.
“It’s just more of each day, you just don't know how it's going to be,” Hunter said about his health and development. “One day can be good, and one day can be bad. It's just day-by-day.”
It’s “day-by-day” because of his health and minute restriction, but also because of his inexperience. While he was within the program for a year, he wasn’t contributing or developing. He was watching.
When asked what his goals were for the season, he didn’t have any concrete goals, he said, because he hadn’t been through a season or learned what it felt like or meant to improve as a season progressed.
At the moment, he’s searching for some comfort to grasp onto as a foothold, and that comfort is most likely going to come from somewhere other than his outside shot to start.
“Starting inside and working my way out is going to be a big key for me, just because I haven't played for a long time against this type of competition,” Hunter said. “Getting myself comfortable, I'm going to work on game-by-game, and I hope I get better at it.”
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