ANN ARBOR, Mich. – CJ Gunn was late to Indiana’s postgame media scrum.
On the side, Gunn was busy embracing family. Sharing hugs and moments of well wishes with the supporters who have followed him every step of the way. Through the highs and lows, they’d undoubtedly be waiting for him after. This game, in its peak, was no different.
No quote he could provide would speak louder than the actions playing out in these moments. For Gunn, this meant something.
"It's amazing," said Gunn once he eventually arrived, recalling his performance. "I've been waiting for this game. This is just proof of all the work I've been putting in, stacking up days leading to the game."
Gunn had a cut near his left eye he’d earned during one of his many fastbreak scraps on the evening. If nothing else, he’ll have a visual reminder of the tenacity and effort he brought to Indiana’s 78-75 victory over Michigan the next few times he looks in the mirror.
“For a minute, I thought my eye was loose,” Gunn joked. “But it’s a little cut, so it’s nothing big.”
At first glance, the stat line attached to his name isn’t the most eye-popping – eight points on just 2-of-6 shooting in 20 minutes of play. But in further digging, you begin to see more of his winning contributions.
Two rebounds, a block and four crucial steals – two of which coming during his final long stint of the back-and-forth affair. From an offensive standpoint, Indiana’s backcourt struggled to get its feet underneath itself for a large portion of the evening. The Hoosiers needed Gunn’s defensive efforts and focus. IU’s win wouldn’t have come without it.
While Gunn’s points have come in spurts this season, on Tuesday, they were an added bonus.
“He was great, he made shots but defensively, he was in-tune,” Mike Woodson said after the game. “He was very engaging on the defensive end.”
“Just being in the right spots,” Gunn said. “We have the defensive scheme. Coach holds us accountable to being in the right places at the right time. With my speed and athleticism, I feel like his defense is a great setup for me to be able to get steals.”
In terms of scoring production, Gunn’s desires have been aimed toward efficiency. Prior to the beginning of the season, he was transparent about the type of messaging he’d been given over the summer. And, while never vocally mentioning it in public settings, Gunn felt pressure on his shoulders that his limited opportunities of the past would be squandered with poor shooting.
With a refreshed sense of confidence and a blank canvas to work with, the early returns weren’t up to his standards.
Woodson began publicly calling for him to produce more in postgame press conferences. As one of the few returners from last season’s team to now, his familiarity and a leap forward would be counted on. For as much resourceful energy had been geared toward silencing doubters and beginning anew, the progress wasn’t where Gunn wanted it to be. Not yet.
Then a game like this one comes along, when Indiana is down a starting sixth-year guard on the road in the Big Ten. There’s points to be made up for, minutes to be distributed, defensive assignments to be picked up.
Winning in the conference is often a slob. It isn’t perfect. It is very rarely pretty.
But this is where Gunn’s persistence pays off.
The shot-creating sophomore guard always had the label of a scorer. Justifying the continual trust from Woodson and the IU staff might be hard to understand for some outsiders, but Gunn was out to silence a lot of noise this season as a welcomed side effect of the work he’d been clocking in night after night after night.
Coming into Indiana’s contest at Michigan, Gunn was just 2-for-28 in his career from three. He hasn’t stopped shooting, just waiting for the breakthrough to come on the offensive side of the floor. Tuesday night, his first shot from distance fell. So did his second.
“Even if I was missing, I would still act like nothing happened,” Gunn said. “But all the work I’ve been putting in, getting shots up with Jordy (Hulls) and Coach Cheaney. I wasn’t really nervous to take the shot, and I’m glad it fell because it definitely boosted my confidence for the rest of the game.”
This is why he’s late to his postgame media scrum. It’s why he’s taking the time to realize it a bit with those who were never outsiders, who understood what he’s been through to earn an evening like this.
“It’s definitely a confidence booster for us and for CJ,” Malik Reneau said. “I mean, just knowing that we got a solid bench coming off and giving us solid minutes, starting minutes. It’s just unbelievable to see.”
This night almost didn’t come, at least not Tuesday. Gunn was listed as questionable, later admitting that he dealt with sickness and hadn’t practiced much leading up to the game.
Yet, he fought through. He wanted to be an accessory to Indiana's victory, one that secured the Hoosiers the first 2-0 start to Big Ten play since 2018. And he was – he turned in his best game in an Indiana uniform.
The coaches trusted Gunn to be in a sizable role in the Hoosiers’ efforts toward victory. Gunn trusted himself and his work process to be eventually fulfilled.
He always has the support of the ones who he was embracing in the tunnel.
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