OG Anunoby’s Season Recap
“The best defender you’ve never heard of” is the perfect way to introduce OG Anunoby, and thats exactly how ESPN reporter Jay Bilas referred to him.
Coming out of high school, OG Anunboy was not very sought after as the only major college offers he had were Indiana, Iowa, Kansas State, Ole Miss, Gonzaga, and Georgia. Out of those listed I’d say half are relevant programs.
No one knew what to expect out of Anunoby in his freshmen year and I think it is safe to say he exceeded whatever expectations were set upon his arrival in Bloomington.
The quiet wing from Jefferson City, Missouri averaged 5 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 0.5 assists per game while only playing about 14 minutes a game.
Those numbers don’t do him any justice, even though there was zero expectation for him to be a contributor before the season.
OG’s DEFENSE
When talking OG Anunoby its best to talk about his greatest assets first. An absurdly long wingspan combined with an absurd body mass when it comes to college freshmen helped Anunoby become one of the best defenders in college basketball in his first season. Yes, you read that correctly.
Anunoby’s defense is better than any commentator has made it out to be. The main reason for this is his combination of length and height with his speed and athleticism. The greatest display of his defense was in Indiana’s Round of 32 win over Kentucky. Anunoby shut down a potential top-five pick in this year’s NBA draft, Jamal Murray. Murray was one of the nation’s hottest commodities and a reason why Kentucky could have made it to Houston this year. OG held him to 1-9 shooting from deep because of his ability to stretch his defense outside the permiter while refusing to be beat in the lane.
It was no mistake that as OG Anunoby’s role on the 2015-2016 team increased so did the performance of the team (defensively at least). The positive correlation between Anunoby’s performance and the Hoosiers performance was no fluke as he caused disruptions in passing lanes, while defending the conference’s elite–leading the Hoosiers to their second outright Big Ten Title in four years.
OG’s OFFENSE
Now to the part of OG’s game that was unknown as he was out of high school. Offensively Anunoby played as good if not better than I and most IU fans could have expected. He shot 44.8 percent from three, which depending on how you view it could be either a good sign or no sign at all. It’s a good sign because he made a very good percentage from deep, but it may have been misleading as it was only on 29 shot attempts. The small sample size in my opinion is a good sign because he was only averaging 14 minutes a game, so I wouldn’t expect him to be getting more shots up. Along with a solid three point percentage, he also shot 60.9 percent from inside the arc, which is also like his three point percentage (good, but not enough to see really how good).
The issue with Anunoby wasn’t his shooting, even though his 47.6 percent from the line will need to improve going forward. The real issue was everything but shooting. In his limited usage Anunoby turned the ball over 20 percent of the time. This needs to improve for Anunoby to take the next step. The best evidence for this is Anunoby’s turnover in the Big Ten tournament vs Michigan in the final minute. The play showed how he has trouble dribbling in traffic while trying to make decisions.
Anunoby’s offense was at its best when it was in a catch and shoot situation, under the basket cleaning the offensive glass, and finishing on a fast break that he created defensively.
Most IU fans complained about Anunoby not getting enough minutes but, the main reason for Anunoby not being on the court for large portions of games is because of his lack of offense.
What does OG need to do to take the next step?
To take the next step OG will need to learn how to fluently dribble through traffic while being able to make decisions passing the ball. When playing offense in the half-court Anunoby looked lost a lot when he didn’t have the ball and had trouble creating separation using the dribble. He will need to polish his offensive game to become a complete basketball player. Once his offensive game rounds out I expect OG Anunoby to be a top player at this level and could honestly become a lottery pick in as soon as a year.