Indiana Basketball: Breakthrough performance for Justin Smith?

The 6-foot-8 sophomore forward battled all night long, helping Indiana basketball breakthrough, and end their seven game losing streak.

It was a little over halfway through the first half when Juwan Morgan went down in pain holding his shoulder after getting tangled up on the floor.

Already shorthanded, as they have been all year, Justin Smith needed to step up and be a force in and around the paint, using his athleticism to his advantage against a slower front court for Michigan State.

The Hoosiers who came into the game riding a seven game losing streak, showing very little emotion and grit throughout the last month, got exactly what they needed from Justin Smith in their win over the weekend.

The sophomore forward has given Indiana fans many high-flying moments, but also many lapses on both ends of the floor, but just like that, he was thrust into the spotlight on their biggest stage all year.

Finishing with 13 points and 10 rebounds, his second double-double in his last four games, Smith showed the potential that had Indiana fans so excited when he stepped on campus in 2017.

Going up against the likes of Nick Ward, Kenny Goins and Xavier Tillman, Smith was undersized on all three matchups, but used his versatile skill set to take advantage of it.

His quickness and length proved to be vital on both ends, as he was a go-to guy for the Hoosiers on the offensive end on many possessions. Smith’s vertical leap has always been the highlight of his game, and he used his quick first and second jump on many occasions, finishing with a game-high five offensive rebounds. Flipping the script, Smith had three blocks, including the game-sealing block on a Cassius Winston drive, with four seconds left in overtime.

Smith’s importance was emphasized even more, late in the game when Al Durham exited for an extended stretch with a dislocated finger.

With a lot of responsibility on the 6-foot-8 forward, the old Justin Smith may have crumbled resulting in an Indiana loss, but Smith looked like the four-star prospect that came to Indiana.

Not only did Smith step up in big moments, but he wasn’t afraid to take and miss shots, shooting a career-high 17 times, third highest in the game, and only one behind teammate Romeo Langford. Though he only connected on six of them, his confidence was sky high, something the Hoosiers desperately needed.

An already turnover prone player for the majority of his career, with a career turnover rate of 19 percent, Smith only had one in a game where he had his highest usage rate of the season. Committing one turnover in three out of his last five games, he only had five such games in their previous 17 this season

Averaging 10.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, and taking 10.4 shots per game over his last five, Smith is turning into a mismatch problem for opponents, and a consistent third option for the Hoosiers, and this could be the breakout performance he needed to carry that into the second half of the season.