Indiana Basketball: Cody Zeller continues great play as other Hoosiers struggle

The NBA season is starting to get into full swing and many former Indiana basketball players continue to make their mark in the league.

Another week passed in the NBA and with teams starting to work out the kinks, the former Indiana basketball players in the league are still trying to find their roles on their respective teams.

While it was a down week for most of the former Hoosiers, Cody Zeller continued to shine, as did Thomas Bryant.

Romeo Langford dressed out for the Celtics’ games this week, after returning from injury, but failed to see any action on the court. Victor Oladipo continues to rehab and a return sometime in December is not out of the question. Juwan Morgan is starting the year off in the G-Leauge with the Utah Jazz affiliate.

Troy Williams was in the news, but not in the good way. After some off of the court issues arose, he was waived from the Northern Arizona Suns.

Let’s take a look at how the other six IU players played this past week in the NBA.

Thomas Bryant (Washington Wizards – 12.2 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists)

What is beginning to be part of the norm in Washington, it was once again another losing week for Bryant and the Wizards.

Continuing with his stellar play however, Bryant added two more double-digit rebounding games in the Wizards’ two games last week, with one double-double.

One part of Bryant’s game that continues to increase is his passing ability and that was on display against the Houston Rockets as he dished out five assists to go along with just one turnover.

Noah Vonleh (Minnesota TImberwolves – 5.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, 0.6 assists)

It was a weird week for Vonleh as the Timberwolves were involved in two blowout games, splitting both.

With a crowded front court, Vonleh has been the second and third big off the bench on most occasions but still proves to be as efficient as they come.

Shooting 68.8 percent on the season, Vonleh has missed just six shots on the entire season, and had his third game this year without missing a shot.

Yogi Ferrell (Sacramento Kings – 4.0 points, 0.7 rebounds, 1.0 assists)

It was another disappointing week for the third year guard as he played just two minutes in four games.

Ferrell continues to be the fourth or fifth guard off of the bench for the Kings, and when he does see action, he sees very little of it.

It will be a very long season for both the Kings, as well as Ferrell.

Eric Gordon (Houston Rockets – 10.4 points, 1.2 rebounds, 1.0 assists)

Part of the Houston Rockets rotation who has not been able to adjust perfectly to the addition of Russell Westbrook, Gordon has resorted to be a jump shooter with the ball dominant guards of Westbrook and James Harden.

While he has been known for his shooting ability throughout his career, this season has been anything but stellar. It was another tough week as Gordon shot just 6-of-30 from three, including two 0-of-5 nights in addition to a 1-of-7 night.

After starting the season off with four straight double-digit outings, Gordon averaged just 3.5 points in the final two games of the week.

OG Anunoby (Toronto Raptors – 11.8 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.7 steals)

Anunoby continues to have a great start to the 2019-20 season as his play continues to get better as each game goes on.

Not only is he becoming more dependable on the offensive end, but he is doing it in multiple ways. Shooting 40 percent from three last week, it brings his season average to 45.5 percent from deep, part of his game that didn’t always show to be consistent.

His best game of the week came against the Magic, when he went for 12 points, eight rebounds, and five steals.

Cody Zeller (Charlotte Hornets – 14.0 points, 12.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists)

It was another great week for the former Indiana big man as Zeller posted two more double-doubles including a career-high 15 rebounds against the Kings.

After failing to post a double-double against the Warriors, it was Zeller’s first non double-double game of the year.

Thus far, Zeller is putting up career-highs in minutes played (29.0), points (14.0) and rebounds (12.4). If Zeller can remain healthy this season, it should be a year in which he tops multiple of his previous career-high marks.