As the fouls mounted up on Wednesday night in the first half, Tom Crean was forced to go deeper into his bench than usual.
James Blackmon Jr. had three fouls before halftime and Robert Johnson and Nick Zeisloft each had two. With limited backcourt depth, Crean turned to freshman walk-on Harrison Niego when Blackmon Jr. picked up his third foul with 7:54 left in the first half.
Niego, who had played a total of 16 minutes through IU’s first nine games, delivered in Indiana’s 90-65 win over IPFW.
He defended, hit the open man and even dove over the IPFW bench, which resulted in a broken chair and loud applause from the IU fans in attendance.