Nine former IU basketball players have or will play the game at the highest level during the 2020-21 NBA season. We will be monitoring their seasons with weekly updates.
Below we summarize their year to date performance with NBA stats and notes through the first eight weeks of the season and provide a brief update on each player.
Victor Oladipo – Houston
The Rockets entered last week at 11-11 overall and are now 11-15 following a four-game losing streak.
Oladipo only played in two of the four games. He had 21 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists in 34 minutes of action in a 119-94 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on February 8.
Next he had 6 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists in 20 minutes played in the Rockets 101-94 loss to the Miami Heat on Thursday.
Meeting with the media following the loss against Charlotte, Oladipo acknowledged that the Rockets are still in the midst of a learning process.
“It’s a learning process, it all is. Every day, every game is a learning process, can’t get too high, can’t get too low just got to stay in the moment and keep getting better,” Oladipo told the media.
Similarly, Oladipo believes that with time the Rockets will better be able to figure out ways to attack certain defenses.
“Trusting ourselves and trusting one another during those processes. Eventually I think you won’t be able to guard us at all. It’s a learning process like I said. We’re new to one another and we just got to continue to keep learning one another, continue to keep learning game in and game out our best basketball is ahead of us, I truly believe that,” Oladipo said.
Oladipo suffered a foot injury in the game against Miami, sat out Saturday against the Knicks, and will not play in tonight’s game at Washington.
2020-21 YTD Stats:
Games/Games Started – 20/20
MPG – 32.0
Points – 19.1
Rebounds – 5.2
Assists – 4.6
Blocks – 0.4
Steals – 1.4
FG% – .401
3FG% – .329
FT% – .740
Eric Gordon – Houston
Eric Gordon played in three of the four Rockets games this past week and was in the starting lineup twice.
He sat out Monday’s loss to Charlotte due to rest. However, he did start Tuesday’s game versus the New Orleans Pelicans, scoring 23 points in a losing effort, as well as Saturday against the New York Knicks, scoring 24 points.
In his lone appearance coming off the bench, he scored 17 points in 31 minutes of action against the Miami Heat.
Even though the Rockets have struggled as a team lately, in the month of February Gordon has done his part offensively. In the seven games he has played, he has scored at least 20 points in six of them.
In total, he is averaging 22.4 points on 50.0 percent shooting from the field, 37.3 percent shooting from three, and 88.6 percent shooting from the foul line this month.
Meeting with the media following Saturday’s loss at New York, Gordon wants to see the Rockets play with more intensity.
“We need to play with more intensity, we need to dictate flow offensively, we need to play faster. Defensively, we’re just not doing what we’ve been doing when we had that winning streak,” Gordon told the media.
2020-21 YTD Stats:
Games/Games Started – 21/9
MPG – 29.2
Points – 18.8
Rebounds – 2.3
Assists – 2.6
Blocks – 0.5 (Ties Career High)
Steals – 0.6
FG% – .465 (Career High)
3FG% – .352
FT% – .844
OG Anunoby – Toronto
Towards the end of January, Anunoby was playing strong basketball on both ends of the floor and the Raptors were starting to get back in the win column.
Unfortunately for Anunoby, he suffered a strained left calf in a 129-114 loss to the Pacers on January 25 and has not seen action since. He has missed ten consecutive games.
2020-21 YTD Stats:
Games/Games Started – 17/17
MPG – 34.8 (Career High)
Points – 14.6 (Career High)
Rebounds – 5.8 (Career High)
Assists – 1.6 (Ties Career High)
Blocks – 0.5
Steals – 2.1 (Career High)
FG% – .486
3FG% – .433 (Career High)
FT% – .745 (Career High)
Thomas Bryant – Washington
Bryant continues to be sidelined, as he suffered a torn ACL to his left knee during the first quarter of a 128-124 loss to the Miami Heat on January 9 that will keep him out for the remainder of this season.
The injury came at a time when Bryant was starting to play consistent basketball and was averaging career highs in both minutes played and points per game.
However, the focus for Bryant now shifts towards coming back even stronger next year.
2020-21 YTD Stats:
Games/Games Started – 10/10
MPG – 27.1 (Career High)
Points – 14.3 (Career High)
Rebounds – 6.1
Assists – 1.5
Blocks – 0.8
Steals – 0.4
FG% – .648 (Career High)
3FG% – .429 (Career High)
FT% – .667
Cody Zeller – Charlotte
The Hornets went 2-2 this past week. Zeller scored in double-figures three times, including posting a double-double in Sunday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs.
In the eight games he has played in the month of February, Cody Zeller is averaging 12.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game while shooting 57.1 percent from the field, 37.5 percent from three, and 81.3 percent from the free-throw line.
Charlotte is 13-15 and currently sixth-place in the Eastern Conference standings as they look to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2015-16 season.
2020-21 YTD Stats:
Games/Games Started – 15/12
MPG – 24.1
Points – 10.1
Rebounds – 8.0 (Career High)
Assists – 2.5 (Career High)
Blocks – 0.6
Steals – 0.7
FG% – .525
3FG% – .188
FT% – .759
Romeo Langford – Boston
Langford continues to focus on regaining strength and range of motion in his wrist after tearing ligaments during last season’s NBA Playoffs.
Prior to the Celtics game this past Thursday, head coach Brad Stevens gave an update on Langford.
“He’s doing a lot,” Stevens told the media. “He’s not playing live yet. He’s had a little bit of soreness that was to be expected. But that’s probably going to push him to the break, and he’ll probably be available after the break.”
Juwan Morgan – Utah
Following being named a healthy scratch for Utah’s January 19 contest, Morgan had seen action in six consecutive games and in three of them played at least 10 minutes.
Furthermore, in a January 29 game against the Dallas Mavericks which was televised on ESPN, Morgan finished the game with 12 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, and 3 steals in 21 minutes of action. Also impressive was his efficiency, shooting 5-8 from the field and 2-4 from three point range.
However, in Utah’s last seven games, Morgan has only seen action in two of them. He played three minutes in a 112-91 Jazz win over the Atlanta Hawks on January 4 and two minutes in a 112-94 win over the Miami Heat on Saturday.
The Jazz are currently first-place in the Western Conference standings, with a record of 22-5 overall and riding a seven-game winning streak.
2020-21 YTD Stats:
Games/Games Started – 11/0
MPG – 5.6
Points – 1.4
Rebounds – 1.2
Assists – 0.3 (Ties Career High)
Blocks – 0.0
Steals – 0.3 (Career High)
FG% – .462
3FG% – .333
FT% – .000
Yogi Ferrell – Free Agent
Ferrell remains a free agent after his 10-day contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers ended with him being waived.
Ferrell is playing in the NBA G League regular season. It will run from February 10 to March 6 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
So far, Ferrell has played three games for the Salt Lake City Stars this season. He is averaging 14.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game in 33.5 minutes per contest.
2020-21 YTD Stats:
Games/Games Started – 2/0
MPG – 20.0
Points – 9.5
Rebounds – 3.5 (Career High)
Assists – 2.5
Blocks – 0.5 (Career High)
Steals – 1.5 (Career High)
FG% – .381
3FG% – .333
FT% – .000
Noah Vonleh – Brooklyn
Noah Vonleh was signed by the Brooklyn Nets on February 8. In 338 career games played, he has averages of 4.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 0.8 assists per game.
2020-21 YTD Stats:
Games/Games Started – 3/0
MPG – 2.7
Points – 0.0
Rebounds – 0.3
Assists – 0.3
Blocks – 0.0
Steals – 0.0
FG% – .000
3FG% – .000
FT% – N/A (Has Not Attempted)
Find us on Facebook: thedailyhoosier
You can follow us on Twitter: @daily_hoosier
The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”
Seven ways to support completely free IU coverage at no additional cost to you.
