BLOOMINGTON — The only rest Indiana basketball true freshman Gabe Cupps got in the second half of a 76-72 loss to Northwestern Sunday came after he fouled out with 25 seconds to go.
He spent nearly the entire half before that glued to Wildcats leading scorer Boo Buie.
Buie had one of his least productive games of the season with 14 points on 3 of 14 shooting. The guard missed his first 10 shots and didn’t have a made field goal until there was less than nine minutes to go in the game.
“He’s been one of the hottest point guards in the league and to hold the young man to 3 for 14 shooting and some of the different times down the floor where he was able to keep him in front, which has been a task for a lot of teams, I was really impressed with that,” Indiana coach Mike Woodson said, on Tuesday.
Indiana basketball point guard Gabe Cupps holding his own against Big Ten’s best
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Buie hit a pair of 3-pointers late in the game, but neither were high percentage shots.
He launched a step-back 3-pointer over Anthony Walker with 8:35 to go and hit a similar off-balanced shot a few minutes later when he had the briefest of open looks coming off a screen.
Cupps didn’t let Buie get a clean look near the basket, but that’s the kind of defensive effort Woodson has come to expect from the first-year guard.
“He’s been solid from day one in trying to deal, especially in the Big Ten with every team’s point guard is pretty damn good,” Woodson said.
Indiana basketball wanted Gabe Cupps to have more time to develop
It’s just not the role Woodson expected Cupps to have so early in his career.
The guard was a four-star signee in IU’s 2023 class out of Centerville High School in Ohio. He was the No. 94 ranked player in the class and No. 3 player in his state with eight scholarship offers including ones from Stanford, Michigan and Ohio State.
With Xavier Johnson dealing with multiple injuries this season, Cupps has started 14 of IU’s 25 games while averaging 22.1 minutes. He’s played 30 minutes or more seven times including a season-high 37 minutes in a loss to Kansas.
“He’s been thrown to the wolves basically as a freshman,” Woodson said.
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It’s why Cupps has mostly received a pass from Woodson on his lack of offensive production. Cupps is only shooting 39.4% this season, but he’s only attempted 66 shots (2.6 per game) this season.
On Tuesday, Woodson traced Cupps’ prominent role to last year’s Big Ten freshman of the year Jalen Hood-Schifino opting to leave the school early. Hood-Schifino’s departure left IU “desperately” seeking another point guard on the recruiting trail, but those efforts proved unsuccessful.
“We explored, we talked to different guys, and guys went other places based on what they thought was a better fit,” Woodson said. “We basically came into this season hoping like hell that X didn’t get hurt and Gabe would get an opportunity to learn slowly, but that hadn’t been the case.”
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
