thoughts about 87-68 win Against Trojans:
So far this season, Indiana has easily wiped out weaker teams with its schedule and has fun along the way. However, this was not the case tonight.
Little Rock was stranded in the second half as the Hoosiers maintained a narrow seven-point lead with 9:04 remaining. Against Miami, Ohio, where the Redhawks kept pace in the first half, Trace Jackson-Davies took command and ensured the Hoosiers had a comfortable lead and never looked back. But he’s sitting tonight for precautionary reasons — probably still resting his back after Sunday’s tweaks. But he sat with a bit of a chilled back in the first half after landing early in the game. Renault also suffered foul trouble in the second half and played just four minutes.
So with neither of Indiana’s top two utilization players available by the end, they turned to the remaining veterans. Xavier Johnson ran his offense well and found his teammates as 8 of his 10 assists came after the break. Seven of his nine points also came in the second half. Race Thompson, who had been overshadowed by Renault’s rise in the frontcourt, also made a big contribution in the closing stages. Thompson scored his 16 of his game-high 20 points in his final 20 minutes. And after missing his first two 3-point attempts in the first half, Miller made him 3-4 after a break in his cup. Indiana also entered the bonus early in the second half, with the Hoosiers hitting 11-of-14 to capitalize at the line.
Indiana’s defense lacked its usual effort and attention to detail, but cracked up late, with the Trojans scoring just 11 points in the final 9:07 of the contest. Even though the Hoosiers lacked energy for most of this game, it was still enough to pull away and win by 19 points.
The .910 points per possession the Hoosiers allowed tonight was the most outside of Xavier (1.106) as they held off the Redhawks (.790), Morehead State (.739) and Bethune Cookman (.687). The state attacked Trojans 24 times and converted 17 of them (70.8%). Little Rock also performed well in second-chance opportunities, beating the Hoosiers 21-12 for him. And where Indiana usually dominated in points from turnovers against these weaker opponents, tonight each team scored 14 points in that division.
Jordan Geronimo is still a block machine. After hitting his five shots against Miami, Ohio on Sunday, he blocked five more against Little His Rock. Geronimo also scored 11 points on his 5/6 shooting, including his 3-pointer in the second half. Jalen Hood-Schifino he recorded five turnovers but otherwise played well, scoring 13 points on 6-of-13 shooting. He also added seven rebounds and three assists.
This isn’t a game Indiana looks back on fondly. It took some time until the final minutes of the contest to get any real breathing room, but at least that breathing room was achieved and the Hoosiers were in full swing. I didn’t sweat.
to the next one.
Submit to: little rock trojan horse
