SIMON SKJODT ASSEMBLY HALL — The first snow day in Bloomington ended with a roller coaster game for Indiana Men’s Basketball. The Hoosiers were led by Myles Rice who had 20 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds in their 69-58 victory over UNC Greensboro. However, it was not an easy win.
The Hoosiers picked up right where they left off against South Carolina with some hot offense. Indiana was 8 for their first 11 from the field, and they took a commanding 19-5 lead thanks to Myles Rice who knocked down two early triples and tallied three assists.
“That's what [Myles’] supposed to do. That's what we brought him here for,” said Mike Woodson. “But as a team we had 16 assists. That's awful. I mean, it's awful. With this team, we should average between 20 and 30 assists.”
Additionally, the Indiana defense started on point. They forced 3 turnovers in the first five minutes of the game, and they held the Spartans under double-digit points for 13 minutes. However, the Spartans really began to find a groove late in the first half, and the Hoosiers couldn’t shut them down.
“That team came to play, we didn't. That's college basketball... And once they got rolling, we gave them hope, and they played a solid game all the way through.” Woodson added.
Simultaneously, the blazing Indiana offense stalled as they failed to score a field goal for nearly 6 minutes in the middle of the first half. The Hoosiers only went into the halftime break with a 36-27 lead.
“The way we played offensively tonight was selfish as hell, to me, and that's something that just can't be,” said Woodson. “We've just got to be unselfish and sacrifice the ball for the sake of the team and good things will happen.”
The Spartans then came firing out of the break, tying the ballgame at 40 points about 4 minutes into the second half. Just a few moments later, however, Bryson Tucker subbed in and lifted the Hoosiers back into the lead. Tucker forced two turnovers and drilled three midrange buckets to make it a 58-48 ballgame favoring IU, and he finished the game with a second-best 14 points on 5-9 shooting.
“Tucker came in, and he shined for a freshman,” Woodson said. “He's a guy that can help us. I leaned on him tonight, and he came through and did some positive things.”
Both teams struggled on offense the rest of the way as the Hoosiers were 2 for their last 8 and the Spartans were 2 for their last 12. Indiana finished shooting 40% from the field and 28% from beyond the arc. They also went 14-16 from the line, making nearly as many free throws as UNCG attempted (15).
“We've had some good moments, we've had some bad moments. Against really good teams, you're going to have to have a lot of good moments to die away the bad moments if you're going to be a good team,” said Woodson.
Indiana moves to 4-0 on the season and will head to the Bahamas next week for the Battle 4 Atlantis. The Hoosiers will face Louisville on the 27th, with potential games on the 28th and 29th.
