Doesn’t this feel good? Indiana Basketball advanced to 11-2 and won by a mile once again. Illinois bring it on.
The Indiana Basketball program has been on a stellar role winning the past six games. We previewed this matchup and dove in on what we expected from this ball club. They accomplished everything we wanted them to and more. This team is primed and ready to take on the vaunted Big Ten schedule.
What went right?
Juwan Morgan accomplished another triple double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. What a stellar senior season this young man is having. He is absolutely sending a message to the rest of his teammates. Morgan wants to go out with a bang. Whether or not that brings a National Championship. We have seen crazier things happen once the big dance begins.
Romeo Langford keeps on rolling. His 15 points keeps his double digit streak alive. As a true freshman you really can’t ask for better basketball play out of him. He definitely made the right choice by staying at home and playing for the Hoosiers this season. He gives us that extra edge we needed from last season.
We continued to play team basketball. We stressed this in the preview article. If Indiana wants a true Big Ten title shot, they will have to continue to play as a team. We know the competition isn’t as fierce with Jacksonville, as it will be with our upcoming opponents, which we think the Hoosiers did a great job of capitalizing on the last two opportunities to really make a case that we belong amongst the elite.
What went wrong?
We are going to sound like a broken record, but our Hoosiers love turning the ball over. We can win big against teams like Central Arkansas and Jacksonville without worrying about our turnovers. This is going to come into play with the games we have coming up. Even against Illinois, we will have to limit our turnovers. Roughly 12 a game won’t cut it when this schedule gets tough.
Our free throw shooting was slightly better. I’ll give them credit for only missing 10. Looking ahead though, we need to really hunker down on making free shots. It’s not called the charity stripe for no reason. Free points need to be taken advantage of at every opportunity, no matter who we play. I like that Indiana took more chances in this game. We shot a ton of three pointers (20) and only sunk eight of them.
In basketball there’s a very common saying, you live and die by the three point line. Looking ahead, we don’t mind our boys taking chances without making the most out of them. If you’re open for 20 three pointers, you need to make 75% of them. Are we being too critical? Maybe, but we need to fix a few more flaws if we want to shock the world against Michigan on January 6th.
Postgame notes
Big shoutout to Al Durham for leading the team in scoring (18 points). Another big shoutout to Justin Smith and Devonte Green. Your 13 points were huge fellas. Much love from everyone here at Hoosier State of Mind. Great team victory once again.