Indiana Basketball: Hoosiers sweep No. 6 Michigan State at home

In what has been a whirlwind of a season, Indiana basketball has now put together a two game win streak over No. 19 Wisconsin and No. 6 Michigan State.

Indiana Basketball has now shocked Michigan State twice this season. The first meeting in East Lansing, ESPN’s College Gameday ruled out Indiana before the game had even tipped off.

Today was a different story. The Hoosiers started off slow in the first half but stayed in the game due to Justin Smith’s dominant half.

Smith scored 16 in the first half on 6-of-10 shooting that included making 3-of-4 shots from beyond the arc. The rest of the team shot 4-for-19 in the half with Romeo Langford not recording a basket until the final seconds of the first half. Without Smith, the Spartans would have had a much more commanding lead than seven points going into the break.

In the first half, Spartans guard Cassius Winston killed the Indiana big men on the pick and roll which resulted in easy layups for Michigan State.

During the postgame press conference, we asked Coach Archie Miller “What halftime adjustments were you able to make in regards to the Michigan State pick-and-roll?”

His response delves into how the Hoosiers turned it around and stop the Spartans from converting easy buckets. He stated:

"” We did a better job I thought being way more aggressive on the ball. I think at times you can get consumed with the roller getting the ball and all this stuff, but at the end of the day, the guy with the ball, he needs to be dealt with, and I thought we did a better job in the second half of at least taking away the rollers and some things. Cassius obviously got downhill a number of times and got around him, but he’s a really good player. He keeps his dribble alive like nobody else. He waits for guys to leave. He’s seeing the floor the whole time he’s dribbling it. And we were trying to get back in front of him the best we could, but again, good player, obviously very, very well executing team, and he’s doing this every game. The ball is in his hands as much as any player you’re going to play against, so his line of 20, 11 and 3, that’s pretty much what he’s doing right now”."

The Hoosiers started off slow once again, to start the second half, missing a few shots and allowing Michigan State to expand their lead to 11 which prompted a quick Archie Miller timeout two minutes into the half.

From that point forward, though, Indiana and the crowd got into the game.

The crowd noise was arguably the loudest of the season which helped propel the team to a 21-12 run between the 18:00 and 10:00 minute marks.

A large difference maker in this contest was Junior Devonte Green.

Green finished with 13 points, 11 being in the second half along with 3-for-5 shooting from beyond the arc. He nailed two three pointer’s in the clutch, with six and three minutes left, along with a pair of made free throws to help position the Hoosiers in a winning direction.

Despite finishing with seven points and 11 rebounds, Juwan Morgan hit the shot of the game and ultimately the game winner after rebounding a Langford miss and somehow getting his shot to fall along with a foul.

He converted the free throw as well to put the Hoosiers up by one with 1:46 left. The score held at 63-62 in favor of the Hoosiers as no points were scored after Morgan’s basket.

The Spartans held for the final possession, down a point. Freshman guard Rob Phinisee played tremendous defense on Cassius Winston which caused Winston’s shot to be just off and gave Indiana the win.

Smith finished with a career-high 24 points. He and Green were the only Hoosiers in double figures.

Just like that, the Hoosiers find themselves back on the NCAA tournament bubble, holding six quad one wins along with a sweep of projected No. 2 Seed Michigan State. The Hoosiers also have three top 25 wins. Indiana currently has the best resume of any bubble team and a win at Illinois and at home versus Rutgers would solidify the team’s chances of making the tournament.