Indiana basketball had a slow start, but their offense was able to carry them to their third straight victory to open the season against North Alabama.
It was an ugly start to the Hoosiers’ third regular season game as they went down 18-17 at the ten minute mark of the first half to a far less talented North Alabama team, due to turnovers and poor team defense. Eventually though, the Indiana basketball program flexed its muscles.
Shooting had been a major concern coming into this season, but you would not have known it by the way they shot tonight, especially in the second half. Indiana shot 50 percent from the field to go along with 38 percent from three and 86 percent from the free-throw line. They were able to pull away nicely in the second half behind some quality team defense, winning by a final score of 91-65.
After an ugly first half on the defensive side of the ball where they allowed 40 first half points, the Hoosiers upped the intensity in the second half allowing only 25 second half points while holding North Alabama to just 27 percent from the field in that span. The team rotated much quicker to shooters and looked much more engaged in general, defensively.
Trayce Jackson-Davis had easily the best game of his young career, impacting the game on both sides of the ball. He ended up 20 points, eight rebounds and three blocks in 22 minutes of action. Perhaps the most impressive part of his game was the fact that he got to the line 15 times, going 14-of-15 from the line.
Rob Phinisee also had a nice game running point for the Hoosiers. The sophomore guard tallied 13 points and six assists while playing great on ball defense throughout the game.
Jamari Blackmon paced the Lions with 19 points, but saw just four points come in the second half.
Once again, the Indiana bench played a large part in the outcome of the game, combining for 46 points, with three players in double figures, including 12 points from Jerome Hunter.
It was a far from perfect game for Indiana, which is expected to be the case this early in the season. They’ll look to build on this performance Saturday when the take on Troy.