Indiana Basketball: Hoosiers jump to early lead in blowout of Troy

The Indiana Hoosiers made quick work of Troy on Saturday night. The win moved the Hoosiers to 4-0 on the year with their best game so far.

Indiana came into Saturday night’s game 3-0, but have looked a little sluggish in each one of those wins. Saturday night was much different as the Hoosiers used an early 15-2 run to open up an 18 point lead and never looked back in a 100-62 blowout of the Troy Trojans.

The Hoosiers scored a season-high 58 points in the first half to lead by 26 and stretched it out to as many as 41 in the second half before cruising the last ten minutes. Indiana was able to reach 100 points for the first time this year to win by 38. It was the most complete game the Hoosiers have played all year and it was the effort most Indiana fans have been waiting for from this team.

Junior Justin Smith was the star of the game for the Hoosiers scoring 22 points while only missing one shot. He would finish 8-of-9 from the floor including 3-of-3 from deep and hitting all four of his free throws.

Freshman Trayce Jackson-Davis continued his hot start scoring 17 points of his own and didn’t miss a field goal all night going 6-of-6. He did go just 5-of-9 from the free-throw line in about the only negative from the game.

Damezi Anderson would come off the bench to score 14 points, while Al Durham scored 17 to give the Hoosiers four guys in double-figures for the game. As a team, Indiana shot 53.8 percent from the field and 39 percent from deep.

Indiana continued its ability to get the line, shooting another 30 free throws a game after shooting 45. They would hit 21 from the charity stripe, whereas Troy shot 17-of-31 from the free throw to almost equal the Hoosiers output.

Troy had little go right for them and if had not been for Zay Williams coming off of the bench and scoring 28 points, this game could have been much worse. Williams hit 11 of the Trojans 20 field goals as the Hoosiers held them to just 31.7 percent from the field.

It was the kind of defensive effort that fans thought they would see under head coach Archie Miller and a good sign for a team that has struggled some in the first three games.

The Hoosiers finally looked like a team that could compete within the Big Ten. Yes, Troy is not a good team and Indiana should blow them out, but they hadn’t played like this all year. This is the type of game the Hoosiers needed to get some confidence heading into their schedule once December hits.

Indiana gets three days off before they host Princeton on Wednesday night. The Tigers are currently 0-3 and should give the Hoosiers another game where they can work the kinks while they still wait for Devonte Green to get fully back in the rotation.

The win moves the Hoosiers to 4-0 on the year.  They play three more games before the meat of the schedule hits in December.