On the opening night of college hoops, Indiana basketball tipped off the season against Morehead State in Assembly Hall and pulled away with an 88-53 win. The quest for banner number six has begun with a dominant win in Bloomington.
Trayce Jackson-Davis and Malik Reneau led the Hoosiers in scoring with 15 points each, while Jalen Hood-Schifino ran the offense and created plays for others with seven points and four assists.
At the end of the first half, Indiana shot just 4-for-10 from the free throw line and made just one three-pointer, and led by just 12 points against the Eagles. I wasn’t all that impressed by that first-half performance.
The Hoosiers did not look good in this game until this lineup was out there: Jalen Hood-Schifino, Trey Galloway, Tamar Bates, Jordan Geronimo, and Malik Reneau. This lineup combined for 43 points, 14 rebounds, eight assists, five steals, and shot 18-for-25 (72.0 percent) from the field. Although this lineup did tally up seven of the Hoosiers’ 10 turnovers in the game, they were easily the standouts for IU.
One thing Coach Woodson has to figure out is the pairings and togetherness that certain groups of players. Xavier Johnson seemingly doesn’t play confident or smart as the primary ball-handler, unless he’s running pick-and-roll action with TJD. Jalen Hood-Schifino can work with the starting group or bench unit. If Malik Reneau and TJD are on the floor together, would that work?
A lot of questions and improvements are needed after game one, but here are my six takeaways for Indiana basketball after Monday night’s victory:
Six takeaways from the season-opening win for Indiana basketball vs. Morehead State
#6. If Miller Kopp can knock down shots, Hoosiers will be in good shape
After the first half, one of my takeaways was “Where is Miller Kopp?”. Kopp took one jump shot in the first half and missed it but didn’t make any significant impact on the floor. If my memory serves me as correct, the only shots that Kopp has made in the two exhibition games and this opening night game have come off assists from Jalen Hood-Schifino.
In the second half, Kopp seemed like he had some confidence and no hesitation in his jump shot, especially after hitting his first one off of a good pass from Hood-Schifino. He made both of his three-point attempts and knocked down both free throws to get him up to eight points on the night in 22 minutes.
With a confident and consistent shooting stroke from Miller Kopp, Indiana basketball is a different team this year that could actually spread the floor. The Hoosiers only shot 4-for-11 (36.4 percent) from three-point range, which will need to improve in order for Indiana to compete for a Big Ten title and beyond.