Indiana basketball shuts the Sparty down & more takeaways against Michigan State
Indiana basketball extended its winning streak to three games with a confident home win against Michigan State on Sunday.
Down 17-8 in the first eight minutes of action for the Hoosiers on Sunday afternoon, things were not looking well for Mike Woodson and we were starting to see hints of the Penn State game, with the lack of offense and horrid defensive effort.
Then something changed. Indiana basketball went on a 17-8 run themselves to tie it up at 25 then finished the half on an 11-3 run thanks to an impressive shooting effort from Tamar Bates and defensive stands on consecutive possessions.
Then once the second half started, the Spartans were able to get themselves right back in the game, tying it up at 42 by the under-16-minute timeout. Back and forth it went until the Hoosiers said enough is enough and went on an 18-4 run and led Michigan State 67-55 with just over six minutes remaining.
The rest was quite even, especially with the foul situation created by the referees. The Hoosiers are looking like a completely different team than we saw just two weeks ago.
Check out the highlights below:
Here are my six takeaways from the Hoosiers’ party in Bloomington over Michigan State:
Six takeaways from Indiana basketball 82-69 win vs. Michigan State:
#6. Indiana shuts the “Sparty” down and the Hoosiers are looking like a team that can make a deep tournament run
Despite the early hits and punches by Michigan State on Sunday, the Hoosiers responded and started to play as they have been against Wisconsin and Illinois in their previous two wins.
Shooting 60.0 percent from beyond the arc and 47.3 percent from the field, along with going 21-for-24 from the charity stripe, Indiana basketball is becoming a team that nobody could have imagined before the season began.
Holding each of their last three opponents under 70 points, the defense has been a complete turnaround after allowing 84+ points in three straight games to open up 2023.
The Hoosiers rank third in Division I in field goal percentage (50.8 percent) this season and 27th in three-point shooting percentage (38.1 percent) and continue to improve tremendously on both ends of the floor. If this keeps up and Indiana gets fully healthy, watch out for the Hoosiers to make some real noise in March.