With Indiana's 82-69 win over USC last night in Assembly Hall, the Hoosiers move to 4-1 in the Big Ten, marking their best start to conference play since the 2015-2026 season when Indiana won their first seven Big Ten games.
The Hoosiers started a bit slow against the Trojans in the first half and went into halftime tied 38-38. However, in the second half, Indiana outscored USC 44-31 thanks to the size and strength of Oumar Ball in the paint.
Ballo led the Hoosiers in scoring for the second straight game with 23 points and added eight rebounds and two blocks to his stat line. Ballo did work alone, though, as Myles Rice and Luke Goode also stepped up with 19 and 16 points. Rice was one rebound short of a double-double on the night, but led the team in assists with six as he stepped into that point guard role that Malik Reneau has left open with his injury.
Indiana has now won five games in a row after starting the season 8-3 and dropping out of the AP Top 25 after their losses. Even with an injury to their leading scorer, Indiana tapped into that "next man up" mentality and is finding ways to win.
This was Indiana's third game without leading scorer Malik Reneau, who was injured within the first 30 seconds of the Rutgers game with what is being called a lower-body injury. With Reneau off the court, the Hoosiers knew they needed to find new ways to score and Ballo and Rice have stepped up the most for Indiana.
Even after USC jumped out to a quick 10-point lead in the first half, Indiana didn't fold. Rice and Kanaan Carlyle both hit big shots to cut the lead down and actually tie the game with about six minutes left in the half. As mentioned before, the two teams were knotted at 38 heading into the locker room for halftime and then it was about which team would be able to make the better adjustments.
It was clear Indiana head coach Mike Woodson had the better adjustments for the second half as the Hoosiers were able to create a lead early. Ballo had two monster dunks just 90 seconds apart from each other to get the crowd going in Assembly Hall. USC would sometimes show a push and threaten Indiana's lead by cutting it to single digits, but big plays by Ballo, Rice, and Goode kept the Trojans at bay.
The Hoosiers will get a few days' rest before they travel to Iowa to take on the Hawkeyes on Saturday, January 11th at 8:00 p.m. EST on FOX.