Observations: Indiana Handles USI in Exhibition
Photo Credit Courtesy of Allied Media Member Indiana Daily Student News
Written By: Josh Wilson 11/1/2018
Indiana got off to a slow start in it’s exhibition game against the University of Southern Indiana on Thursday night. Archie Miller shared with us earlier in the week that the team played very well defensively, and he thinks the offense is going to take some time to come along. That was very evident in the first ten minutes of Thursday’s exhibition.
The Hoosiers didn’t really get flowing offensively until Romeo Langford had two steals on back to back possessions. The first of which led to his first highlight dunk of his career, and the second steal led to a monster dunk from Justin Smith. The real star of the first half for Indiana was Robert Phinisee. He led all scorer’s with 10 points on 4 of 7 shooting from the field. Phinisee was easily the best player on the floor for the Hoosiers in the first half. The Hoosiers finally got going, primarily off the drive and kick movement within their offense. Robert Phinisee was the main catalyst of the mini offensive explosion to close out the half, that of which ended on an Evan Fitzner three ball.
IU came out of the locker room with a little more pep in their step. Indiana began to pull away and increased their lead to over 20 by the second TV timeout. Hoosiers got a big momentum boost from Justin Smith with another monster dunk off of a baseline out of bounds play. Freshman guard Damezi Anderson saw some action as well and provided a spark off the bench early in the second half hitting two threes early on. The Hoosiers were able to extend their lead to 62-39 with 11:15 remaining in the game. They really imposed their will on defense and held a 30-6 advantage in the points off turnover category midway through the second half. Indiana never really looked back getting out to an insurmountable lead thanks to the defensive effort.
The Hoosiers won the exhibition with a final score of 96-62. They looked to settle in late in the first half and into the second half. The Hoosiers open up regular season play on Tuesday night against Chicago State. The game will be shown on Big Ten Network at 6:30 pm EDT. You can also catch the game on-air on the IU Radio Network.
Things to Note:
Al Durham left the game with an injury in the first half and didn’t return.
De’ron Davis played sparingly, but also left with an injury in the second half
Damezi Anderson hit four 3-PT field goals in the game, and led the team in scoring with 14 points.
For a complete box score from last night’s action, please click here