BLOOMINGTON, Ind – The Indiana Hoosiers responded in dominating fashion following an overtime loss in their last contest to Florida State. IU bounced back in a major way as they throttled North Alabama 87-52.

“Happy for our guys today. We’re able to bounce back,” head coach Archie Miller said. “Just getting used to playing at home…was happy to get back out here.”

Indiana turned up the heat in the second half as they outscored North Alabama 47-28 with a large portion of their points coming from the behind the arc. IU poured in nine made threes in 20 attempts in the second half. Armaan Franklin had four, Rob Phinisee and Khristian Lander both had two and Anthony Leal was able to get one to fall from distance as well.

“I think it was just open looks,” Franklin said. “Finding a rhythm and stepping into it with confidence.”

Head coach Archie Miller had high praise for Franklin following his career performance.

“I give Armaan a lot of credit,” Miller said. “He continues to evolve as a player for us, but I was really happy for him to see the ball go through the net. I think that is going to be the Armaan we get used to seeing.”

Franklin finished the game with 19 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals.

When asked about the high volume of threes head coach Archie Miller had only positive things to say.

“The volume of threes doesn’t concern me at all,” Miller said. “It’s the quality of the shot. If they are in rhythm and they are good shots, we got to take them.”

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It was not just Lander and Leal to make big plays out of the freshman class. Freshmen Trey Galloway and Jordan Geronimo were also able to record valuable minutes against the Lions as they all made good time with the minutes they were given.

“It’s big for our confidence,” Leal said. “We’re all just ready to get in and do what we can with the minutes that we are given.”

Lander also noted that games like these are the kind of games that build confidence up, not only the freshman class, but the entire team as Big Ten conference play is right around the corner.

Up next for the Hoosiers is a neutral site matchup against the Butter Bulldogs. This will be the last game before the highly anticipated conference schedule begins. The game is set for 11:30 A.M. on FS1 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Dec. 19.