The Indiana Hoosiers (12-9, 7-7 B1G) welcomed the Minnesota Golden Gophers (13-9, 6-9 B1G) to Bloomington and Assembly Hall on Wednesday night. The Cream and Crimson were able to hold off the depleted Golden Gophers and walk away with a 82-72 victory.
“To play them with a man down tonight shows the depth they have,” head coach Archie Miller said. “Marcus Carr is one of the premier players in the country”
Miller was implicitly referring to Minnesota starter Gabe Kalscheur, who was ruled out of the game due to a broken hand suffered in Tuesday’s practice. Carr and the Gophers, a seven-point underdog at the tip, hung with Indiana, even holding the lead with 8:18 to go.
“The big stretch in this game came from defense to offense,” Miller said. “Al and Armaan hitting back-to-back threes was really a turning point in the game…I thought we made the little plays to get us a win tonight”
Indiana got what they expected out of sophomore star TrayceJackson–Davis tonight as he finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds, his 21st career double-double.
The scoring was well-rounded throughout the night for the Hoosiers as Jackson-Davis, JeromeHunter (career-high 16), AlDurham (16), ArmaanFranklin (11), and RobPhinisee (10) were all in double-figures.
Miller spoke highly of Hunter. “He’s giving us a little bit of physicality,” he said. “He’s shooting the ball better than he was last year at this point…he’s not messing around right now.”
Indiana shot the ball exceptionally well against the Golden Gophers as they were able to knock down seven of 12 threes.
For all the positives that were in the game against Minnesota, Archie Miller still noted some areas for improvement. and one issue in particular stood out.
“Right now our biggest thing is turnovers,” Miller said. “Right now were turning it over way too much”
The Hoosiers committed 17 turnovers to Minnesota’s eight, just four days after losing the turnover battle to Ohio State, 15-10. One key category Indiana won was the rebounding battle 34-24. This comes after Jackson-Davis said he and his teammates had been called “soft” after the loss in Columbus. It seemed as if that gave IU a boost of energy on not only the glass, but also in all facets of the game.
After the game Hunter spoke on the team’s ability to play physical. “We won’t be pushed around,” Hunter said. “We not soft over here.”
Up Next For The Hoosiers
The Cream and Crimson will host Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans on Saturday, Feb. 20th at noon EST on ESPN. IU is 1-4, and have lost their last three, this year when having their games aired on ESPN. The one win came against Stanford back on Dec. 2nd in the Maui Invitational.
