BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — In a day highlighted by the Hoosier Football team winning its 8th game on the season and securing the Old Oaken Bucket, Indiana basketball gained its seventh win on the season with a 64-50 victory over South Dakota State University in the teams’ first ever meeting between programs. Both Indiana and SDSU came out shooting early and often with quick possessions. Both Justin Smith and Trayce Jackson-Davis played well this game in the team’s final tune-up before the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
A major highlight on the game was being able to keep SDSU’s most potent scorer and NJCAA’s 2018-2019 Player of the Year Douglas Wilson in check. He has been averaging 17.8 points per game this season with 6 points. Tray Buchannan was the obvious MVP for the Jackrabbits as he went 7 for 10 with 15 points.
Trayce Jackson-Davis and Justin Smith put on a clinic of dunks and rebounding. The two combined scored 37 points and rebounded 18 times. They were the best all-around players on the court today. Jackson-Davis adds another double-double to his red hot start on the season with his fourth double-double on seven games. He has only scored under 10 points once this season and Smith just twice this season.
Overall, Indiana did not play exceptionally well or poor against the overmatched SDSU team. They allowed SDSU to take plenty of good looking shots, but their team was not able to convert on them to keep the game close after the first half.
One of the biggest disappointments was Indiana’s poor showing from the charity stripe early on going 5-11 from FT on the first half and ending 9-18. This is by far the teams lowest points scored from the line as their previous low was 14 against Princeton which was also on 17 attempts. Overall, the team appears to be still focused on getting to the line, but just were not able to convert as many attempts today.
Indiana was able to show some promise from three early in the game, but were not able to keep the momentum going throughout the game. Indiana has proven once again they will be a tough team to defend with multiple targets that you need to account for starting and even on the bench.
Of note, Rob Phinisee did not play this game and was dressed in street clothing. He is still recovering from his concussion he received earlier this month. No word yet on his status for the upcoming game against Florida State.
