BLOOMINGTON – IU basketball rode a strong start to a comfortable 97-71 win against Sam Houston State on Tuesday night.
Myles Rice led the Hoosiers with 19 points, while Malik Reneau and Luke Goode added 18 apiece. Reneau also had 10 rebounds and five assists as IU tried to wash away the bad taste of Atlantis.
Here are three reasons why:
Luke Goode sets tone for excellent opening 20
Luke Goode looked like finding his shot in The Bahamas last week, and he announced that rediscovery with four first-half 3-pointers Tuesday. In the halfcourt and in transition, the Fort Wayne native worked both sides of the floor excellently, his 13 first-half points a game high.
He paced an excellent first half for the Hoosiers (6-2), who shot 64% from the field and outrebounded Sam Houston State by 10 in the opening 20 minutes. They were even better defensively, finishing possessions and clearing the glass. The BearKats (4-5) endured long scoreless stretches and labored for the points they did score.
If not for nine IU turnovers, the score would’ve been even more lopsided than it was at the intermission. As was, IU deserved its 42-25 lead going into the break.
Tighter bench
Some of it was surely influenced by injuries. But Mike Woodson clearly elected to keep a tighter bench Tuesday, in the Hoosiers’ first game back from The Bahamas.
For the bulk of the game as it mattered, Indiana stuck to an eight-man rotation: five starters plus Bryson Tucker, Goode and Anthony Leal, who repaid Woodson’s faith with good minutes in reserve.
Again, some of that was pre-determined by injuries. Gabe Cupps and Kanaan Carlyle both missed the game through undisclosed issues.
But it was still noticeable, in the wake of last week’s ugliness, to see Woodson tighten up his bench when and where it counted, something worth tracking as Big Ten play gears up next week.
Defensive mood swings
Those did not stay in Atlantis.
In roughly 15 minutes of game time to start the game, Indiana held Sam Houston State to just 14 points. The Hoosiers were smothering and sharp on defense and, finally, closing out possessions on the glass.
In the next 15 and change, the BearKats scored 38, the defense as poor in that stretch as it had been excellent in the opening.
This, it appears, will be a problem for IU for a while. The Hoosiers have the capacity to hold their ground defensively against good teams, something they showed for a spell against Gonzaga. They also retain the ability to simply fall apart at that end of the floor in stretches.
With Big Ten play on the horizon, the good needs to start outweighing the bad more consistently.
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