Notes on a 102-60 win against the Hey Bulldogs:
Another home non-conference game, another dominant performance. We know the drill by now.
Sure, it wasn’t a complete cakewalk. South Carolina State came out with more intensity than the Hoosiers. Indiana also hit a stretch in the early first half where it couldn’t buy a bucket — despite getting some good looks — and were letting the Bulldogs get some easy buckets. They actually snagged a 27-20 lead at the 7:59 mark in the first half, but the Hoosiers started to connect, were grabbing offensive rebounds when they weren’t and getting after it a bit more as they finished out the half on a 23-8 run to take a 43-35 lead into half.
The second half was an offensive clinic as Indiana scored a whopping 59 points on 61.1 percent shooting from the field (21-of-31), 66.7 percent from three (4-of-6) and 81.3 percent from the line (13-of-16).
Matt Roth built off his Friday night performance, scoring a season-high 14 points on the back of 4-of-5 shooting from 3-point land. If he can continue a return to his sharpshooting ways, this team will have one more deep threat teams will have to account for. Christian Watford continues to be a steady offense force, totaling 22 points (7-of-14 from the field, 2-of-4 from three and a perfect 6-of-6 from the line).
We probably don’t make enough of a deal out of his ability to get to the line. He’s currently hit the most free throws out of anyone in the Big Ten, and is connecting at a very strong 84.6 percent clip. Elite scorers get to the line and convert.
