Five takeaways from Indiana’s win against Minnesota
Indiana opened Big Ten play with an 82-67 win against Minnesota on Monday night at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
It was Indiana’s fourth straight win and improved the Hoosiers to 8-2. Here are five takeaways from the win against the Golden Gophers:
Bryson Tucker shines in 20 minutes off the bench
Freshman wing Bryson Tucker has been up and down through Indiana’s first ten games but played arguably his best minutes of the season against Minnesota.
Tucker scored a career-best 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the field and a 4-for-6 performance from the free throw line.
The McDonald’s All-American has an affinity for the mid-range game but got his offense going against Minnesota at the rim. Tucker’s first two field goals came on a second-chance layup and another layup less than two minutes later. Four of his six field goals were layups.
The 16-point performance against Minnesota came after Tucker had arguably his worst game of the season against Miami (OH) on Friday.
“After that game, I just had to keep my mind right and know that there’s plenty of games to come,” Tucker said postgame. “So if I have a bad game one game, I know I can change it. I know everything can change the next game. So I just have to stay focused and keep my mind right and keep going.”
Kanaan Carlyle returns and makes an instant impact
Sophomore guard Kanaan Carlyle returned from his three-game absence with his best all-around game of the season.
The 6-foot-3 guard came off the bench and scored 14 points, dished out five assists and grabbed three rebounds in 21 minutes.
Carlyle was 5-for-8 from the field, including 3-for-6 on 3-pointers. Offense has been a struggle early this season for Carlyle, who is shooting just 30 percent on 3s and 40 percent on 2s in seven games.
But he’s been Indiana’s most consistent guard on the defensive end. He constantly applies pressure on the ball, fights through screens and isn’t shy about diving on the floor for hustle plays.
“Just picking up 94 feet,” Carlyle said postgame when asked what he’s doing well defensively. “I feel like that gets my whole game going, just my defense, my energy, so I feel like that’s what I need to bring every single night because that’s also what gets my offense going.”
Turnovers remain an issue
Indiana’s comfortable 15-point win wasn’t perfect and the most glaring issue offensively was taking care of the ball.
The Hoosiers continue to attempt passes that have no chance of reaching their intended recipient. Indiana had several errant passes that hit the rim or the backboard.
On another occasion, Myles Rice lost his shoe, tried to save the ball while falling out of bounds and threw it to Minnesota for a layup.
Indiana had 14 turnovers for a turnover percentage of 20.6 percent. Through 10 games, the Hoosiers rank 287th in turnover percentage at 19.7.
The continued mistakes haven’t stopped Indiana from winning games against inferior competition. But that won’t be the case once Big Ten play ramps up and the Hoosiers are playing teams who can capitalize on their mistakes.
Struggles from the 3-point and free throw lines
Indiana dominated the game inside the 3-point line, scoring 42 points in the paint and shooting 66.7 percent on 2s.
The Hoosiers scored 1.21 points per possession despite a tough shooting night from the free throw line and an off-night from the perimeter.
Indiana was just 18-for-29 (62.1 percent) from the free throw line. It was an uncharacteristic performance for a team now shooting 75.2 percent from the line. That percentage ranks 80th in the country.
The 3-point volume was again low as Indiana attempted just 14 3s in the win and connected on four for 28.6 percent.
The Hoosiers continue to inch towards the very bottom of Division I in 3-point volume. As of Tuesday morning, Indiana is attempting 29.7 percent of its field goals from behind the 3-point line. That ranks 351st out of 364 teams.
Improved energy and urgency
Indiana’s first half against Minnesota was one of its best 20-minute stretches of the season.
Despite a hot shooting start for the Gophers, the Hoosiers took control of the game by the 4:41 mark of the first half.
After Minnesota led 22-20 on a Brennan Rigsby jumper in the lane with 11:42 left in the half, the Hoosiers went on a 16-1 run over a seven-minute stretch.
The Gophers missed eight straight shots during the run and had just one offensive rebound.
For the most part, Indiana played with energy and the urgency it has only exhibited in brief stretches early this season. Still, as pleased as Mike Woodson was with the first half, he wasn’t thrilled with a second half performance in which the Hoosiers outscored by Minnesota by two.
“I thought we played great the first half,” Woodson explained. “The ball moved. Then, in the second half, we started really well, I thought, but we got to get some things fixed, too, because I thought we had some lapses where we just didn’t play good offense. I thought there was some selfish play here and there and we threw the ball away. We didn’t make some free throws.
“We got to build on this game but those are areas that we can fix and when you get a team down 15, 20 points, you got to remember how you got them down and continue to do the same things that got you the lead and I don’t think we did that coming down the stretch.”
Filed to: Bryson Tucker, Kanaan Carlyle, Minnesota Golden Gophers