Thoughts on a 90-66 win against the Golden Eagles:
Tonight was a battle of contrasting styles.
The undersized, uptempo, pesky Golden Eagles against the superior size, talent and versatility of the Hoosiers.
With Tennessee Tech opting not to double the post, the Hoosiers fed 7-foot-2 Samet Yigitoglu. He had the team’s first six points in under two minutes of game action. But as he went up for another shot at the 17:21 mark, Yigitoglu took a hit to the face, leaving him with a bloodied eyelid. He had to exit the game to get cleaned up.
From there, Tennessee Tech’s style of play started to assert itself.
Its full-court defense, traps and pressure bothered the Hoosiers and made them uncomfortable. And without Yigitoglu down low, Indiana’s frontcourt advantage wasn’t as apparent. The Golden Eagles grabbed two brief leads midway through the half. They were also beating Indiana at its own game, grabbing offensive rebounds – often on some wacky caroms off missed 3-pointers – and winning the shot-volume battle.
Yigitoglu returned at the 7:14 mark and added four more points to finish the half with 10. Indiana also benefited from Tennessee Tech’s aggressive defense by getting to the line. After attempting 26 free throws against Syracuse earlier in the week, Indiana got to the line 23 times in the first half alone, converting 16.
That was enough to help the Hoosiers carry a 41-37 lead into the break, despite a middling effective field goal percentage (46%) and a 3-of-11 mark from deep (27.3%).
But the second half was decidedly pro-IU.
A big reason why? The backcourt picked things up offensively, helping open up the game for the Hoosiers. Markus Burton and Darren Harris – both scoreless in the first half – accounted for Indiana’s first points after the break. Burton made a driving lay-up, while Harris split a pair at the line. Burton had 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting after the break. Indiana’s offense also looked more balanced and efficient, and the team looked considerably more comfortable. Ten Hoosiers scored in the second half. After scoring 1.04 points per possession in the first half, Indiana posted 1.34 after the break, finishing at 1.19 for the game.
Bryce Lindsay caught fire, scoring eight points on 2-of-4 shooting from deep. Yigitoglu went 4-of-4 from the field after halftime to finish with a game-high 18 points on 9-of-10 shooting. The Hoosiers shot 18-of-27 from the field (66.7%). They also picked things up on the offensive glass, rebounding 49 percent of their misses in the second half to finish at 35 percent for the game.
Tennessee Tech kept up its full-court press and created some turnovers along the way. But Indiana otherwise continued to impose its will, cruising to a comfortable victory. The Hoosiers held the Golden Eagles to .87 points per possession.
While this week didn’t offer Indiana the stiffest of competition, it still feels like one the Hoosiers can learn from and build upon. They got pushed in different ways by Syracuse (length, athleticism) and Tennessee Tech (relentless pressure). It should serve as a good tune-up for next week, when Indiana faces two consecutive ranked opponents: Arkansas (No. 19) and Kentucky (No. 24).
