The Indiana Hoosiers looked every part of a top ten nationally ranked team on their opener on Thursday night in front of nearly 8400 fans at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. #9 Indiana would defeat Eastern Illinois 96-43 to start the season with a win.
Offensively, the Hoosiers were on fire, hitting 13-19 from the field and amassing 29 first-quarter points. All 5 starters got into the scoring column in the first 10 minutes of play, and defensively, they held the Panthers to 14 points, pulled down 9 rebounds, and forced 6 turnovers.
All-American Graduate Forward Mackenzie Holmes scored 8 of her 19 in the opening quarter, which would place her in sole third place on the all-time program scoring list. But Holmes was hot defensively, as well. She pulled down 3 boards, had 1 steal, and swatted 1 away in just 7 minutes of playing time.
At the halftime buzzer, IU had built a 53-24 lead and Head Coach Moren was able to get some quality minutes from the bench, a trend which would continue throughout the second half.
By the game’s conclusion, no Hoosier had played more than 23 minutes, and 11 different players had scored. 39 of IU’s 96 points came from the bench. These are important minutes that will prove to be decisive in the conference games which lay ahead.
(photo by Jeremy Hogan)
Indiana played Indiana basketball and looked solid doing so. They were strong on defense, maintained fewer than 11 turnovers on offense, and mixed up their shooting, scoring 62 in the paint and nailing 8 buckets from downtown. They were also quick in transition, a specialty of Coach Moren’s teams, earning 30 of their points off of fast breaks.
“We are super willing to run, and we’ll keep running in each game,” said Sophomore Point Guard Lexus Bargesser. “And, we’re going to need it [down the schedule] in tighter games.”
And the Hoosier will need to maintain that strong conditioning and ability to run the court for a full 40 minutes, as some true tests are quickly approaching, in the likes of Stanford, Princeton, and Tennessee.
As for Eastern Illinois, they fall to 0-2, and have will have some homework ahead of them. Collectively, they shot just 30% from the field, 20% from long range, and 69% from the free-throw line. The P{anthers had just one player in double digit scoring, and turned the ball over 22 times.
Up next, the Hoosiers will take on #15 Stanford at the Maples Pavilion at 5pm on Sunday, November 12th. Televised on ESPN.