Hoosiers roll in season opener
By TYLER SMITH
ISL Editor
BLOOMINGTON — It’s been a long few weeks for the Indiana men’s basketball program. With everything that has happened off the court, it was finally time to go play and focus on basketball. The Hoosiers responded with a 116-65 win over Mississippi Valley State in their season opener at Assembly Hall. That’s the highest point total in the Tom Crean era.
James Blackmon Jr. started his career at Indiana by leading the team with 25 points. He wasn’t the only freshman player that had a big night. Max Hoetzel scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while Robert Johnson contributed 15 points and seven rebounds.
One thing that was missing from last year’s team was three point shooting. Even though this was a weaker opponent, it’s clear that the Hoosiers will have more shooters this season. They made 11-of-23 from behind the arc, which is more three’s than they hit in any game last season. For the game, Indiana shot 66% from the field (39-59).
“For the most part our guys didn’t play to the score, they played to improve” Coach Tom Crean said after the game. “We had some really good individual performances. I thought our freshmen guards did a very good job of getting better inside the game.”
The only negatives for the Hoosiers were committing too many turnovers (19) and giving up too many offensive rebounds (13). Both of those statistics will be keys for Indiana to be successful this season.
Hanner Mosquera-Perea had a solid night with nine points and 12 rebounds. He also showed better footwork down low than previous seasons. He will need rebounding totals like tonight often this season to make up for the Hoosiers lack of size.
Coach Crean talked about the correlation between playing time and rebounding for his players: “Rebounding is going to be a key component to who is going to play on this team.”
The Hoosiers will play again on Monday against a familiar face- former head coach Mike Davis and his team from Texas Southern.
Follow Tyler on Twitter: @TylerSmith_ISL
