In Indiana's 82-67 win over Minnesota, the Hoosiers had an advantage in several aspects of the game, but the biggest edge may have come from IU's bench scoring, as Indiana outscored the Golden Gophers 32-14 in points coming off the bench, resulting in the victory to start out this season's Big Ten play.
The two players that allowed for this bench scoring disparity were Kanaan Carlyle and Bryson Tucker, as they came of the bench and made incredible impacts, with Tucker scoring 16 and Carlyle scoring 14.
It wasn't just the scoring, though, as Tucker, Carlyle and other bench players made impacts away from the ball and on defense showing that, for guys coming off the bench, the ball doesn't need to be in their hands to make a difference.
Mike Woodson noticed this, as bench scoring was an issue last season, but this year Bryson Tucker and others have really flipped the script, allowing IU to have some great offensive nights like this one.
"Somebody's got to come off the bench, so it's not who starts and who comes off the bench. It's the minutes that you got, it's what you do with the minutes that you get to help your team win and I've always believed that and if there's two minutes, then dammit, you better make it the best two minutes to help our ball club when. That's what it's all about. That's what team is about," Woodson said postgame, really driving home the point of his bench guys playing hard.
And they certainly did play hard, as when Kanaan Caryle and Bryson Tucker were on the floor against Minnesota, they really gave it their all and gave Indiana some incredibly quality minutes that led to the win over the Golden Gophers that moves IU to 1-0 in Big Ten play.
While Tucker and Carlyle obviously didn't make an impact to start the game, once they were subbed in, they showed just how valuable they are to this Hoosier team.
Carlyle was subbed in with 14 minutes left in the first half and immediately went to work, assisting twice in the first two minutes he was on the floor, while also grabbing two rebounds in the minutes shortly after that.
While he only scored three points in the first half, these assists, rebounds, plus a steal he had on an incredible defensive possession showed that Carlyle made an immediate impact in the 13 first half minutes he played.
"Yeah, I mean, it's both. Every day we take pride in our defense. Woody preaches defense every single, so I knew when I came here my job us going to be to be that two-way player, so I take pride in that individually and my teammates all encourage me and they be up there with me, so it's easy for me to bring that energy when you got teammates behind you who bring the same energy" Carlyle said on his defense, letting everyone know that he takes great pride in what he can bring defensively.
Even with this first half impact, his second half was even better, as Carlyle scored 11 points in his 9 minutes played. This totaled Carlyle at 14 points for the game in 22 minutes, making it an extremely efficient day, especially given his 3-for-6 3-point shooting mark to go along with 5-for-8 from the field.
Carlyle was extremely happy with this performance and, while he had started every game before his brief three game injury hiatus, he was content performing off the bench in this one.
"I'm perfectly fine with coming off the bench. I want to win games, whether it's being the sixth man, eighth man, tenth man starting two guard, I don't care. As long as we win, I'm here to do my job, to play defense and provide what I can on offense. That's it." Carlyle said, explaining that winning is always the number one goal, and he certainly proved it with his impressive showing, allowing for the conference win over Minnesota.
Carlyle wasn't the only guy off the bench who made a huge difference, as Bryson Tucker made just as much, if not more of an impact against the Golden Gophers.
Tucker was first subbed in with around 11 and a half mutes left in the first half, not giving him a whole lot of time to settle in before halftime, but he made it work, as he had an incredible first half.
Tucker scored eight points in the first five minute stint he was out there, sparking a 16-1 run that was ultimately the difference in this game.
Tucker scored 11 total points in the first half on just eight minutes of play, doing so extremely efficiently with 5-of-7 shooting from the field.
This followed up a zero point performance against Miami, Tucker said after the Minnesota contest that "I just had to keep my mind right and know that there's plenty of games to come, 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."
He certainly turned a page in that first half, but also continued it into the second half, as he scored 5 more points in 12 more minutes, giving him 16 points in 20 minutes overall.
He didn't just make a difference scoring the ball though, as Tucker also contributed six rebounds and an assist, while turning it over just once.
All this added on to Carlyle's excellent performance off the bench, giving the Hoosiers two impactful players start as reserves for Mike Woodson, something uncharacteristic in years past, but it came at the perfect time, resulting in a statement win in IU's first Big Ten game.
"We all came out and we were all on the same page. We knew the first Big Ten game we have to make a statement. I mean, yes, we definitely could have done better, but I think we did a good job just coming in and staying focused and working super hard" Tucker said, explaining why he and Carlyle had such successful days.
Both Tucker and Carlyle certainly made an impact, but they also made statements, as they showed that, while they may have both came off the bench, they would be the ones to lead IU to victory over Minnesota.
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