Indiana pulled off a phenomenal 81-69 win on the road against No.4 Iowa on Thursday night.
The Hoosiers found themselves in a bit of trouble early, as Race Thompson and Trayce Jackson-Davis both picked up two fouls. Luka Garza was phenomenal in the first half and was physically imposing his will on whoever Archie Miller put on him. It seemed as if Garza was bound to foul-out the entire Indiana roster.
Garza and Joe Wieskamp both had 15 points each in the first half on a combined 12-of-19 shooting. Iowa only had 37 points at the half, which meant that their two best players made up 81 percent of their first-half offense.
Indiana played an acceptable first half. They managed to hold Iowa to just 30.8 percent from three in the first 20 minutes and were able to hit some shots of their own early.
The Hoosiers hung around with Iowa at the beginning of the second half before busting the game open.
The brightest point of Miller’s entire coaching tenure at Indiana came between the 12-minute and 2-minute mark. The Hoosiers were completely swarming the Hawkeyes on defense and held Iowa without a make from the field goal the entire 10-minute stretch. Indiana was also able to capitalize on offense, scoring 20 points of their own, eventually going on a 23-3 run.
It cannot be stressed enough just how remarkable this run was. Iowa came into the game as the No. 1 overall offense in the NCAA (per KenPom) and the best three-point shooting team in the Big Ten. Yet Indiana managed to hold the Hawkeyes to 26.5 percent shooting in the second half.
Garza finished the game with 28 points, but Indiana only allowed one point to Wieskamp in the last 20 minutes.
One other big bright spot this game came from freshman Jordan Geronimo, who played 10 minutes and scored seven points. The best part of his game, however, won’t show up on the box score. Geronimo spent a lot of his time guarding Garza and really bothered him with his length and size.
Trayce Jackson-Davis led four Hoosiers in double-figures with 23 points and seven rebounds. Rob Phinisee had 18 points including four made 3's. Al Durham chipped in 14 while Armaan Franklin added 11.
Despite the great win, free-throw shooting continues to be an issue for the Hoosiers. They finished shooting just 60 percent (21-of-35) from the line and could have had a much bigger win had they converted more of their opportunities.
This is a potential turning point for an Indiana team that had a lot of questions coming into tonight. They will get the chance to take this momentum into their game against Rutgers on Sunday.
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