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Indiana began the new year on Thursday night by hosting Rutgers inside of Assembly Hall.

The Hoosiers, behind the best 3-point shooting performance of the season and domination on the offensive glass, downed the Scarlet Knights on a night Ace Bailey went for 39 points. Following the 84-74 win, Indiana improves to 11-3 on the year and 2-1 in Big Ten play.

Here's how it happened in a late night battle on the hardwood.

Entering Thursday night's clash with Rutgers, Indiana had been struggling to shoot the ball from 3-point range as of late.

Over the course of the Hoosiers' last five games, they'd shot just 22.4%, including a putrid 1-for-20 performance in Indiana's most recent win over Winthrop. The Hoosiers were averaging just 4.8 made 3-pointers a game over their last five prior to Thursday night.

Because of the recent shooting struggles, Indiana's 3-point percentage for the season had dipped down to 30.6%. That mark ranked 310th in the country prior to Indiana's Big Ten battle with Rutgers.

However, in the first half against the Scarlet Knights, the Hoosiers found their shooting stroke from deep. As a team, Indiana went 7-for-15 (46.7%) from downtown in the opening 20 minutes. Just five times all season long had Indiana made seven or more 3-pointers throughout an entire game, let alone in a single half.

The early damage from deep was done by multiple Hoosiers, it wasn't just one guy that got hot. As a team, Indiana showed why shooting is so often considered contagious.

Mackenzie Mgbako and Trey Galloway both drilled two of their four long balls in the first half. Luke Goode, Kanaan Carlyle and Anthony Leal all added 3-pointers of their own, with Leal's coming at the first-half buzzer in miraculous fashion.

Overall, Indiana went 12-for-27 (44.4%) from 3-point range on the night. Goode, Mgbako and Galloway all ended the night with three made 3-pointers.

The Hoosiers' 12 made 3-pointers on Thursday night were the most of any team during the Mike Woodson era and the most in a game since Indiana hit 13 long balls on Dec. 12, 2020 against North Alabama. That was 1,481 days ago.

Indiana's best shooting performance of the season helped propel the Hoosiers out an important Big Ten win.

Prior to tip-off on Thursday night, Indiana listed starting big man Oumar Ballo as "questionable" on the pregame availability report. During his pregame radio spot with Don Fischer, head coach Mike Woodson said that Ballo would play, but probably limited minutes.

However, 29 seconds into the game, Malik Reneau went down holding his right knee. Despite Reneau getting back up and appearing to want to stay in the game, the junior walked off the floor and back to the Indiana locker room under his own power.

Reneau didn't return the rest of the game, meaning Indiana's front court depth would be tested yet again.

Despite playing down a starting big man, Indiana was dominant on the offensive glass against the Scarlet Knights. The Hoosiers tallied 18 offensive rebounds and 34 second chance points on Thursday night, both of which are season-highs.

It wasn't just Ballo that led the charge on the offensive glass. Thrust into more minutes than Woodson probably would've liked, Ballo accounted for seven of Indiana's offensive rebounds against Rutgers, while Anthony Leal added three more.

Without Dylan Harper, perhaps the most talented freshman in all of college basketball and one of the nation's leading scorers, the Scarlet Knights knew they were going to have to rely on their other talented freshman on Thursday night against the Hoosiers.

Ace Bailey entered the evening affair averaging just north of 18 points per game on the season, playing as the second option alongside Harper. On Thursday night, he had eclipsed his scoring average by the time the buzzer sounded to send both teams to their halftime locker rooms.

Bailey seemingly had an answer for everything Indiana was throwing at him in the opening 20 minutes. Between Luke Goode and Byson Tucker, no Hoosier stood much of a chance against the future top five pick. That was until Anthony Leal checked into the game.

With Leal guarding him in the first half, Bailey went 1-for-6 from the field. Leal had plenty of help from his teammates, but it was the Bloomington native that did the best job against Bailey when the Hoosiers needed it most.

Bailey began the second half as more of a spectator than a scorer. He was silenced until the 11:57 mark of the second half. However, it was Bailey's back-to-back fadeaway corner threes in a matter of seconds that cut what was once an 16-point Indiana lead to just six points.

The NBA-caliber shot-making displayed from Bailey all night was impressive, but outside of him, the Scarlet Knights lacked much on the offensive end of the floor.

All told, Bailey finished the contest with a new career-high of 39 points. Indiana managed to make Bailey work for most of what he got on the offensive end of the floor, weathering the storm and coming out on top.

Next up for the Hoosiers, Indiana will travel to the northeast to take on Penn State at the Palestra for a noon tip.

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