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The 18th ranked Hoosiers returned home finally after a few rough weeks on the road and coming off of back-to-back losses to both Arizona and Kansas.
Tonight, Indiana took on the Elon Phoenix, who the Hoosiers handily defeated 96-72.
Indiana was without Xavier Johnson (right foot), Trayce Jackson-Davis (precautionary), and Jordan Geronimo (left hand) so a bunch of players got some extended minutes tonight.
Here is a recap of the win tonight:
Indiana won the tip but allowed Elon to score the first two buckets to get an early 4-0 lead on the Hoosiers.
Miller Kopp would get Indiana's first points from the line after stealing the ball and drawing contact on the fast break. Kopp would then convert back-to-back threes getting up to an early 8 points.
Indiana freshman forward Malik Reneau, who was starting tonight with Tracye Jackson-Davis being out, would get his first points with a easy hook shot.
Indiana was up 10-6 at 15:02 in the first half. Little sluggish start for Indiana but had a nice few plays.
Tamar Bates would check in for Trey Galloway and instantly knock down a three. Also checking in early was center Logan Duncomb coming in for Reneau. Good to see Duncomb get some early minutes here against a lesser opponent.
At this point, Duncomb had the play of the game making a sharp pass to a cutting Race Thompson for the dunk through contact.
Indiana lead 17-12 at the 11:34 mark.
Duncomb would continue his great play with a block that lead to him snagging an offensive rebound and going 1-of-2 at the line. Making the most of his early minutes.
Kaleb Banks would get some early playing time as well coming and playing some of the 4.
Indiana was letting Elon hang around in this one early. At the 6:55 mark, the Hoosiers only lead 27-25. Elon was shooting 50% at this point.
Indiana's defense continued to look off at this point.
Hoosiers would finally start to get some energy going, however. At the 4:34 mark, Elon would call timeout as Indiana hit their last five field goals.
One thing that stood out was how aggressive Gunn was on defense cause his man to struggle handling the ball. All these freshman and reserves were making most of their minutes thus far.
At the half, Indiana was up 47-29. With a Miller Kopp miss three point attempt, CJ Gunn had a MASSIVE put back slam that brought the entire crowd up to their feet. That was incredible.
While things looked iffy most of the first half, Hoosiers finally found some rhythm.
The second half started and Elon made a few quick buckets. On the other end however, Race Thompson got Indiana it's first 6 points of the second half.
Elon called another timeout after Indiana pushed the lead to 53-33 at the 17:29 mark.
Things got a little sloppy with Elon making a few plays after their timeout. The lead got shortened to 53-36 at the 15:34 mark.
Indiana would then go on a 12-2 run the next 3:40. The defense picked up and made Elon go on a 3:35 scoring drought.
Reserves Logan Duncomb and CJ Gunn continued to make the most of their extended playing time. Duncomb converted a score through contact and Gunn knocked down a deep three.
Sticking with Gunn, the amount of confidence that this young man has is outstanding. Tonight is just a preview of what he is going to bring to Indiana long term.
Indiana lead 65-40 at the 11:25 mark.
The Hoosiers would knock down their next 8-of-9 field goals. Woodson would call a timeout with 8:54 to go. Indiana lead 72-50 here.
A few plays later, CJ Gunn would finish off an electric ally-oop slam from a Hood-Schifino assist. This was the CJ Gunn show tonight and we were just living in it.
Anthony Leal would check at the 5:16 mark making all available scholarship players getting minutes on the floor tonight.
Indiana would go on to beat 96-72 earning their 9th win of the season.
The Hoosiers were lead in scoring with Race Thompson 18 point, 11 rebound double-double. Four other Hoosiers also scored in double figures with Hood-Schifino dropping 17 points (career high), Kopp adding 13 points, Gunn adding 11 points, and Duncomb adding 10 points.
Hoosiers shot 58% (40-of-69), outrebounded Elon 39-23, and had 23 total assists.
Not much you can take away from this game as this was a game Indiana was going to win regardless. The young guys stepped up and played some valuable minutes and Thompson and Kopp were the senior leaders out there.
Indiana is now 9-3 on the year. One last non-conference game coming up with Kennesaw State coming into town on Friday.
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