Indiana Beats North Carolina 77-65 in Final Big Ten/ACC Challenge
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The most anticipated game on Indiana's schedule finally happened tonight with 18th ranked North Carolina Tar Heels coming into Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall to face 10th ranked Indiana Hoosiers.
Indian controlled the game for the majority and the crowd was absolutely electric throughout.
In the end, Indiana would win their final game ever in the Big Ten/ACC challenge 77-65 over the Tar Heels.
Here is a recap of the game:
Indiana won the tip and the first bucket came from freshman guard Jalen Hood-Schifino. He was feeling himself early because he had Indiana's first 6 points.
It was a back-and-forth battle before the first media timeout. In less than three minutes of action, Trayce Jackson-Davis had blocked Tar Heel star center Armando Bacot twice.
The energy was so loud that you could hardly hear the whistle. The atmosphere was something that Indiana had not had in a long time.
At the first media timeout, Indiana led 6-5.
After the media timeout, Armando Bacot was seen going into the locker room. He was favoring his right shoulder pretty heavily.
In this sequence, Indiana was a little wild on offense. They had three out of control turnovers and there was really no ball movement.
Malik Reneau came in for Jackson-Davis for but was only for a short period of time as he picked up two quick fouls.
Indiana led 12-8 at the under-12 timeout.
Back from the media timeout, the Jalen Hood-Schifino party continued to roll on. He was doing what he does best and that was creating and he exploded up to 12 points.
During this stretch however, Indiana's defense started to sag a little bit. Before the media timeout, UNC had hit their last 4 field goals, most of them coming from Tar Heel forward Pete Nance.
At 7:41, Indiana led 21-20.
Trayce Jackson-Davis started to get rolling after the timeout finally. He was playing quicker on his feet and making great moves at the basket. However, along with Bacot, he also picked up his second foul forcing him to sit the last 4:30.
The guards for Indiana picked up the lack while Jackson-Davis was on the bench. Indiana forced a couple of turnovers and Trey Galloway, who returned after missing three games, got two electric fast break scores.
The crowd at this point was a new level of loud.
At the half, Indiana led 35-29. The big worry was that all of Indiana bigs were in foul trouble.
Indiana started the second half with a quick Jackson-Davis bucket and then followed by forcing Bacot to pick up his third foul.
Indiana would go on a 6-0 run for a 1:03 spurt and extend the lead to 44-31 at the 16:01 mark. Miller Kopp would also get his first points in that stretch with a tough drive off the wing.
At the 13:58 mark, Jackson-Davis would pick up his third foul. Malik Reneau would check in for him.
Indiana would then face even more foul trouble with their bigs as both Race Thompson and Malik Reneau would also pick up their foul each by the 11:24 mark.
Indiana was up 52-41 at this point.
Indiana would allow North Carolina to make a few buckets off of some lazy turnovers. Mike Woodson was forced bring Jackson-Davis back in at around the 9:30 mark with his three fouls.
Tamar Bates would score his first points of the game with a confident looking three.
At the 7:43 mark, there was a stoppage at play due to a clock issue.
Indiana would then let UNC slowly crawl back into this one with some questionable shot attempts and calls by officials.
Indiana needed some energy so leave it to Trey Galloway to provide that with a fast break score. He had been great all game.
At the under-4 media timeout, Indiana led 65-54. At this point it was all about getting stops to close this one out.
The last stretch of the game, Indiana went into control mode. North Carolina kept trying to claw back in but with a few missed chances, they would start playing the foul game.
When the final buzzer sounded, the 10th ranked Hoosiers defeated the 18th ranked North Carolina Tar Heels 77-65 in the final game of the Big Ten/ACC challenge.
Indiana saw four players score in double figures with Trayce Jackson-Davis leading with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Other Hoosiers that stepped up were Xavier Johnson with 20 points, Jalen Hood-Schifino with 14 points, and Trey Galloway with 11 points.
Indiana shot an outstanding 50% (31-of-62) including having 17 points off of turnovers.
The most anticipated game of the Indiana schedule thus far and the Hoosiers got the job done tonight.
They will look to avoid an emotional 'letup game' when they start off Big Ten play this Saturday at Rutgers.
Indiana is now 7-0 on the year.
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