BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - On Sunday, Indiana hosted the University of Indianapolis for an exhibition matchup to kick off the basketball season. After a poor first half, the Hoosiers found their groove in the second half, defeating the Greyhounds 74-52.
Kel'el Ware and the Hoosiers won the tip, but it was the Greyhounds that scored the first points of the contest, a Paul Zilinskas 3-pointer.
Indiana's first basket of the season came almost 3 minutes into the game from sophomore Malik Reneau. Reneau went to work on the right block, going up and under off the glass for two points.
Both teams looked like it was their first games of the season early on, coming out of the gates rusty. There were just seven combined points across the first four and a half minutes of the game.
That continued all the way through to the under-12 timeout. Mike Woodson called a timeout with 11:47 to go in the first half with the score tied at five.
Coming out of the timeout, Indiana went with a full bench lineup consisting of Gabe Cupps, CJ Gunn -- who was the first one off the bench for the Hoosiers -- Anthony Leal, Anthony Walker and Payton Sparks.
The second unit provided some much needed energy for the Hoosiers when they checked into the game.
Gunn was able to knock down a couple of shots and Sparks did what he does best and brought a palpable energy to the game.
After the under eight timeout, Reneau and Trey Galloway checked back into the game for the Hoosiers. Reneau went to work immediately on the block and scored his second basket of the game.
Despite the energy provided by Indiana's second unit, with just under 4 minutes to play, UIndy had tied it up at 19.
Out of the under four timeout, Ware hit a layup at the front of the rim. Mackenzie Mgbako then threw down a two-handed slam on the very next offensive possession for the Hoosiers.
However, it was UIndy that led as the first half clock ticked under 60 seconds.
Gunn missed a right corner three as the first half came to a close and UIndy took a two point lead into the halftime break, 27-25.
The Hoosiers shot 10/31 from the field (32%) and missed all four of their 3-point attempts. UIndy shot a similar percentage from the field (31%), but made six 3-pointers on 19 attempts.
The lack of attempts from downtown was an issue a season ago for the Hoosiers, and it was an issue in the first half against the Greyhounds.
Coming out of the halftime intermission, both teams went back-and-forth, trading baskets for the first couple of minutes.
Indiana's offense looked much improved to start the second half. The Hoosiers began the second period of play 8/10 from the field, including their first 3-pointer of the game.
All of Indiana's scoring for the first six and a half minutes of the second half came from Johnson (seven points), Reneau (six points) and Ware (four points).
With 13:33 to go in the second half, UIndy called a timeout with Indiana leading 42-34.
After the timeout, the Hoosiers turned to the bench. Cupps and Walker were the first two substitutes onto the floor for the Hoosiers, but they were quickly followed by Gunn and Sparks.
Once again, the bench unit for Indiana provided a nice jolt of energy to the team. The second unit extended the Hoosiers' lead to 14 halfway through the second half.
It was the freshman Cupps that was the main catalyst for the Indiana run. He made a couple of nice plays defensively that resulted in easy points for his teammates on the other end of the floor.
At the under eight timeout, Indiana held a comfortable 53-38 lead over UIndy and never looked back.
The Hoosiers controlled the rest of the contest behind solid, aggressive defending and efficient offensive play. Indiana came away with a 74-52 victory over UIndy in the Hoosiers' first exhibition game of the season.
After a rough first half shooting the ball, the Hoosiers picked it up in the second half, shooting 64.5% from the field and knocking down two of their five 3-point attempts in the second half.
As a team, Indiana held UIndy to 32.2% shooting from the field.
Mgbako and Ware led the scoring charge for Indiana with 14 points. Reneau was the only other Hoosier in double-figures, he had 12.
Indiana plays its second and final exhibition of the season next Friday against Marian. That game is scheduled to top-off at 6:30pm ET.
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