Indiana used a late-game run to boost themselves to an 82-72 win over Minnesota in a must-have win.
Minnesota came into Wednesday’s game having not won a single game on the road all season and Indiana having struggled at home all season. This resulted in an evenly-matched game that was close throughout. The lead changed eight times and was never greater than eight points for either team until the final media timeout.
Minnesota’s guards had a field day in the lane against the Hoosier defense. Gabe Kalscheur broke his finger in practice before this game, which opened the door for Jamal Mashburn Jr. to play more minutes. Mashburn Jr. played very well, setting a career-high 19 points.
Potential All-Big Ten guard Marcus Carr started strong and finished well, but struggled for most of the game. He finished with 19 points but accumulated seven of those points when the game was practically over.
The game was tight and physical until the final four minutes of the game when the Hoosiers caught fire and pulled away. Indiana went on an 18-4 run in a 5:51 stretch to take a 73-59 lead with 2:26 remaining. Minnesota made a push from that point on, but it wasn’t enough to overcome that final run by the Hoosiers.
A defining aspect of this game for Indiana was the turnovers. The Hoosiers were very sloppy with the ball and gave it away 17 times. Minnesota was able to capitalize on these mistakes much as Ohio State did in Indiana’s previous game. The Golden Gophers scored 25 points off of those turnovers. Had they taken better care of the ball, this could have been a statement victory instead of a mostly close contest.
The scoring for the Hoosiers was balanced. Trayce Jackson-Davis scored six points early and looked primed for a big-time game, but ultimately slowed down as the game went along. He still managed to finish with a solid 20 point, 10 rebound game.
Jerome Hunter was the biggest standout for Indiana. He contributed a career-high 16 points on 5-of-6 shooting. This performance is one of what has been a great stretch for Hunter since coming back from a two-game suspension. He has scored 33 points in his last three games. Al Durham was also a solid contributor, scoring 16 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
Altogether, Indiana had five players in double-figures and shot 57.8 percent from the field.
A must-have win for Indiana is in the bag. They will now prepare to play an underachieving yet talented Michigan State team on Saturday.
----
• Talk about it inside The Hoops Forum or The Football Forum
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Follow us on Twitter: @IndianaRivals
• Like us on Facebook.
