A quad one win on the road
Indiana needed a road win badly. It's only win on the road came against Nebraska in Lincoln, a win that was losing value as the weeks passed, and with the big loss to Michigan so close on the schedule, a win against a NET No. 44 team was welcomed.
If the Hoosiers can hold serve at home against Penn State, Minnesota and Wisconsin, they could see their win total reach 20, when just a few days ago, it appeared they might struggle the rest of the way.
Feeding Trayce Jackson-Davis
It was obvious from the start that Indiana would try to feed freshman forward Trayce Jackson-Davis all game. He hit three of his first four shots in the first four minutes, but then Indiana got away from the strategy for some time, when Minnesota jumped out to its 10-point lead early in the first half.
Jackson-Davis found a few more opportunities inside before the half was over and led Indiana with 10 points at the break.
Archie Miller had stressed how important it was for "one of (his) best players" to get going on the road. Until Wednesday, Jackson-Davis had primarily been a non-factor in most road games, including the Hoosiers' loss at Michigan on Saturday.
On multiple occasions, Jackson-Davis cleaned up missed shots, he drew a charge to negate a Devonte Green turnover, hit a long-range two-point shot and, at the four-minute mark of the second half, had made it to the free throw line as many times as the rest of the team combined.
Jackson-Davis finished with a career-high 27 points.
Responding to adversity
During his radio show Monday, Archie Miller said his team lacked something in the department of responses. Wen it faced adversity on the court, it didn't know how to respond. That's played itself out in games like the second half collapses against Arkansas and Maryland, the road losses to Wisconsin, Maryland and Michigan and the home loss against Purdue.
That wasn't necessarily the case Wednesday. Minnesota stacked a lead as large as 10 points in the first half, which lended itself to a long night ahead. But Indiana, thanks to a strong defensive effort from Justin Smith, a couple threes from Devonte Green and an offensive spark from De'Ron Davis, was able to string together multiple successful offensive opportunities to keep up with a lack of defensive effectiveness.
At the 10-minute mark of the second half, Minnesota had zero points off of turnovers or in second chance situations, despite having turned Indiana over six times and bringing down nine offensive rebounds.
Race Thompson continues to ascend
Race Thompson followed a 10-point performance against Iowa with a scoreless, 11-minute game at Michigan, and it seemed the promise felt in Bloomington would be shorter-lived than Indiana fans were hoping for.
He responded Wednesday by adding an even better game than his results against Iowa. At the four-minute mark of the second half, he had nine points and 10 rebounds. He also drew Daniel Oturu's fourth foul late in the second half.
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