Indiana hosted Nebraska for the Cornhuskers' Big Ten opener and put the first mark in the conference loss column for Nebraska while adding its first mark in the conference win column.
It wasn't the big win that anyone anticipated answering two ugly road games with, as Nebraska entered rated No. 158 by KenPom.com, but Indiana left the Hall with another win.
This is TheHoosier.com's instant reaction.
Overtime
Indiana allowed Nebraska to remain close because of sloppy play on both ends of the floor throughout the entire game and could never put away Nebraska as the game was coming to a close, not even with an eight-point lead with four minutes to go.
But in the overtime period, Indiana tightened up, and Rob Phinisee took over.
Phinisee scored the period's first bucket on a drive inside and then recovered Trayce Jackson-Davis' missed second free throw to set up a three-point shot at the buzzer. He then took on a Nebraska defender in isolation to score at the basket. Both of his last baskets were answered by Nebraska threes.
Two buckets by Jackson-Davis put IU up 94-88 and left the game out of reach for Nebraska.
Slow start on offense
On three consecutive offensive possessions, Indiana posted three guards along the perimeter and tossed the ball between them as the shot clock wound down. The only possession that resulted in points was a Devonte Green three.
That was how the offense looked throughout most of the first half – stagnant.
As soon as the starters left the floor – four of the five scored before the first timeout – Indiana had a difficult time putting together a group of contributors that meshed on offense.
Nebraska is one of the best team's in the country at not allowing teams to get to the free throw line, yet Indiana got there 15 times and hit nine of them, which kept them ahead 40-39 at halftime.
Despite the fact that Nebraska doesn't have much of a presence inside, Indiana attempted 13 three-pointers by halftime and only hit three.
That carried over into the second half, as Indiana continued to take threes at a decent clip, surpassing the 18 mark before midway through the half. It seems like the three-point shot is still too inconsistent to be relied upon.
But Trayce Jackson-Davis began to take over early in the half, hitting three of Indiana's first four shots after halftime and using his length inside against a smaller Nebraska team.
Struggles in perimeter defense again
Nebraska is an average there-point shooting team but leaned on three against Indiana, as it seems many teams are allowed to do on a nightly basis versus the Hoosiers.
Two threes sent the game into overtime, and two threes nearly eliminated the strong effort from Phinisee.
Nebraska attempted 30-threes before the final minute of overtime and hit 12 of them (40 percent), especially late in the contest, and Indiana never tightened up on the perimeter.
Vulnerable on the interior
Indiana, as usual, used a lot of different lineups, and most of them proved to be ineffective defensively, particularly on the interior. To start the game, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Joey Brunk played well inside, as Indiana jumped out to an early 11-2 lead.
But after that lead, De'Ron Davis and Race Thompson entered the game in various lineups, and the combinations of players weren't proving to be effective. At one point, Nebraska recorded a 16-4 run, which began after Jackson-Davis and Brunk left the floor and the smaller lineup wasn't working as it has in previous games.
In a matter of a couple minutes, Nebraska executed three backdoor cuts and nearly converted on all three but hit just one.
By the end of the first half, Indiana had allowed 22 points in the paint against a team that isn't in the top-200 in two-pointers taken.
Those backdoor cuts and drives by guards persisted in the second half, and when Indiana was trying to pull away with fewer than five minutes remaining, Nebraska answered most scores by the Hoosiers with scores of its own. They weren't all inside either.
Going into the last minute of the game, Nebraska had scored just 18 of its second half points in the paint, eight in transition and 12 from three.
Trayce Jackson-Davis takes over
Freshman forward Trayce Jackson-Davis scored just three points in the first half, but in the second half, the freshman took advantage of Nebraska's lack of size inside.
From the start of the second half, it was clear the Indiana staff wanted to get him more involved offensively, as he hit three of the first four shots.
Jackson-Davis cleaned up six offensive possessions with offensive rebounds, and one in particular got him to the line. He shot more free throws than any other Hoosier, and recorded a double-double early in the second half that he added to as teh game closed and IU needed big plays.
His defensive presence helped to tighten up the interior in the last few minutes of the game, and he finished with three blocks.
But offensively, Jackson-Davis's physicality was too much for Nebraska, as he bullied his way to easy shots and created offense in the post. He scored 17 points in the second half.
Jackson-Davis also came up with two late buckets in overtime to put the game out of reach.
----
• 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.
