Indiana ended its non-conference slate on Saturday with a 68-60 win over Butler in the Crossroads Classic. With Big Ten play right around the corner, the Hoosiers sit at 5-2.
It was a tale of two halves for IU, but halftime adjustments helped IU adjust to the Butler physical style of play.
Here are the takeaways from Indiana's win against the Butler Bulldogs.
Armaan Franklin continues breakout season: The sophomore guard is off to a very strong start this season and that play continued on Saturday. He posted a new career-high (20 points) one game after setting his then previous career-high (19 points). On the season, He is averaging 11.9 points on 46 percent shooting from deep.
Rebounding MUST get better: This is no shock. Indiana's rebounding has been a problem all year and the didn't change on Saturday. IU was outrebounded 35-30 on the glass and gave up 10 offensive rebounds to Butler. Joey Brunk won't be back soon so the Hoosiers need to do a better job keeping opponents off of the offensive boards.
Underrated performance by Trey Galloway: The freshman guard has had a very good start to his Indiana career and though he didn't score on Saturday, that good play continued. He led IU in assists (5) and had zero turnovers on the afternoon as well. His ability to draw defenders in on the drive and find the open man is something that has helped Indiana's shooting ability the last few games.
Defense is among top in the country: After a bad first half allowing 37 points on 53.8 percent shooting, IU's defense returned to form, holding Butler to just 23 points on 26.7 percent shooting in the second half. Hoosiers now rank No. 8 in defensive efficiency according to KenPom.
Strong second half from Race Thompson: It was a non-existent first half for Thompson but a very good bounce back in the final 20 minutes. Butler's physical style of play seemed to bother Thompson to start, but he ended the game with 10 points - all in the second half - and seven rebounds. He continues to have a very productive junior year.
15 turnovers... but partly due to some very poor calls: 15 turnovers is too many including the five by Armaan Franklin and four from Trayce Jackson-Davis. But, there were four - by my count - horrendous calls by the officials. Some were 'charges' that should have been blocks and there were a few additional calls that should have been no-calls if anything. However, there were still too many sloppy plays, either driving too deep into the paint, weak with the handle or just poor passing decisions that put their teammates in bad positions.
Khristian Lander's minutes: He's still supposed to be a senior in high school, there was very little organized offseason and IU has played high major programs in five of its first seven games. Two of those opponents have defenses in the top-15 of the country. His two minutes on Saturday were shocking, however, especially after a good performance last week. He is still averaging 12.3 minutes per game this season. Most freshmen have many ups and downs in a season and that will likely be the case with Lander throughout the rest of the year.
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