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Indiana ushered in the Mike Woodson era on Tuesday night with a 68-62 win over Eastern Michigan.
It wasn't all pretty for the full 40 minutes, but they got the job done.
Trayce Jackson-Davis led all scorers with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Xavier Johnson added 14 big points for Indiana. In total, all nine Hoosiers that played got in the scoring column.
Here are the main takeaways from Tuesday's season-opening win.
Trayce Jackson-Davis' improvements from a season ago: TJD had a dominant performance once again, something IU fans are used to by now. But, it was the little things he did that IU fans hadn't seen. He had multiple energy play sequences where he had a block at one end and finished with a dunk at the other end. But, it was his patience towards the end of the second half -- on back-to-back possessions where he dished it off to Race Thompson who either finished the play or got fouled.
Three-point shooting non-existent: Just like a season ago, IU couldn't find the bottom of the net from the outside. After back-to-back 3's for Parker Stewart to open up the game, IU went 2-of-22 the rest of the way and 0-of-9 in the second half. Most of the attempts were okay, but there were a few that were too rushed and shots that the offense settled for.
Defensive intensity inconsistent: Overall, it was a solid defensive performance for the Hoosiers. It took EMU eight minutes to find its first points and on the game, shot just 31.3 percent overall -- 22.6 percent in the first half. Guys were flying around and forced a few shot clock or inbounds violations. It wasn't amazing in the second half, but the Hoosiers have a lot of good things to build on, on that end. One part that was concerning was letting Noah Farrakhan take over the game and really nobody on IU being able to stop him. He led the comeback for EMU after starting the game 0-of-13 from the field. He finished with 18 points. The Hoosiers have to do a better job isolating a go-to player and throwing double teams or different defenders their way.
Race Thompson the most important piece moving forward: Coming into the year, Race Thompson was expected to play a big role for IU. He may not do it always in the points category, but like last night, he proved to be of great value. He finished with five points, 10 rebounds, three assist, two blocks and a steal. He knows how to play alongside TJD and that is something invaluable.
Guard play inconsistent: IU saw a lot of different rotations in the backcourt but it wasn't all great. Xavier Johnson had three careless turnovers in the first half while Rob Phinisee had all seven of his points (shot 3-of-11 for the game). Parker Stewart hit back-to-back 3's to open the game and didn't score the rest of the game. Johnson did end up with a big 14 points, but did the majority of that in the final 10 minutes.
Can't take the foot off of the gas pedal: IU was up 21 in the second half and then saw its lead drop to just 1 with barely less than three minutes left. That can't happen against better teams. It is one game, and at least Indiana pulled out the win, but the offensive aggressiveness severely slacked off late. Things need to be fixed with that and they will.
Mike Woodson begins his career with a win: Hey, it was Woodson's first win as IU head coach. Everything wasn't pretty but it's the start of a new era and the Hoosiers are sitting at 1-0. Many more wins to come from Woodson and Co. moving forward.
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