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Indiana improved to 8-2 after Sunday's 81-49 win over Merrimack. It was a good bounce back after a midweek loss to No. 22 Wisconsin after leading by 22 points.

IU looks ahead to a matchup with Notre Dame on Saturday in the Crossroads Classic. The Irish are coming off of a win against No. 10 Kentucky.

Against Merrimack, Indiana had a tale of two halves once again, this time the second half as the dominant one.

Here are the main takeaways from IU's win over Merrimack.

Jordan Geronimo breakout game: Geronimo had a career day on Sunday as he went for 13 points and 13 rebounds. 11 of his 13 came after halftime, as did 12 of his 13 rebounds. Geronimo was a tremendous asset off of the bench and sparked some much needed energy when IU looked quite lethargic early on. He had just 15 points in his last six games, so if the second-year forward can find a comfortable medium between both levels of play, it will greatly improve Indiana.

Frontcourt dominance: Indiana's frontcourt was in total control from the tip on Sunday. Trayce Jackson-Davis, Race Thompson and Geronimo combined for 43 points 29 rebounds. Race Thompson was a perfect 6-of-6 from the floor. That trio also had 11 offensive rebounds and four blocks. Merrimack had just 16 rebounds from its entire team.

Free throw shooting: It has been up and down this year and that was similar to how Sunday went. Overall, IU was 22-of-32 from the line but had some good moments. Jackson-Davis was 6-of-6 -- a much needed bounce back from a lackluster shooting season from the line up to this point. Race Thompson was just 2-of-5, Michael Durr was 3-of-6 and Rob Phinisee was 2-of-4. Jackson-Davis and Race Thompson will be living at the line the rest of the season, so those numbers need to be at a better rate than they have this season, but overall, it wasn't as bad an effort from the line as other times this season.

Sluggish first half: IU came out slow and with very little energy. It was a noon tip before finals week and those are always difficult games to 'get up for'. But, it was after a very disappointing loss to Wisconsin, so that start was a bit concerning. The Hoosiers struggled with turnovers again and their defense was providing very little resistance. They got it fixed, but slow starts are now becoming a problem for Indiana.

Poor perimeter defense: Indiana's defense has been very solid this season but on Sunday, it just wasn't all there. Merrimack came in shooting 30.1 percent from three but shot 37.9 percent against IU and made 11 3's. In total, Indiana was outscored 33-15 from the perimeter. You can probably write this one off as just being lazy and sluggish due to the opponent and schedule, but it's something IU needs to make sure it doesn't repeat coming up.

Second half play: After a terrible first half, IU came out and ran Merrimack out of the gym, outscoring them 45-19 in the final 20 minutes. The IU defense held Merrimack to 24 percent shooting and just five total rebounds after the half. Indiana made sure not to allow Merrimack to hang around for long in the second half.

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