ANN ARBOR, MI -- There's no such thing as an ugly win. Four days after defeating Maryland at Assembly Hall in the Big Ten opener, the Hoosiers traveled to Michigan for a date with the Wolverines in their first true road game of the season. Indiana came in as 6 1/2 point underdogs and were once again without point guard Xavier Johnson. After a sloppy first half that saw a combined 19 turnovers between the teams, it was the road team that made the biggest plays down the stretch. The Hoosiers (7-1, 2-0) defeated the Wolverines by a final score of 78-75.
As they like to do, the Hoosiers made a living in the paint, despite struggling with post-entry passes at times throughout the night. They scored 22 points in the paint in the 1st Half and put up 30 more in the 2nd half, outscoring the Wolverines 52-28 in the paint for the game. The combination of Ware and Reneau led the Hoosiers once again, as the IU bigs combined for 28 points and 14 rebounds, while shooting a combined 12-for-21 from the field.
Malik Reneau had just four points in the 1st half, but came alive in the final 10 minutes. The Indiana sophomore had multiple go-ahead buckets late in the game, and he led Indiana with 15 points on the night. His teammate Kel'el Ware was limited a bit in the 1st Half as he picked up his second foul with 6:55 to play. Ware also came up big down the stretch, scoring a go-ahead bucket with less than a minute to go. Ware has now scored in double-figures in all eight games this season, matching his total from his entire freshman season at Oregon.
“I thought we fought," said Mike Woodson after the game. "We made the key shots down the stretch. And our bench played great.”
Sophomore CJ Gunn came up big in this one as well, knocking down a couple key 3-pointers and finishing the game with eight points. Mackenzie Mgbako made two key free-throws late, as multiple Hoosiers contributed to the win.
Indiana took much better care of the ball in the second half, only turning the ball over three times in the final 20 minutes. Any time you can start conference play at 2-0, you'll take it. Credit this Indiana team for making the plays they needed to make down the stretch, earning the big win in Ann Arbor.
Next up: The Hoosiers will face Auburn on Saturday in non-conference action.
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