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Indiana dominated Northern Kentucky Wednesday night behind a stellar defensive performance, walking out with a 79-61 victory.
Indiana's defense completely suffocated Northern Kentucky, especially in the first half. All-Horizon League guard Trevon Faulkner picked up three quick fouls, and the team could not find the bottom of the bucket in his absence. The Hoosiers forced 14 straight misses and a 10-minute scoring drought in the first half.
Northern Kentucky never overcame the large deficit forced by Indiana's shutdown defense. The Hoosiers went into the locker room at halftime with a 38-14 lead and never let up the remainder of the game.
Mike Woodson submitted his first shakeup to the starting lineup tonight. Anthony Leal started his first career game in place of Parker Stewart, becoming the first Bloomington native to start for IU since Jordan Hulls in 2013. Stewart did not take the court in the first half but played eight minutes in the second half.
Trayce Jackson-Davis was a force once again this evening. He dominated from the get-go and finished with 21 points and six rebounds. Northern Kentucky's small front line could not stop the preseason All-American in the post no matter what they tried.
Jackson-Davis had great high-low chemistry with Race Thompson and recorded four assists as well. Thompson tallied 14 points himself and the two combined for six dunks. Rob Phinisee also had a good game, recording 10 points.
Trevon Faulkner was very effective for Northern Kentucky when he wasn't sitting with foul trouble. He led the team with 22 points which all came in the second half. He was their only reliable offense source in this game, especially in the second half.
After just 14 points in the first half, NKU went for 47 points in the second half and shot 59.3 percent from the field, including shooting 7-of-15 from three.
Indiana out-rebounded NKU 38-24 and outscored them 48-12 in the paint.
We now have a significant sample size to show that Indiana is more than capable of locking down mid-major opponents. The next step for this team will be to consistently carry the same kind of defense into Big Ten play. If they can do so, they will be a team nobody wants to play.
The Hoosiers will have one more non-conference game before jumping into the deep end of the Big Ten schedule. They will take on UNC Asheville on December 29th before traveling to Penn State on January 2nd.
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