IU basketball wins Big Ten opener over Minnesota
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WISH) — The Indiana University men’s basketball team began Big Ten Conference play with a victory on Monday.
The Hoosiers (8-2, 1-0) beat Minnesota (6-5, 0-2) by the final score of 82-67 inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. IU led by as many as 21 points in the win.
It’s IU’s fourth straight victory.
IU built up a double-digit lead (44-31) at halftime and never looked back in the second half, although IU head coach Mike Woodson said after the game that there are still plenty of areas to improve.
“I thought we played great the first half,” Woodson said. “The ball moved. Then in the second half, we started really well, I thought, but we got to get some things fixed, too, because I thought we had some lapses where we just didn’t play good offense. I thought there was some selfish play here and there and we threw the ball away. We didn’t make some free throws. We got to build on this game but those are areas that we can fix and when you get a team down 15, 20 points, you got to remember how you got them down and continue to do the same things that got you the lead and I don’t think we did that coming down the stretch.”
Five players scored in double-figures for the Hoosiers. IU center Oumar Ballo led the team in scoring with 18 points. He also had 7 rebounds.
IU freshman forward Bryson Tucker was one of those IU players who scored in double-figures. He had a career-high 16 points. It was a bounce back performance for Tucker, who finished 0-of-4 from the field on Friday night in IU’s win over Miami (Oh.).
“After that game, I just had to keep my mind right and know that there’s plenty of games to come, so if I have a bad game one game, I know I can change it,” Tucker said. “I know everything can change the next game. So I just have to stay focused and keep my mind right and keep going.”
Another player who had a solid night was guard Kanaan Carlyle. He had a season-high 14 points in his first game back since last month’s matchup against Gonzaga.
“I’m feeling good,” Carlyle said. “It was just rehab treatment, a lot of form shots, a lot of shooting just to get me confidence back, my jump shot back. It felt good to perform the way I did today and all the hard work paying off.”
The Hoosiers are back in action on Friday when they face Nebraska (6-2, 0-1). Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. EDT in Lincoln, Neb.