The Hoosiers picked up their fourth win of the season Sunday 67-54 past Evansville. The Hoosiers and Purple Aces were neck-and-neck in the first half as Evansville took a six point lead into the break.
Indiana struggled in the first half, mostly due to turnovers and foul trouble. Bobby Cabobianco picked up three straight fouls within 16 seconds. Christian Watford and Tom Pritchard all had three fouls early in the first half, forcing freshman walk-on Jeff Howard to play his first significant minutes.
“That’s why it never seemed like we never got some real continuity in the first half and yet I look at our shooting percentage it was 50 percent,” Crean said following the win. “It became pretty clear early on that we were going to have to go deep into our bench with the foul trouble we had. Jeff came in and did a great job.”
The Purple Aces led throughout most of the first half including an eight point lead at the 2:36 mark of the first half.
Verdell Jones III led the Hoosiers in the opening period, scoring the first eight points. Leading the team in minutes played, Jones finished with 18 points, three assists and three turnovers.
The second half was a different story as IU went on a 27-2 run. After IU didn’t make a three in the first half (0-3), Creek hit three in a row, fouled on another and went on to make all three free throws. This was by far Creek’s best game since returning to the court, scoring a game-high 19 points.
Tom Pritchard made his presence felt recording a career-high five blocks along with a solid eight points and eight rebounds. Crean was very satisfied with the junior’s performance.
“He did an excellent job. We’ve seen that the last couple of days in practice as well. He had 12 deflections and a plus 12 on the day for the plus-minus. So that’s very good. He did some excellent things there. And he played through foul trouble as well.”
The Hoosiers took quality shots, proof by their 59% field goal percentage. The free throw game has yet to improve as IU made just 15-28 attempts for a mere 54%. That will not get it done in Big Ten play down the stretch.
Tom Crean won his 20th game as the Hoosiers head coach, and the team’s first win after trailing at halftime under the third year head coach. And for the first time since the 2007-2008 season, Indiana begins the season 4-0. IU also improved to 7-0 against Evansville all-time.
The energy was evident and there were certainly many positives to take away in front of a handful of recruits. This team is finally coming together and making tremendous strides. It’s a shame however that junior college transfer Guy-Marc Michel hasn’t suited up yet because the NCAA hasn’t declared him eligible. That should be resolved in a matter of weeks and absolutely before the Big Ten season.
The Hoosiers are also still without the services of Matt Roth and Derek Elston. Crean indicated in his post game press conference that neither are serious and he hopes they will be back soon. Both are knee problems.
IU has a very busy week ahead, hosting North Carolina Central Tuesday and Northwestern State Friday.