After a heartbreaking loss in College Park against Maryland Wednesday night, Indiana found itself in a must win situation. Having lost four out of six coming into tonight’s tilt against Minnesota, the Hoosiers went from tournament lock to a teetering bubble team.
The Gophers jumped on the Hoosiers early, going up 14-6, but a spark off the bench in the form of Emmitt Holt and Nick Zeisloft got the Hoosiers back in the game through perimeter shooting.
After Zeisloft got going, a barrage of threes started hitting their mark for Indiana.
Rob Johnson ended a back and forth, high scoring first half with a put back at the buzzer off a Yogi Ferrell miss to give Indiana a six point lead going into halftime.
Once the second half commenced, it was all Indiana.
The three-point onslaught was on and was coming from all angles. Indiana shot 10-15 from behind the arc in the second half and was able to coast from there.
The Hoosiers ended up hitting a school record 18 three-pointers in this one.
Yogi only scored seven points but had 11 assists, 8 of which assisted three pointers. Throughout the game, he was able to slice through the defense and kick out to shooters on the wings.
James Blackmon and Robert Johnson rebounded nicely after rough games last time out at Maryland.
Blackmon led the Hoosiers with 24 points, going 6-10 from the three, and Johnson had 19, hitting five three balls.
After the game Blackmon and Johnson both talked about putting in extra work leading up to this game.
Even Troy Williams got in on the fun, going two for two from long range. He also had some highlight-reel dunks that nearly blew the roof off Assembly Hall.
The Hoosiers advance to 18-8 on the season, and 8-5 in Big Ten play.
Up next for the Hoosiers is a huge game Thursday night against their archival, the Purdue Boilermakers. Last time out Purdue ran Indiana off the court in West Lafayette in a 16-point win, and after the game Yogi called the team out for being “soft”.
It figures to be a rowdy crowd Thursday night in Assembly as bragging rights and positioning in the Big Ten are on the line.
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You can catch the game Thursday on WIUX starting at 7pm.
