Indiana University Athletics
Indiana University
Western Illinois
Hoosiers Shoot Past Western Illinois with 16 Treys
11/27/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 26, 2005
MACOMB, Ill. - The No. 20/21 Indiana men's basketball team used a balanced attack in cruising to a 102-79 victory over Western Illinois on Saturday night. The Hoosiers got a career night from sophomore wing Robert Vaden to go along with 16 three-point field goals and 29 team assists. It marked the second straight game the Hoosiers tallied 16 treys and 29 assists. IU improved to 3-0 on the season, while Western Illinois fell to 1-2.
The 16 three-pointers tied for the second most in school history with the 16 IU hit against Florida A&M just five days ago and the 16 against Alaska-Anchorage in 2001. The 32 trifecas were the most in a two-game stretch in school history. The 29 assists also tied for the third most in school history. The 102 points were the most a Hoosier team has scored since Indiana had 103 against Northeastern on Dec. 28, 2000.
The Hoosiers continued to show their balanced scoring attack. For the third straight game, five different Hoosiers scored in double figures led by the 22 points of both senior forward Marco Killingsworth and Vaden. The 22-point performance was a career-high for Vaden to go along career marks of eight assists, four three-point field goals and five steals. A trio of guards rounded out the double-digit scorers for IU with junior Roderick Wilmont adding 15 points, senior Marshall Strickland chipping in 13 and junior Errek Suhr scoring 12. Wilmont, who made his first start of the year, led the Hoosiers in rebounds with nine.
Indiana once again shot a high percentage from the field. For the game, IU was 36-of-62 for a shooting percentage of 58.1 percent. Indiana also was 61.5 percent (16-of-26) from behind the arc.
After Western Illinois opening the scoring with a jumper from Fred Oguns at the 19:11 mark, the Hoosiers went on a 10-0 run to open up a lead. Vaden scored five points during the run, including a three-pointer off an assist from Strickland to cap the run it off.
Killingsworth scored on a conventional three-point play, pushing the lead to 20-10 with 14:45 remaining in the opening half. The Montgomery, Ala., native scored nine of the Hoosiers first 20 points as IU opened up a double-digit lead.
A layup by Western Illinois' Eliz Cepeda cut the deficit under 10 at 20-12, but the Hoosiers went on an eight-point run to push the advantage at 28-12 with just over 10 minutes remaining. Suhr started the streak with a three-pointer with 13:09 remaining. An Earl Calloway jumper and a three-pointer from Wilmont gave the Hoosiers a 16-point cushion. Indiana hit five of its first nine attempts from three-point range.
The Leathernecks would not be out done, hitting back-to-back three-pointers to cut the IU advantage back to 10 at 28-18 with 8:41 remaining. It would be the closest Western Illinois would get in the game, as the Hoosiers scored 10 of the game's next 12 points to open up a 17-point advantage. Freshman Ben Allen started the run with a three-pointer form the corner, and Suhr capped the run with a trey off an assist from Killingsworth to push the lead to 38-21 with 6:37 remaining.
The gap reached as much as 24 in the opening half. A pair of Killingsworth free throws gave IU a 53-29 lead with less than a minute and a half remaining in the first stanza. A three from Western Illinois' Troy Okeson before the buzzer sent IU to the locker room with a 21-point cushion.
The lead ballooned to 27 with just over eight minutes remaining in the second half. Vaden made a steal on the defensive end, threw an over the shoulder pass to a streaking Strickland, who laid it up and in. The fast-break bucket gave the Hoosiers an 82-55 lead.
The Hoosiers took a 30-point advantage for the first time on the night with just over four minutes remaining. Suhr found Wilmont in the post for a lay up in transition to put IU on top, 96-66.
Sophomore guard Adam Ahlfeld found Allen in the left corner for a three-pointer to give IU a 102-70 lead with 3:02 remaining. The trey pushed Indiana over the century mark for the second straight game. The last time Indiana had back-to-back games of 100 or more points was during the 1998-99 season. During that campaign, IU defeated Bowling Green, 106-54, on Dec. 20 before disposing of Drake, 102-46, on Dec. 27.
The Hoosiers have topped the 99-point mark in all three games this season. Indiana last had three straight games of 99 or more points during the 1990-91 season. IU pulled the feat on Dec. 28 against Ohio (102-64), Jan. 2 against Illinois (109-74) and Jan. 5 against Northwestern (99-58).
Indiana returns to the friendly confines of Branch McCracken Court in Assembly Hall for a nationally televised affair against the top-ranked team in the country. IU will face consensus No. 1 Duke on Wednesday, Nov. 30, at 9 p.m. The game will be part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge and will be televised on ESPN. The matchup can also be heard on the IU Radio Network with Don Fischer (play-by-play), former IU guard Todd Leary (analysis) and Joe Smith (pregame, halftime and post game) on the call.
