Indiana Defeats Eastern Illinois On Opening Night

Friday, November 13

Bloomington, IN

7:00 PM

Indiana University

1-0

Eastern Illinois

0-1

Eastern Illinois

Indiana

Indiana Defeats Eastern Illinois On Opening Night

11/13/2015 9:27:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By Sam Beishuizen, IUHoosiers.com | Twitter

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana wants to play on the attack.

Every half. Every minute. Every play. The Hoosiers say they can't afford to let up during games. That burned them a few too many times last season. They don't want it to become a trend again any time soon.

In that sense, all went according to plan in Friday night's 88-49 season-opening win against Eastern Illinois. The Hoosiers ended the first half on a backbreaking 27-3 run to build a 49-17 advantage at halftime that was more than enough cushion for IU to walk out of Assembly Hall 1-0 to start the season.

"We're really focusing on not letting that drop-off," fifth-year senior forward Max Bielfeldt said. "We don't want to be a team that's kind of known for letting that lull or letting the other teams get back into it or letting anything drop off. We really want to push it 100 percent 100 percent of the time."

The Hoosiers closed the first half converting 9-of-12 of their field goal tries while holding Eastern Illinois to just 2-of-12 shooting over the last 8:22 of the opening 20 minutes. The second half was less one-sided than the 32-point halftime advantage—IU outscored Eastern Illinois 39-22—but the damage was already done.

"I think it was the whole energy of the place picked up," Bielfeldt said of the deciding run. "We got some big plays by a lot of guys. It was kind of built on one thing to the next. Our defense picked up. We were getting stops. It just all piled on to bring that energy way up. We just kind of rode that. It turned out to be a really good thing."

Indiana spread the scoring wealth throughout the roster. Six different players registered 11 points or more, led by sophomore guard James Blackmon Jr.'s 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting, reflecting the Hoosiers' depth.

Sophomore guard Rob Johnson—who was a regular starter last season—scored 12 points off 4-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc in 22 minutes off the bench. His reserve role, which head coach Tom Crean said isn't set in stone, helped assure there wasn't a drop-off even when IU rotated its starters out.

"I think it's all in being ready to play, especially off the bench," Johnson said. "It's a unique position to be in because you get to see how the game's being played and how the refs are calling the game, so you get to come in and basically make adjustments and try to impact the game."

Indiana's job was made easier with its dominance on the glass. The Hoosiers outrebounded the Panthers 51-17. Including a 21-5 advantage on the offensive glass.
IU's 21 offensive rebounds led to a 26-1 advantage on second-chance points. Of the 51 total rebounds, 19 came from guards.

"It was just a really good team effort on the boards," Bielfeldt said.

Even still, Crean was still quick to say IU needs to keep building on results like Friday's. Just like in the game itself, he doesn't want Indiana tapering off or suffering from lulls in the season.

Just one game in, there's still a full slate of basketball left ahead. But Friday was a start that left Crean pleased.

"And now the key is: Can we continue to improve?" Crean said. "But to get this kind of start tonight in front of a great crowd and to play with the energy we did, we're excited about that."

Tip-ins: Ferrell connected on a 3-point try with 6:11 remaining in the game to extend his streak of games with a 3-point field goal to 66…The Hoosiers are now 96-20 all-time in season openers, including an 8-0 record under Crean…Freshman center Thomas Bryant became the 12^th freshman in Crean's eight seasons as head coach to start on opening night...The Hoosiers will return to action next Monday against Austin Peay at Assembly Hall.