Indiana University Athletics
IU Offense Shows Its Potential
11/17/2015 8:37:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana's offense displayed its full potential in the second half of IU's 102-76 win against Austin Peay on Monday.
When the Hoosiers are clicking, they're going to be hard to keep up with.
Indiana made 15 consecutive shots spanning a little over 12 minutes in the second half to pull away from Austin Peay, who struggled to match the Hoosiers' offensive firepower. During the second half, Indiana shot 21-of-26 (80.8 percent) to help the Hoosiers to 67 percent shooting for the entire game.
"It's hard to find much criticism when you make 15 straight shots," Indiana head coach Tom Crean said. "I'm not sure I've ever been a part of 15 straight shots… I think it came because of really good movement of the ball, and our spacing was much better tonight."
It seemingly didn't matter where the Hoosiers decided to shoot from. They made 8-of-10 from beyond the arc in the second half and shot 16-of-27 from 3-point range for the game, coming just two makes shy of tying a school record for most 3-pointers made in a single game.
Five different Hoosiers finished with double-digit scoring, led by senior guard Yogi Ferrell's 22 points and sophomore guard James Blackmon Jr.'s 20 points. Senior guard Nick Zeisloft added 15 points, junior forward Troy Williams scored 14 and freshman center Thomas Bryant had 11.
During Indiana's stretch of 15 consecutive makes, the Hoosiers outscored Austin Peay 40-12. They found such a groove that nobody on the Indiana side of the floor seemed to take notice of how hot they were.
"Nobody was aware," Ferrell said. "That's just a product of our work every day. That's how we shoot."
Even Zeisloft's dislocated pinky wouldn't slow him down. After he injured it and had a trainer pop it back into place on the sideline, Zeisloft finished shooting 5-of-7 from the floor—all 3-point tries.
"The emphasis in this game was our spacing," Zeisloft said. "Our spacing wasn't very consistent in the last game, and our break wasn't very consistent either. So those two things definitely helped us."
Indiana also got its scoring done closer to the basket, adding 40 points in the paint. The Hoosiers also scored 33 points off turnovers, six off second-chance opportunities and 29 off the fast break.
With offensive production like Monday night's it's hard to imagine an opponent Indiana wouldn't be able to score on.
Between its sharpshooting from the outside, ability to get to the rim for easy scoring opportunities and streakiness throughout the second half, it was an ideal night for Indiana's offense.
The Hoosiers' next challenge is making it a trend.
"We spent a lot of time building our mindset of attacking," Crean said. "We have a play-making offense, right? Make plays for others. The more we do that, it's amazing how it goes back to each other."
When the Hoosiers are clicking, they're going to be hard to keep up with.
Indiana made 15 consecutive shots spanning a little over 12 minutes in the second half to pull away from Austin Peay, who struggled to match the Hoosiers' offensive firepower. During the second half, Indiana shot 21-of-26 (80.8 percent) to help the Hoosiers to 67 percent shooting for the entire game.
"It's hard to find much criticism when you make 15 straight shots," Indiana head coach Tom Crean said. "I'm not sure I've ever been a part of 15 straight shots… I think it came because of really good movement of the ball, and our spacing was much better tonight."
It seemingly didn't matter where the Hoosiers decided to shoot from. They made 8-of-10 from beyond the arc in the second half and shot 16-of-27 from 3-point range for the game, coming just two makes shy of tying a school record for most 3-pointers made in a single game.
Five different Hoosiers finished with double-digit scoring, led by senior guard Yogi Ferrell's 22 points and sophomore guard James Blackmon Jr.'s 20 points. Senior guard Nick Zeisloft added 15 points, junior forward Troy Williams scored 14 and freshman center Thomas Bryant had 11.
During Indiana's stretch of 15 consecutive makes, the Hoosiers outscored Austin Peay 40-12. They found such a groove that nobody on the Indiana side of the floor seemed to take notice of how hot they were.
"Nobody was aware," Ferrell said. "That's just a product of our work every day. That's how we shoot."
Even Zeisloft's dislocated pinky wouldn't slow him down. After he injured it and had a trainer pop it back into place on the sideline, Zeisloft finished shooting 5-of-7 from the floor—all 3-point tries.
"The emphasis in this game was our spacing," Zeisloft said. "Our spacing wasn't very consistent in the last game, and our break wasn't very consistent either. So those two things definitely helped us."
Indiana also got its scoring done closer to the basket, adding 40 points in the paint. The Hoosiers also scored 33 points off turnovers, six off second-chance opportunities and 29 off the fast break.
With offensive production like Monday night's it's hard to imagine an opponent Indiana wouldn't be able to score on.
Between its sharpshooting from the outside, ability to get to the rim for easy scoring opportunities and streakiness throughout the second half, it was an ideal night for Indiana's offense.
The Hoosiers' next challenge is making it a trend.
"We spent a lot of time building our mindset of attacking," Crean said. "We have a play-making offense, right? Make plays for others. The more we do that, it's amazing how it goes back to each other."
Players Mentioned
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