Blackmon's 33 Points Leads IU Over Alcorn State

Monday, November 30

Bloomington, IN

7:00 PM

Indiana University

5-2

112

Alcorn State

0-6

Alcorn State

Indiana

112

Blackmon's 33 Points Leads IU Over Alcorn State

11/30/2015 8:56:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By Sam Beishuizen, IUHoosiers.com | Twitter

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - James Blackmon Jr. had himself a day.

The sophomore guard led Indiana to a 112-70 victory against Alcorn State on Monday, scoring 33 points on 11-of-15 shooting. His 33 points were the single most a player has scored at Indiana under head coach Tom Crean, who's now coaching the Hoosiers for the eighth season.

"First, I feel like my teammates were finding me every time I was open, it felt like," Blackmon said, passing off the credit. "Second, I just felt like I got my hands on a lot of balls defensively. I got a lot of deflections. My teammates as well."

Blackmon scored eight of Indiana's first 12 points as the Hoosiers quickly built a 15-2 lead before the first media timeout. The Hoosiers (5-2) didn't slow down much after that, leading 24-8 at the second media timeout while starting the game shooting 9-of-11 from the field and 4-of-5 from 3-point range.

Alcorn State (0-6) briefly cut the Hoosiers' lead to nine points midway through the first half before Blackmon responded with a 3-pointer to bring IU's lead back to double-digits. The Hoosiers led 53-34 at halftime behind Blackmon's 24 points, also a new record under Crean at Indiana.

"I saw his points at halftime and my eyes popped," Crean said.

Elsewhere, six different Hoosiers finished with double-digit scoring as Indiana continued to pull away in the second half. Senior guard Yogi Ferrell and freshman center Thomas Bryant each had 13 points. Sophomore guard Robert Johnson had 12, junior forward Troy Williams had 11 and junior forward Collin Hartman had 10.

Indiana also set a season-best mark in turnovers, committing just 12. IU turned the ball over just three times in the second half, finishing with a 2-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

"The ball was moving all over the place," Alcorn State head coach Montez Robinson said.

But it was Blackmon doing the heavy lifting, connecting on 6-of-9 3-pointers in 28 minutes of work. His other 15 points came in a multitude of ways, whether it be on a breakaway dunk off a steal, a mid-range jumper or five makes from the free-throw line.

Though the offensive numbers jumped off the scoresheet, it was everything else Blackmon was doing that caught Crean's attention.

"It's so important you focus on the other parts," Crean said. "The defense, the rebounding, the ball movement, moving without the ball. It's amazing how the ball moves when everybody's doing the same thing. There was some great clips that we'll have to build on inside this game on ball movement, even on some missed shots."

As Blackmon checked out of the game for the final time with five minutes left to play and Indiana ahead by 45 points, Crean greeted him on the court with a hug. As the crowd gave Blackmon a standing ovation, Crean pulled him in closely to share words of encouragement as he patted him on the back a few times before Blackmon took his seat on the bench.

"See what happens?" Crean told Blackmon. "The offense comes so easy to you. You shouldn't worry about that. That's what you do. When you defend like that, that's what's going to happen."

Blackmon took his seat on the bench with a record night already wrapped up, but perhaps more importantly, he left Assembly Hall with a lesson on defensive presence.

Crean will be able to show Monday's game as an example of what happens when Blackmon commits on the defensive end of the floor. Likewise, his teammates will see the same.

It's a real-world reminder of what Crean wants Indiana doing this season. He and his players will hope it carries over to the Hoosiers biggest test of the non-conference season against Duke at 9:15 p.m. Wednesday in Durham, N.C.

"That's huge," Crean said. "We see it as coaches, and you can show it on film, but it's so different when they feel it and do it themselves. It's so different. And they need those reminders."