Hoosiers Hold Off Minnesota, 74-68

Saturday, January 30

Bloomington, IN

2:15 PM

Indiana University

18-4, 8-1

Minnesota

6-16, 0-10

Minnesota

Indiana

1/30/2016 4:25:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Tori Ziege | Twitter
IUHoosiers.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – When Indiana needed someone to step up in the closing minutes against Minnesota, Thomas Bryant was there.

Down one with 2:24 remaining, the freshman center came up with a key block on Minnesota's Kevin Dorsey in the waning seconds of the shot clock to help prevent a Golden Gopher score.

On Indiana's subsequent possession, he pulled in the offensive rebound on junior forward Troy Williams' missed layup. Bryant put it back on the glass, giving the Hoosiers the 68-67 lead.

Then, with 27 seconds left, he sealed the game after senior guard Kevin Yogi Ferrell pushed the ball up the court to catch Minnesota sleep-walking. Bryant took his assist to the rim, lifting the Hoosiers to an eventual 74-68 final in Assembly Hall.

"It's pretty challenging, especially when we were undersized," Minnesota coach Richard Pitino said. "He (Bryant) really, really hurt us."

All in all, Bryant scored the Hoosiers' last three field goals. On quiet a night for Ferrell, the Big Ten's leading scorer, Bryant picked up the slack with a career high 23 points.

He showed up everywhere Saturday — on both ends of the court for a coast-to-coast layup, on the boards for a team-high eight rebounds and in the paint, where Indiana scored more than half of its points.

"I'm always confident with or without the ball in my hands," Bryant said. "I'm not the one that always wants the ball. I'm always the guy that's going to be happy when Yogi makes a play or one of my other teammates makes a play. I've always had that confidence instilled in me."

Unlike Indiana's (18-4, 8-1) last three home opponents — each of whom lost by at least 25 points — the Golden Gophers (6-16, 0-10) would not be put in a hole.

Hungry for their first Big Ten win, they battled back from down 12 at half to take the lead with 3:54 remaining. They hung on to that lead for nearly two minutes, until Bryant intervened.

"I'm not sure everybody listened to me — I think my team did," head coach Tom Crean said. "They saw the film. Minnesota is good. They're a good team, and they are extremely well coached. They're right there."

The game was tight in part because of an uncharacteristically poor 3-point shooting performance for the Hoosiers, who finished just 2 of 18 from long range.

Ferrell, the teams' leading 3-point scorer, had just two field goals. He and junior forward Troy Williams tallied 13 points apiece, with eight of those points for Ferrell coming at the line.

"I'm not concerned about the 3-point shooting at all," Crean said. "I'd agree rushing shots, but I also think we weren't spaced deep enough at times. We didn't shoot as many as we needed to."

The Hoosiers bounce back from a loss on the road at Wisconsin to remain a perfect 13-0 in Assembly Hall.

Halfway through the conference season, they improve their Big Ten record to 8-1 and sit atop the conference standings.

"I know a couple of records in the league, I don't know many," Crean said. "This is all about how we get better, it really is. So we've just got to continue to improve and get ready for Michigan."