#16 Indiana Drains 15 3's In Win Over Austin Peay, 97-62

Thursday, December 22

Bloomington, Ind.

7:00 PM

Indiana University

10-2

Austin Peay

4-9

Austin Peay

Indiana

#16 Indiana Drains 15 3's In Win Over Austin Peay, 97-62

12/22/2016 8:57:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – In their final home non-conference game of the 2016-17 season, the No. 16 Indiana Hoosiers (10-2) beat the Governors of Austin Peay, 97 – 62, and in doing so, notched their 26th consecutive win inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

The play out of Indiana's guards, specifically James Blackmon Jr. and Robert Johnson, contributed to much of the team's overall success in tonight's game. Blackmon Jr. led all scorers this evening with 24 points, shooting 9-for-12 from the field and 4-for-5 on his 3-point attempts. Johnson's effort led him to a 20-point night, going 7-for-14 from the field and 6-for-10 from 3-point land, setting a new career high for made 3-pointers in a game.

Early on it was evident Indiana's offense was running at a high efficiency, however Austin Peay was able to stay within reach through most of the half. It was not until the 9:01 mark of the first half when Indiana went on an 11 – 3 run, that the game finally opened up for Indiana and the Hoosiers took a 31 – 22 lead, that they would not look back from.

Indiana would go on to make another impressive scoring run during the last 5:06 of half. During this run, Indiana outscored Austin Peay, 15 – 6, but not without the help of Devonte Green. Green knocked down a half-court heave as the game clock hit zero on the half, and sent Indiana into the locker room with a commanding 48-31 lead.

Indiana finished the first half shooting 18-for-30 (60 percent) from the floor and 11-for-18 (61.1 percent) on 3-pointers. The Hoosiers also posted an impressive 12 team assists through the first 20 minutes of play.

Blackmon returned from the locker room ready to score, as he posted nine of his 24 points before the first media time-out of the second half. All while Austin Peay was only able to score five points in that same amount of time.

In the end, Indiana's scoring ability was too much for Austin Peay to handle. The Hoosiers finished the game shooting 35-for-56 (62.5 percent), which marks the second consecutive game Indiana has shot better than 60 percent from the floor. Indiana also converted on 15-of-26 (57.7 percent) 3-point attempts for the evening.

After shooting over 60 percent from the floor the last time out against Delaware State, it marks the first time since 1998 that IU has posted back-to-back games of 60 percent or better from the floor.

Josh Newkirk was able to set a career high in assists with 11, and also managed to score 11 points through 26-minutes of play.

Indiana's 26 game home-winning streak leads all Big Ten teams, and is the fifth longest streak of its kind in Indiana history. The streak is also now fourth among nationally active home winning streaks, trailing the third spot held by Oregon by six wins.

The Hoosiers return to action on Wednesday, Dec. 28 at 6:30 p.m. when Indiana opens conference play against the Nebraska Cornhuskers inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The game will be available statewide on the IU Radio Network and will be air on BTN.