Hoosiers Down Nebraska in Assembly Hall

Wednesday, February 17

Bloomington, IN

8:30 PM

Indiana University

21-6, 11-3

Nebraska

14-13, 6-8

Nebraska

Indiana

2/17/2016 10:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – On the heels of a 19-point loss to Michigan State and a shaky first half against Nebraska, Tom Crean didn't tell his team what adjustments they needed to make at halftime.

The Hoosiers figured it out for themselves.

In a bounce-back 80-64 victory over the Cornhuskers, Indiana's head coach said he stood back while his players ran the huddles. That, more than anything, was what impressed him about his team's 11th conference win.

"We came out and did an excellent job in the second half," Crean said. "We went through the paint, which is exactly what we wanted to do, but the most important thing about the night to me was the way the players drove the train."

Troy Williams was undoubtedly the conductor of the Hoosier locomotive on Wednesday night. The junior forward silenced critics of his scoreless performance in East Lansing with an 18-point effort that led all players.

His consistent 8 of 9 shooting corralled a sluggish Indiana (21-6, 11-3) that trailed Nebraska (14-13, 6-8) for 14:04 of the first half.

The Hoosiers were held without a field goal for four minutes, with two of their three leading scores, senior guard Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell and freshman center Thomas Bryant, held scoreless through the first 17:35 minutes of play.

Williams stepped up in their absence in the first stanza, and the Hoosiers ran away with it in the second, opening on a 13-2 run and gaining a 19-point lead that the Cornhuskers would only come within eight of matching.

He's now just 11 points shy of reaching a 1000-point career total.

"Me and Coach Crean had talked, and we decided it's time to put on an aggressive mindset," Williams said. "Playing like that, I see the results it gets me."

The game's other breakout performer was Juwan Morgan, who posted an efficient 12 points — a career high — in 11 minutes on Branch McCracken Court. The freshman forward said he has started to see the floor more clearly at the tail end of his first season, and that the scoring is the result of positioning himself in the right place at the right time.

Having grown up playing opposite fellow freshman teammate OG Anunoby since seventh grade, Morgan said one is always rooting the other on when they are on the court. Several times this season, Anunoby has delivered rousing performances. Against the Cornhuskers, it was Anunoby's turn to cheer.

"It's just great because that's one of my best friends," Morgan said. "So it's just one of those feelings that you get when you're both developing together, it's just something that can't be stopped."

Just after things tipped off between the Hoosiers and Cornhuskers in Assembly Hall, Indiana received an unexpected break in its hunt for a Big Ten championship.

Penn State, who Indiana lost to on the road earlier in the season, upset No. 4 Iowa to knock the Hawkeyes to 11-3 in conference play. The Hoosiers' win drew the teams even once again atop the Big Ten standings, as they control their own destiny with four games remaining in the regular season.

Sophomore guard Robert Johnson's reaction to the news was on par with Indiana's mentality throughout the season.

"Well, that's a good thing," he said.