IU Defeats Kentucky to Advance to Sweet 16

Saturday, March 19

Des Moines, Iowa

5:15 p.m.

Indiana University

(5) 27-7

(#4 seed) Kentucky (Second Round)

(4) 27-9

Indiana

Kentucky

3/19/2016 7:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Sam Beishuizen, IUHoosiers.com

DES MOINES, Iowa - Just before walking into the Indiana locker room, Thomas Bryant raised his fist and let out a yell he'd been holding onto as he walked through the hallways at Wells Fargo Arena.

"Sweet 16, baby," Bryant shouted. "Sweet 16."

The freshman center had reason to be excited after his No. 5 Hoosiers beat rival No. 4 Kentucky 73-67 Saturday to advance to play No. 1 North Carolina the Sweet 16 in Philadelphia. He scored 15 of his team-high 19 points in the final eight minutes, teaming with senior guard Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell's 18 to lead IU out of the NCAA Tournament's first weekend for the third time in the last five years.

"We dreamed about this every single day," Bryant said. "This is why we're here."

Much like Indiana's opening win against Chattanooga, IU was slow out of the gate and allowed Kentucky to build an early cushion that lasted only momentarily. IU drew back even before long as both teams struggled for momentum throughout the first half and into the second thanks to the Hoosiers' struggles beyond the arc and the Wildcats' inability to get leading scorer Jamal Murray into the flow of the game.

Fifth-year senior forward Max Bielfeldt said that as the first half went on, Indiana was able to figure out what Kentucky was throwing at them both offensively and defensively. Once the Hoosiers were able to see what the Wildcats were doing, Bielfeldt said IU was able to adapt when UK couldn't.

"There's a way Kentucky wants to do things," he said. "I think you'll see a lot of teams have that sort of learning curve at the beginning, but by halftime I was saying we figured out what they wanted. They had something they wanted you to do and they expect you not to be able to stop it."

With the game tied at 50 with eight minutes left, Indiana seemed to finally break Kentucky.

Out of a timeout, a predesigned play by head coach Tom Crean had junior forward Troy Williams fire in a pass to a cutting Bryant for a dunk plus the foul that got Bryant and his teammates excited. Bryant's 3-point play was the beginning of a 12-2 run that gave IU either team's first real breathing room of the game.

Kentucky's Tyler Ulis—who finished with a game-high 27 points—was the catalyst of a late Wildcats run that eventually cut Indiana's lead to two points with 10.4 seconds left. Bryant went to the line after missing a pair of free throws in the minutes before but hit both, all but assuring Indiana the win.

"What was mostly going through my mind was staying calm, calming down, breathing and not letting my adrenaline pump so much," said Bryant, who Kentucky targeted at the end of the game. They wanted him at the line.

When Bryant stepped up, none of his teammates said they had any doubt.

"We all knew Thomas was going to hit those," junior forward Troy Williams said. "We had all the confidence in the world."

Perhaps the biggest obstacle Indiana had to overcome were injuries to sophomore guard Robert Johnson (ankle), freshman forward Juwan Morgan (shoulder) and freshman forward OG Anunoby (ankle).

Johnson left the game with about five minutes left in the first half and didn't return. Morgan had to leave the game with about 12 minutes left with a shoulder injury. Anunoby, who had by far the least severe injury, was out only briefly and returned to impact the game defenisvely down the stretch.

None of the three players' injuries appeared to be significant enough to keep them out of next weekend's action, but there's only a next week because of the way other players filled in.

"You start to worry a little bit, but our mentality is we're going to win it for them," Bielfeldt said. "We didn't get on our heels and kind of get scared. We get better for them."

The Hoosiers did just that, and they'll live another weekend because of it.

"I don't want it to ever end," senior guard Nick Zeisloft said. "Hopefully it won't for a few more weeks."