Indiana Tops Troy To Open Indiana Challenge, 100-62

Saturday, November 16

Bloomington, Ind.

8:00 PM

Indiana University

4-0,0-0Big Ten

100

Troy University

0-3,0-0Sun Belt

Troy

Indiana

100

Indiana Tops Troy To Open Indiana Challenge, 100-62

11/16/2019 9:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana guard Devonte Green is back.

For this, Hoosier Nation can give thanks.

Hamstring issues are -- hopefully -- in Green's rearview mirror, game-changing play in his future. The senior guard's play during Saturday night's 100-62 win over Troy certainly suggested that.

"I feel good," he said. "It's good to be back."

Does this mean the Hoosiers are finally at full strength?

Not exactly.

An illness sidelined sophomore guard Rob Phinisee.

No matter. Having Green in the rotation is a huge boost given his co-captain status along with fellow guard Al Durham, and all-around game.

"It's a big help," forward Justin Smith said. "It gives us another shooter, another spacer, another ball handler. Defensively he makes things happen. We're glad to have him back. We look forward to having him get back into a rhythm."

Green didn't dominate at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (see his 2-for-8 shooting), nor would you expect him to.

The guy hadn't played in a game since last March. Conditioning consisted mostly of walking and jogging on a treadmill, and riding a stationary bike.

Still, he seemed game ready. He totaled six points, four assists, two steals and one turnover in 19 minutes.

"He played 19 good minutes," coach Archie Miller said. "He hasn't practiced at all. He got in there the last couple of days.

"With Rob out we were hoping to get 15 to 20 minutes. I'm glad he's not sore. Athletically he's back. He has to shake some rust off. He'll be fine. He'll play an important role for us. He took some shots he'll make down the line."

Green's first action came in a six-minute, first-half dose. He had one assist and two missed three-pointers. He handled the ball, ran the offense and showed no injury limitations.

Shooting rust was evident. He missed his first four shots, three from three-point range, before scoring just before halftime. His lone three-point basket came late in the game.

The bigger objective is to get all the guards healthy and playing at the same time. Al Durham (17 points, four assists against Troy) and Armaan Franklin (six points, three rebounds, two assists) also are in the mix.

"At some point we hope can get them all back," Miller said, then emphasized it by knocking on the podium during his post-game press conference. "Hopefully Rob will get better soon. He looked better today. We need to get him back and get that chemistry going in the backcourt."

The chemistry was fine in the front court.

Junior forward Justin Smith bounced back from a three-point game to get a team-leading 22 points on 8-for-9 shooting, including 2-for-2 from three-point range.

Freshman forward Trayce Jackson-Davis continued his strong early play. He had his second double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds.

"Offensively my teammates are putting me in the right position to score. With the rebounding, a lot of it is anticipation. Going against bigger college players, you really have to carve out space."

Swingman Damezi Anderson added 14 points and five rebounds. It was a strong follow-up to the 10 points he had against North Alabama four nights earlier.

"Damezi is playing with a lot of confidence," Smith said. "He's using his body well. He's way more confident than last year."

Added Miller "Damezi has got to bring a toughness to us. He's very strong. He's been a guy we can count on to bring physicality to the game. He can really shoot. He's a guy who can stick it from long range."

The Hoosiers (4-0) attacked in waves in this opening round of the Indiana Challenge. Ten guys played at least 15 minutes. No one played more than 28.

IU held Troy (0-3) to 5-for-25 three-point shooting. It had a 23-11 edge in turnover points, 38-20 in the paint.

"Indiana is a top-25 caliber team," Troy coach Scott Cross said. "We got hit with a buzz saw. They were relentless on both ends of the floor.

"In my time I've played against Kansas and Kentucky. Indiana is very comparable to some of those really good teams in terms of size, length and athleticism."

Added Miller: "It was a good win. We started much better defensively than we have the last couple of games. We were very unselfish. We did a good job on the offensive glass (15 offensive rebounds). We hit the bonus in about five minutes of the first half, which is probably a record for us.

"The guys did a much better job defensively in terms of pressure. In the first half we dictated a lot of their misses."

Troy was competitive in a pair of season-opening losses, losing to Alabama-Birmingham 76-75 and Chattanooga 74-68.

Two things stood out:

Both of those games were at home.

Indiana was Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall nasty.

The Hoosiers needed 10 minutes to build a 20-point lead, disrupting with defense, rebounding with tenacity, shooting with authority and punishing the Trojans at every opportunity.

A dominating first half produced a 19-4 edge in points off turnovers and an 24-8 edge in points in the paint. IU led 58-32. Smith and Jackson-Davis combined for 31 points (on 11-for-12 shooting) and 12 rebounds.

The Hoosiers cruised from there, reaching the 100-point mark for the first time this season on forward Race Thompson's three-point play with two minutes left.

"We got sloppy in the second half," Miller said. "We showed a lack of maturity in the later part of the game."

He added more maturity will be needed against Ivy League favorite Princeton (0-3). The Tigers come to Bloomington on Wednesday night.

"We'll get tested a lot differently," Miller said, "especially inside."