Hoosiers Feed Off Crowd While Rolling Past Seminoles

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Hoosiers opened the season with seven straight victories at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, but it wasn't until No. 17 Florida State came to town that the building came to life.

Fans certainly enjoyed Indiana's first seven wins, but all of those were tune-ups vs. mid-major opponents in which the Hoosiers had the advantage in size, speed, quickness, and athleticism.

The Seminoles were different. They came to Bloomington with wins over ranked Florida and Tennessee, and IU knew it would have to bring a little more intensity to the floor if it was going to move to 8-0.

The fans felt it, too. The student section was packed before opening tip-off despite the 9 p.m. ET start time, and the Hoosier faithful were amped for pregame warm-ups. They cheered wildly for IU's lay-up line, which featured a host of windmill dunks and spinning jams. Junior forward Justin Smith, a longtime rim rocker, drew the biggest cheers with his 360 windmill, but the fans didn't come to watch warm-ups.

"I mean, this is the best place to play basketball in college basketball," Smith said. "They helped us a lot tonight."

They wanted to see the Hoosiers come out with fire, and head coach Archie Miller's squad didn't disappoint.

After falling behind 11-4 thanks to FSU draining some tough shots, the Hoosiers turned up the intensity on both ends, playing its best defense of the season to this point and forcing the Seminoles to scramble just to get a good look.

More than once FSU was rattled into taking a bad shot early in the shot clock, and Florida State was rattled into some self-inflicted turnovers.

"We were going to have a great opportunity tonight with our crowd behind us to play in that environment, on that stage," Miller said. "You want it see what you're made of, and I thought our guys rose to the occasion of the opponent and were ready to play. I can't thank our crowd enough. To be able to play on that floor as a player, to me, that's an amazing feeling for those guys to be able to play in front of that crowd. We're excited about that."

Indiana, meanwhile, ran crisp offense, kept the ball moving, and left FSU on its heels. Freshman Trayce Jackson-Davis threw down a jam to get the crowd out of its seats, and senior Devonte Green came off the bench to hit three first-half 3-pointers that gave IU a jolt.

Green finished the half with 14 of Indiana's 41 points, and the guard's quickness and ability to create his own offense repeatedly frustrated Florida State. Indiana took a 41-30 lead into the break, punctuated by a buzzer-beater from Smith that once again had the crowd on the brink of insanity.

Hoosier fans got plenty nervous after halftime when FSU whittled the lead to five points, but a swooping, one-hand jam from Jackson-Davis with just under nine minutes to play once again juiced the crowd.

Indiana didn't play its prettiest half of basketball in the second half vs. Florida State, but it fed off the energy of the crowd. With the Hoosiers holding a nine-point lead at 67-58 with 4:55 to play, the fans cranked up the volume with Indiana on defense, and that helped lead to an unforced FSU turnover. Then Green drained a spinning, step-back jumper that geeked the crowd higher, and a Florida State miss and Hoosier rebound kept everyone on their feet.

A 3-pointer from sophomore Damezi Anderson pushed the lead to 72-58 and forced an FSU timeout.

"They brought a lot of energy," Smith said. "They really helped us when we were going on a couple runs. And when (Florida State) started coming back, they really gave us energy."

And the energy just kept coming. By the time the final buzzer sounded, the Hoosiers walked off the floor with an 80-64 win, and not many of the fans had left. They enjoyed the kind of win Miller likes to see.

A parade to the free-throw line (the Hoosiers attempted 38 shots from the stripe).
Domination on the glass (IU outrebounded FSU 35-25, including 10-7 on the offensive glass).
Creating opportunities off turnovers (Indiana scored 16 points off Florida State mistakes).
Playing to their strengths (the Hoosiers' attempted just 15 shots from 3-point range; seven in the first half and eight in the second half).

The result was IU's most complete win of the season, one that was satisfying and gave Hoosier fans plenty to be excited about. Green scored a game-high 30 points and grabbed six boards. Jackson-Davis had 15 points and eight rebounds. Anderson played solid defense and was ready to go from the time he stepped on the floor. The Hoosiers even shot 55.6 percent from the floor overall.

IU is 8-0 for the first time since 2012-13, and although Miller said every game is a "big game," he understands that this one was important.

"That's the thing," Miller said. "This wasn't the first big game. For a lot of these guys, the first game was the big game. Every game that we played to this date has been a big game. … This is, like, all eyes are on you, and you want to show that you belong. And I thought our team showed that they belonged tonight."

Hoosiers Feed Off Crowd While Rolling Past Seminoles

Players Mentioned

Damezi Anderson

Devonte Green

Trayce Jackson-Davis

Justin Smith

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