Career Day from Race Thompson Leads Hoosiers Past Providence in Opening Round of Maui Invitational, 79-58

Monday, November 30

Asheville, N.C. - Harrah's Cherokee Center

2:30 p.m.

Indiana University

2-0,0-0Big Ten

Providence

1-1,0-0Big East

Indiana

Providence

Career Day from Race Thompson Leads Hoosiers Past Providence in Opening Round of Maui Invitational, 79-58

11/30/2020 5:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Before the Hoosiers headed to the relocated Camping World Maui Invitational in Asheville, N.C., IU head coach Archie Miller was worried about this team's ability to consistently rebound.

"I think we are deficient on the glass right now," Miller said. "Trayce (Jackson-Davis) can rebound the ball, Race (Thompson) can rebound the ball. Other than that, I don't know that we have a ton of guys going after the ball and rebound it. That is the biggest concern going to Asheville."

That concern was over nothing, at least vs. Providence.

Indiana outrebounded the Friars 42-33 and starting guards Aljami Durham and Armaan Franklin combined for 11 boards to lead the Hoosiers to a 79-58 victory. Thompson led IU with 22 points and 13 rebounds, and Jackson-Davis added 12 points and seven boards to move Indiana to 2-0 on the season.

"The defensive rebounding was what I was really concerned about," Miller said. "I thought, for the most part, we did a pretty good job out there. Al and Armaan, I believe both had five defensive rebounds from the guard position. Our goal for the game defensively is to be able to get guard rebounds because we're a littler smaller, but guys scrapped and played hard."

The Hoosiers took control early thanks to a hot start. IU bolted to a 9-2 lead in the opening minutes thanks to Thompson's physical play. He scored on a missed layup from Franklin, and he added a pair of free throws before Franklin drilled a 3-pointer.

Thompson's jumper in the lane a few minutes later pushed the lead to 15-5, and the Hoosiers continued to stretch its advantage from there.

Thompson scored off an offensive rebound to put Indiana up 27-13 with 5:56 to play in the first half, and following a Providence turnover, freshman Jordan Geronimo drained a 3-pointer off an assist from Durham to give IU a 17-point lead. Indiana went into the break up 37-24.

The Hoosiers shot 42.4 percent from the field in the first half, and they recorded 10 offensive rebounds. Indiana also turned the ball over just five times in the first 20 minutes.

"It was good to see that we had a lot of important contributions from everybody on the team," Miller said. "At times, we really did a great job on the boards. At times, we were very, very good on the ball. We ended up holding serve on the boards, and a big reason why was the effort level from Race in his time out there."

Indiana kept the Friars at arm's length throughout the second half. Providence opened after the break with a 3-pointer from David Duke, but Jackson-Davis answered with a score inside. Following a bucket from Providence's Nate Watson, Durham scored on a driving lay-up, and Jackson-Davis drained a pair of free throws. Thompson threw down a dunk on IU's next possession to put Indiana up 45-31, and following a Friars turnover, Durham drained another 3-pointer to give IU a 48-31 advantage.

The Hoosiers had an answer every time Providence tried to make a push, and Indiana's edge inside—the Hoosiers outscored Providence 36-26 in the paint—as well as its ball movement kept the Friars from building momentum. IU finished with 16 assists on 28 made baskets and turned the ball over just nine times. Defensively, the Hoosiers held Providence to 37.3 percent shooting and forced 13 turnovers, leading to 17 IU points.

Thompson converted 8-of-12 shots from the floor and 6-of-10 attempts from the free-throw line while also handing out a pair of assists. Durham finished with 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting, and guard Rob Phinisee added 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting to go with five assists.

"(Thompson) used his offseason as well as any player have ever been around," Miller said. "He transformed his body. He worked on his game. You can tell by his touch and his offensive confidence. He's much more offensively confident. To me, that started to spirit him a little bit in terms of being more vocal, and being, unquestionably, one of our rock-solid leaders. His emergence, to me, is one of the special things about this offseason and just watching him get a little bit of reward for what he did."

The Hoosiers next take on Texas Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. in Asheville.