[Postgame 3-2-1] What We Learned From Indiana's victory against Minnesota
We break down three key stats, two observations, and one lingering question from Indiana's 82-67 win against Minnesota.
BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA. — In its first conference game of the 2024-2025 season, Indiana hosted the Minnesota Golden Gophers on a Monday night at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
The game got off to a back-and-forth start full of offense, before Indiana used a 16-1 run in the first half to take a commanding 13-point lead into the break.
Indiana never let the lead dip below a baker’s dozen in the second half, earning its first Big Ten victory.
Oumar Ballo led all scorers with 18 points as five Hoosiers reached double figures.
“I thought we played great the first half. The ball moved,” Indiana head coach Mike Woodson said postgame. “We’ve got to build on this game but those are areas that we can fix. And when you get a team down 15, 20 points, you’ve got to remember how you got them down and continue to do the same things that got you the lead and I don't think we did that coming down the stretch.”
With the win, Indiana improves to 8-2 and 1-0 in Big Ten play.
Here are three stats, two additional observations, and one lingering question from Indiana's 82-67 victory against Minnesota.
Did you miss yesterday's edition of the postgame show?
3 Meaningful Stats
1. Tucker turns it around, scores 16
After a scoreless outing on Friday against Miami (OH), freshman Bryson Tucker broke out in a big way, scoring 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting.
The freshman scored 11 points in only eight first-half minutes, providing a spark in Indiana’s dominant first 20 minutes.
Tucker used athleticism to blow by defenders, but rather than pulling up for jump shots, the Bowie, Maryland native continued downhill momentum for easy buckets inside. Although his midrange game is his trademark, Tucker used his acceleration to get past a defender and convert easy layups.
“When we recruited him, we thought he would be a big piece to the puzzle, and he is, and we’ve just got to keep steering him in the right direction and pushing him to play at a high level, play harder and smarter and do the things that we need him to do on the floor,” Woodson said of the freshman’s performance. “I thought tonight he came in and played a solid ball game and hopefully that will be a nice carryover into our next game against Nebraska.”
The 16-point outburst marked a new career-high for Tucker, and he was one of the five Hoosiers to amass double figures.
“I would say it's definitely a lot for any player, but after that game, I just had to keep my mind right and know that there's plenty of games to come, so if I have a bad game one game, I know I can change it,” Tucker said of the bounce-back. “I know everything can change the next game. So I just have to stay focused and keep my mind right and keep going.”
2. Indiana scores 42 points in the paint
If there was ever a game in which Indiana had to rely on Ballo and Reneau, it was Monday.
Minnesota’s roster wasn’t built with much size or athleticism in the frontcourt, and Indiana attacked those vulnerabilities from the jump. Ballo and Reneau ran the floor and got easy buckets in transition.
Both bigs reached double figures as it was a focal point for Indiana to get the ball to the bigs.
The Hoosiers won the rebounding battle by a considerable 35-22 margin, hauling in a dozen offensive boards.
Ballo and Reneau had a matchup nightmare with Dawson Garcia being an athletic big who could also hit the outside jumper. Garcia finished with 20 points, but the Indiana bigs handled it well enough to secure a victory.
3. Hoosiers shoot 67% from two
In its post-Bahamas games, Indiana has had an offensive resurgence, taking and making high-percentage looks. Since returning to the states, Indiana has been tremendous inside the arc, converting 75-of-113 two-point shots in its last three games.
Monday night was no different as the Hoosiers shot 60% from the field as a whole.
Of the 27 shots Indiana made, 24 of them were two-point attempts. The Hoosiers finished an impressive 67% from inside the arc.
In the early season, Indiana has left no doubt that they they will dominate the paint and play inside the arc — but more consistently taking and making 3-point shots could go a long way for Indiana's chances in conference play.
“We knew the first Big Ten game we have to make a statement,” Tucker said. “I mean, yes, we definitely could have done better, but I think we did a good job just coming in and staying focused and working super hard.”
Every game will be different, but shooting better than 50% from the field will win Indiana a lot of games this season.
2 Important Observations
1. Indiana has missed Carlyle
Following a brief three-game hiatus due to injury, Stanford transfer Kanaan Carlyle made his return off the bench and immediately lit a fire.
It was obvious when Carlyle was on the floor on Monday night. From tough defensive plays to a few audible yells after big plays, it was something that Indiana had desperately lacked — an energetic player off the bench
“On defense, just energy playing well and just picking up 94 feet,” Carlyle said. “I feel like that gets my whole game going, just my defense, my energy, so I feel like that's what I need to bring every single night because that's also what gets my offense going.”
Despite starting the game on the bench for the first time this season, Carlyle finished with 14 points, making three triples and providing valuable minutes off the bench. Although the staff brought him to Bloomington to be a starter, Carlyle remains flexible with his role as he returns to action.
“I'm perfectly fine with coming off the bench. I want to win games, whether it's being the sixth man, eighth man, tenth man starting two guard, I don't care,” Carlyle said of the new role. “As long as we win, I'm here to do my job, to play defense and provide what I can on offense. That's it.”
2. Indiana played its most complete game of the season
Although it started as a track meet and defense appeared optional in the first ten minutes, Indiana put together its best all-around performance on Monday night.
The offense was firing on all cylinders, scoring 42 first-half points on their way to a final count of 82.
Outside of the final couple minutes being sketchy from a focus standpoint, Indiana was mostly attentive and locked in for 40 minutes, something that had yet to happen up to this point.
There is no shortage of motivation when Big Ten play comes around, but Indiana played like a team on a mission on Monday. Now, it is about being consistent with positive outputs.
1 Lingering Question
Will Indiana ever figure out how to properly switch a screen?
At moments throughout Monday night’s victory, Indiana looked like a competent team defensively — the other times, it was not pretty.
The Hoosiers allowed more points (22) in the game’s opening eight minutes than they did in the entirety of the second half of Friday’s game against Miami (21).
Indiana’s ball-screen defense continues to be a cause of concern, allowing open looks for Minnesota. Luckily for the Hoosiers, Minnesota is a mid-major team wearing Big Ten uniforms, so the Gophers weren’t always able to capitalize on the openings IU provided. That could be a concern for a team with Big Ten title aspirations.
Other Big Ten teams will make shots that Minnesota didn’t make, and it will be the difference between big wins and heartbreaking losses. Indiana will have an opportunity to sure up its defensive woes on Friday in Lincoln against Nebraska.