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BLOOMINGTON — Nothing came easy for IU basketball in a 77-68 win over Winthrop on Sunday afternoon.
The Hoosiers (10-3, 1-1 Big Ten) closed out the game with an 8-0 run that was their longest of the game. They never led by double-digits and had to overcome a 1-for-20 performance from 3-point range.
Here’s our overreactions to IU’s latest victory:
Why didn’t Oumar Ballo play? Mike Woodson says, ‘I’m not going to address that.’
IU vs. Winthrop player ratings: Hoosiers struggle, but bench player saves day
Is IU making gradual improvements or stuck in neutral?
Indiana point guard Myles Rice, who led all scorers with 18 points, tried to put a positive spin on the win over Winthrop.
“I think gradually we’ve been getting better and better,” Rice said. “We have a lot of close games. Teams are trying to come in here and win, as well. And I mean we just, like I said, game-by-game, I feel like we’re improving.”
The problem with Rice’s rosy outlook on the future is that IU is no closer to answering the question marks it had coming into the season than it was two months ago.
What is the Hoosiers’ offensive identity? Can Malik Reneau and Oumar Ballo co-exist? Who is going to make shots? Those remain pressing concerns as IU jumps back into Big Ten play this week.
Woodson sounded upbeat as well about some of the strides IU made defensively by holding the Eagles to just 20 free-throw attempts — they came into the game averaging 32.1 attempts per game — and well under their season scoring average (86.2 points).
Those accomplishments are a little bit like fool’s gold when you consider how Winthrop’s success against non-Division I opponents — they beat Piedmont, Averett and Bob Jones University by an averaged of 50.3 points — inflated its season stats.
This was an Eagles team that lost by double-digits to Louisville and Florida State and barely cracked the 50-point mark in a loss against a sub-.500 Virginia Tech team.
It’s just hard to make the case that Indiana is…
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Author : IndyStar | The Indianapolis Star
Publish date : 2024-12-30 12:48:00
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