BLOOMINGTON — Indiana basketball opened Big Ten play at Assembly Hall on Monday night with a commanding, 82-67 win over Minnesota.
There were seven lead changes in the first 10 minutes, but not a single one after the Hoosiers went on a 16-1 run late in the first half while Minnesota went eight-plus minutes without a field goal to take a 36-23 lead. The Gophers never got back to within single digits.
Indiana (8-2; 1-0) had five players in double-digits — Oumar Ballo had a team-high 18 points — and shot 56.6% from the field. Minnesota (6-5; 0-2 Big Ten) cooled off considerably after a hot-shooting start and finished the game with a season-low two made 3-pointers on 11 attempts (0 for 6 in the second half).
Indiana basketball makes it look easy on offense against the Gophers
Minnesota came into the game holding opposing teams to 62 points per game (ranked 17th in the country) on 41.8% shooting. Indiana tied its season-high with 44 points going into halftime and never dipped under 60% shooting in the first half.
The Hoosiers only knocked down two 3-pointers in the half, but still managed to average 1.33 points per possession. They outscored the Gophers 26-16 in the paint with 22 of those points coming on layups.
Minnesota had some size in 6-foot-10 Trey Edmonds and 6-foot-11 Dawson Garcia, but they struggled matching up against Oumar Ballo and Malik Reneau. They combined 21 points on 8 of 11 shooting in the first half.
The Hoosiers never really cooled off and ended up with 80-plus points for the sixth time in their first 10 games. They only scored more than 80 points five times all last season. The Gophers had only allowed more than 70 points once in their first 10 games.
Indiana basketball coach Mike Woodson gets big results from short bench
Kanaan Carlyle was available on Monday night after missing three straight games with an undisclosed injury. Woodson opted to keep Trey Galloway in the starting lineup, but distributed the minutes fairly evenly among his back court and all three spent time as IU’s primary ball-handler.
Carlyle provided his trademark defensive intensity off the bench, while looking more relaxed on the offensive end. He scored 14 points (three made 3-pointers) and had a season-high five assists. He got one of the biggest ovations of the night when he buried a mid-range jumper through contact and completed the three-point play to give Indiana a 68-47 lead with 9:46 to go in the game.
Bryson Tucker also had a big night off the bench with a career-high 15 points on 6 of 9 shooting. It was a strong bounce-back performance for the true freshman, who was held scoreless for the first time in his young career in a 76-57 win over Miami (OH).
It was the second time in three games IU got more than 30 points from its bench.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Indiana basketball opens Big 10 play with convincing win vs Minnesota
