Christian Watford continues to lead the Indiana Hoosiers to victory. He did it again today, leading the Indiana Hoosiers towards a 102-60 victory over the South Carolina State Bulldogs. Watford scored 22 points.
This moves the Hoosiers up to 2-0 in the Las Vegas Classic. They got Northern Iowa up next on Wednesday.
“I thought this was maybe the best 25 minutes of basketball we have played,” Crean said. “When you look at the 20-to-5 run at the end of the first half, we got back the understanding in the game that defense is about awareness, it’s about being alert, it’s about covering for teammates and being active. All those things – and we did a lot better job of that as the game went on. They made some tough shots early. Our guys answered the bell in the second half and we continued to improve in the game. I though it was one of those games where everybody that came in propped the level of the team up.”
Tom Crean had career-highs in this game. The 102 points is the most scored by IU under Tom Crean. The 35 field goals and 24 assists added to it. This is the second time Indiana made it to 100 points. The other time came against Northwestern State.
The Hoosiers started off sloppy, trailing 20-13. They would come back, thanks to Verdell Jones and Maurice Creek, but Presano Bell of the Bulldogs extended team’s the lead as they went on a 7-2 run to get them up 27-20 with seven minutes remaining in the first half. But after that, Indiana went on a 23-8 run to end the half with a 43-35 lead. They would take over from there and the Bulldogs would not recover.
Jeremiah Rivers, Jordan Hulls, and Jones all finished with six points a-piece. Matt Roth had 14 points and was 100-percent from the behind-the-arc. Will Sheehey had six points. Derek Elston had another great game, having ten points and six rebounds. Victor Oladipo had four points and a career-high of seven rebounds.
Great game Hoosiers!
Indiana now moves up to 9-2 while South Carolina State goes down to 4-6. Again, they face Northern Iowa next on Wednesday.
Go Hoosiers!
