BLOOMINGTON — basketball UI I had to win it Thursday evening at a 69-58 victory on UNC Greensboro.
No. 18 Hoosiers (4-0) made one final tune-up before heading to the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis – the toughest part of its non-conference schedule – but the Spartans were no pushover.
They fought back from a 16-point deficit to tie the score early in the second half and forced the Assembly crowd to come out gamely. a winter storm to inject a little energy into the debates and give a wake-up call to IU.
IU vs. UNCG Player Ratings: More freshman Myles Rice provides needed boost
IU freshman Bryson Tucker dons tights and cape
Bryson Tucker hit a series of clutch shots with IU brawling down the stretch.
Tucker also showed a willingness to mix things up on defense and committed an offensive foul that allowed a key 3-pointer to bring the Hoosiers’ lead back to double digits with 11:39 to play.
Tucker scored 14 of the team’s 19 bench points, including 12 in the second half. The freshman emerges as IU’s most reliable scoring option off the bench and could be the team’s top three-level scorer behind Mackenzie Mgbako. His mid-range game did a lot of the damage Thursday and he dropped some nice fadeaway jumpers 10-12 feet from the basket.
He’s also not prone to the mistakes of a first-year player.
Myles Rice, who scored a game-high 20 points, was the only other IU player in double figures. The Hoosiers shot just 39.4 percent in the second half and turned the ball over 14 times.
Indiana flirts with disaster in the second half against UNC Greensboro
Assembly Hall got a little anxious early in the second half. UNC Greensboro made its first three shots coming out of the half to make it a two-possession game. Indiana coach Mike Woodson burned a timeout 1:40 into the half to calm his team down.
It didn’t work.
Indiana has seemingly forgotten how to play both ends of the court. The Hoosiers overplayed everything on the perimeter on defense and left an open shooter or lane to the basket on every possession.
When they had the ball, they tried to pass it inside to Malik Reneau and Oumar Ballo, but turned it over three times and no one played with much confidence.
UNC Greensboro tied the score 40-40 on a three-point play with 15:57 left.
IU’s substitutions in the first half, a gift that continues to be given to opponents
Indiana fans experienced a sense of deja vu when Woodson took to the bench Thursday night.
The Hoosiers immediately went on a nearly four-minute scoring drought and went 1-of-7 from the field with four reserves on the floor.
Talking about Woodson’s substitution patterns has been a regular feature of our recent match recaps, but it bears repeating. Woodson has killed IU’s momentum in each of its games thus far by removing four starters in one fell swoop around the 12-minute mark of the first half.
On Thursday, UNC Greensboro was able to cut a 16-point deficit in half while shooting well below 30 percent.
Yes, the Hoosiers’ reserves need an opportunity to play, but there’s no reason Woodson can’t be more strategic in staggering those substitutions and experimenting with different formations instead of relying on substitutions hockey style line design.
Or wait to do it until the second half, when the reserves feel into the rhythm of the game, especially in attack. The lineup featuring Trey Galloway, Luke Goode and Tucker playing at the same time was better in the second half for this very reason.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana reporter for the Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on @michaelniziolek and read all of its coverage by clicking here.
This article was originally published on the Indianapolis Star: Indiana basketball vs. UNC Greensboro: Freshman Bryson Tucker makes moves
