Indiana basketball had a strong offensive performance on Monday night, helping them earn their first win of the season.
Indiana basketball opened their season against Eastern Illinois University, taking down the Panthers with a final score of 91-57 in Assembly Hall on Monday.
The Hoosiers had a slow start. With just over 10 minutes left in the first half, they only led by three points with a score of 21-19. However, they would end the half in a very different way. The defense began to improve, and Eastern Illinois scored two points in the final ten minutes of that half. The offense continued to find opportunities, and the Hoosiers finished the first half with a 44-23 lead.
“I thought midway through the first half our defense really, really turned up,” Indiana head coach Darian DeVries said after the game. “I thought we weren’t aggressive enough early in the game. I thought our ball pressure and activity really picked up in the second part of the first half.”
In the second half, Indiana continued their dominance. They had three players who finished in the double digits in points. Notre Dame transfer Markus Burton led the way in scoring, finishing the game with 19 points, 2 rebounds, and 5 assists. The Indiana native was welcomed with cheers from the fans as his number was called in the starting lineup for the first time in Assembly Hall.
“I thought that was really cool,” Burton said. “Obviously I’m an Indiana kid; I’m from South Bend. Just hearing the recognition and hearing it, it was a great experience playing in Assembly Hall in front of all those great fans.”
The second leading scorer was Bryce Lindsay, who had 14 points on the night. Following close behind was freshman forward Trevor Manhertz, who had 11 points along with 6 rebounds.
While the Hoosiers had a dominant game on offense, the inconsistencies on defense at the beginning of the first half were still present in the second half.
“We had 14 turnovers we had created in the first half, 22 overall, so it’s still good,” DeVries said. “They lived in our paint way too much in the second half. We got messed up on some switches and some things we were working on there.”
After the game, DeVries stated that freshman guard Prince-Alexander Moody would miss a significant amount of time due to an injury that happened during practice.
“We’ll continue to get him evaluated but don’t anticipate having him back for quite some time, so unfortunate news there,” DeVries said.
The Hoosiers will be back in action on Thursday as they host the Bellarmine Knights at 6 p.m. in Assembly Hall.