Indiana 86 Central Arkansas 53: Three Keys | Final Box Score

The Hoosiers finally win one going away after four straight gut wrenching wins.

Despite another slow start on both ends of the floor, Indiana didn’t let this one go down to the final minute against Central Arkansas. The Hoosiers fell behind 19-14 early, but outscored the Bears 72-34 the rest of the way to cruise to victory.

Indiana improves to 10-2 on the season and will face Jacksonville on Saturday evening.

Also see: Archie Miller and players post-game interviews.

THREE KEYS TO THE GAME

1. Devonte Green’s Coming Out Party. You knew the day was coming. There is too much talent here — and we’ve seen it on several occassions throughout the junior guard’s career. Much has been made about the need for a so-called “third scorer” on this team, and Green filled that role admirably tonight. And it wasn’t just points. He had 19 of those, but added 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals on just 2 turnovers.

2. The Defense Rights the Ship. After giving up 19 points in the first 7 minutes of the game, IU locked up Central Arkansas the rest of the way, giving up just 32 points over the final 33 minutes. Archie Miller attributed the slow start to ball screen coverages, and once again he got that corrected in-game. We’ve seen this story with the slow starts before, with IU consistently playing better defense as games progress. It has worked so far, but will they be able to recover on the road in the Big Ten?

3. 25 Assists / 12 Turnovers. This formula has been missing from the IU offense. Was it the opponent or is the offense starting to find a rhythm? With Rob Phinisee in concussion protocol, can the Hoosiers maintain this going forward in the short term? There are no definitive answers yet, but the ball movement was a step above where it has been in recent games, and after four early turnovers, the Hoosiers were pretty clean the rest of the way.