IU basketball: Indiana 76 Louisiana 44 — Three keys | Highlights

Indiana defeated Louisiana by a final score of 76-44 on Sunday evening at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind.

IU led 37-14 at the half. They were led by Parker Stewart with 16 points. Trayce Jackson-Davis had 11 points and 7 rebounds, and Race Thompson had 8 points and a team high 8 rebounds.

The Hoosiers (4-0) will host Jackson State on Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. Eastern.

THREE KEYS TO THE GAME

1. Historic first half defense. The numbers were difficult to comprehend. Louisiana shot a miserable 4-for-34 from the field for 11.8 percent before the break. The Ragin Cajuns scored just 14 points and just .4 points per possession. Indiana had five first half blocks and four first half steals and got contributions from all 10 available scholarship players during the half. While Louisiana shot a better percentage in the second half, it was still IU’s best field goal percentage defense game since at least 1996-97.

2. Stewart gets hot from three and his teammates follow. Parker Stewart had started multiple games well but he got hot and stayed hot in this one, connecting on 6-of-7 shots overall including 4-of-5 from three-point range. As a team Indiana made 10-of-19 for 52.6 percent. Tamar Bates was the only other player with at least two threes. Six players in total connected from deep including walk-on Nate Childress who scored his first career basket.

3. A feast or famine offense. Indiana had 27 turnovers and 22 assists on the night Khristian Lander had a career-high with six assists but added 4 turnovers. Starting point guard Xavier Johnson had the same stat line, and Jordan Geronimo had 5 turnovers. The Hoosiers didn’t have more than 18 turnovers in a game last year. This was their most in a game at least going back to the 2012-13 season.