Hoosiers cruise to 98-65 victory over Hope College

In the only important sporting event of the night, the Indiana Hoosiers had a solid, albeit unspectacular 98-65 win over visiting Hope College. After some jittery nerves in the early moments led to some sloppy turnovers and an early deficit, the talent disparity between D-III Hope College and #11 Indiana showed itself halfway through the first half, and the Hoosiers kicked into gear and never looked back.

The game stayed relatively close for awhile as Hope was only down 8 points shortly into the second half. Then everything seemed to click, and the rest of the game went according to plan.

Notes:

• O.G. Anunoby’s 3-point stroke looked goooooooooooood. The 6’8” sophomore did nothing to dispel the hype that has been building since last March, knocking down 4-6 3’s on his way to a 16 point, 4 rebound game.

• Devonte Green continues to turn heads. After leading scoring in the scrimmage at Hoosier Hysteria, Green again led the team in scoring with 17 points on 7-9 shooting in only 13 minutes. He attacked all night and imposed his will on an inferior opponent. Yes, it’s early, but Green could be yet another needle found by Tom Crean in the recruiting haystack.

• Juwan Morgan got extensive time at the 1 spot in the lineup, leading the offense and pushing the ball up the court on many different instances. This is a continuation of what we saw last March and another variation to look for in Crean’s point guard by committee for this season that he has spoke of.

• Zach McRoberts got the start in the spot where Robert Johnson typically would play. I would not read too much into the RobJohn side of this, but it is a nod that Crean very well sees McRoberts as more than your average walk-on. FWIW, Johnson played 21 minutes and finished with 13 points on 5-11 shooting.

• Indiana is back in action this Saturday with another exhibition against Bellarmine.