At the Buzzer: Indiana 84, Rutgers 74

  • Jan 2, 2025 10:53 pm
 

Quick thoughts on an 84-74 win against Rutgers:

How it happened

It was the Ace Bailey show in the first half on Thursday night in Assembly Hall. With Dylan Harper unavailable to play, the Scarlet Knights went to Bailey time and time again and he delivered. The star freshman wing was 8-for-14 from the field and had 19 points in 18 minutes. And yet, it wasn’t enough for Rutgers to take control of the game. The Hoosiers lost Malik Reneau early in the half to a lower-body injury and still scored an efficient 1.24 points per game. Indiana committed just one turnover, went 7-for-15 on 3s and had 12 offensive rebounds. The Hoosiers had 21 second chance points, 11 points off of turnovers and led 41-34 at the break.

Indiana stretched the lead to 11 at 47-36 as the Scarlet Knights were 0-for-5 from the field in the first four minutes of the second half. After a Rutgers bucket from Tyson Acuff, the Hoosiers ripped off a 7-0 run to push the lead to 16 at 54-38, forcing the Scarlet Knights to take a timeout with 14:06 to play. Indiana’s lead reached 18 on an Oumar Ballo bucket with 12:35 left, but Rutgers responded with an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 10 with 11:05 left. The Scarlet Knights got within six on a corner 3-pointer by Bailey with 9:05 to play, but the Hoosiers scored the next four points to make it 62-52 at the under-eight media timeout. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Luke Goode and Trey Galloway pushed the IU lead to 71-57 with 4:08 remaining. Rutgers never got closer than nine the rest of the way as Indiana picked up its 11th win and moved to 2-1 in Big Ten play.

Standout performer

Ballo returned after missing the Winthrop game and finished with 17 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots in 32 minutes off the bench. Myles Rice finished with 21 points and added five rebounds, three assists and two steals in 36 minutes. And Mackenzie Mgbako had 16 points and seven rebounds.

Statistics that stand out

Indiana outscored Rutgers 34-8 on second-chance points and 19-12 on points off of turnovers. The Hoosiers also made a season-high 12 3-pointers.

Final IU individual statistics

Final tempo-free statistics

Assembly Call postgame show

Category: Commentary

Filed to: