LDN - Sports

No. 13 Indiana cruises past Southeast Missouri

[December 05, 2016] BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- In an otherwise seemingly effortless home win, the 13th-ranked Indiana Hoosiers' fourth in eight days, head coach Tom Crean provided a pick-me-up in the form of a chest bump.

The Hoosiers were well on their way to an 83-55 rout of Southeast Missouri State on Sunday afternoon at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall when sophomore center Thomas Bryant dove for a loose ball. He didn't get it, but Crean awaited with some spontaneous encouragement.

"Just be excited and have energy," Crean said of the chest-bump message sent. "He was putting too much pressure on himself, not having fun, and that's when he's at his best."

Indiana (7-1) has had plenty to be excited about lately with a home win streak at 23 games, tied for sixth longest in program history. That's also the sixth-longest active home streak in the country.

And a 76-67 win over No. 3 North Carolina on Wednesday should elevate Indiana in Monday's polls.

"It was pretty tough, but I'm proud of the way the guys fought and found the energy to be locked into things like shoot-arounds, film," said Hoosiers junior guard Robert Johnson, who scored a game-high 17 points. "It was a really big jump for our young guys, as far as how you've got to prepare every game. Overall, it was a good week."

Freshman forward De'Ron Davis had 14 off the bench for a second consecutive game, his best college outputs so far. Sophomore forward Juwan Morgan, who didn't miss any of his eight shots in a career-high 18-point effort Friday, stayed perfect on four more attempts. He finished with 11 points, as did junior shooting guard James Blackmon Jr.

"I'm just starting to get my confidence and work my way into college shape," Davis said.

Southeast Missouri State (4-4), which had attempted 62 3-pointers in its two previous games, came out firing but mostly missing as the Ohio Valley Conference visitors were just 3 of 14 (21.4 percent) from beyond the arc in the opening half.

"I think we got caught up in the moment at the beginning of the game," Redhawks coach Rick Ray said. "There was a little bit of shock value for our guys playing in a venue like this and playing against this competition."

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Indiana scored the game's first seven points and built an early 20-4 advantage on a Johnson 3-pointer with just 8:24 elapsed. The Redhawks eventually settled down and whittled the deficit to five, but Indiana surged again for a 39-26 halftime lead.

The Hoosiers got hot to open the second half as freshman guard Curtis Jones and Johnson hit 3-pointers. The home team's lead swelled to 50-30. Then the Redhawks didn't make a field goal in a drought of 8:13. The Hoosiers led 66-39.

"I thought we tried to make too many individual plays during the second half," Ray said. "You just have to play within yourself."

Redhawks freshman guard Denzel Mahoney scored a team-high 16 points. Southeast Missouri State was 5 of 25 (20 percent) on 3-point shooting and 20 of 64 overall (31.3 percent). Indiana made 7 of 20 3-pointers (35 percent) and 29 of 56 overall (51.8 percent).

NOTES: The Hoosiers were without starting sophomore F OG Anunoby (left ankle sprain) for a second consecutive game, but once again didn't need his 12.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. ... Indiana entered with a 15.4 rebounding margin, second best in the country, and also leads Big Ten teams in scoring (86.0 points), scoring margin (+18.1) and 3-point field goal defense (27.4 percent). ... The Hoosiers get a bit of a break with just two games in 13 days, both on Saturdays, against Houston Baptist on Dec. 10 and against Butler in Indianapolis on Dec. 17. ... Southeast Missouri State is 0-13 all time against ranked opponents and 0-9 against the Big Ten, including an 81-62 loss at Illinois in the season opener. ... Indiana improved to 22-0 against the OVC with one more team visiting Dec. 22 in defending conference tournament champion Austin Peay.

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