LDN - Sports

No. 6 Indiana routs UMass Lowell behind Blackmon

[November 17, 2016] Indiana coach Tom Crean knows his team can score. What he wants to see is a better performance on the defensive end.

The sixth-ranked Hoosiers overcame spotty play on defense Wednesday night with their second straight 100-point outing, dumping Massachusetts Lowell 100-78 in their home opener at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind.

James Blackmon Jr. tallied a game-high 23 points, Robert Johnson added 16 and OG Anunoby hit for 15 points for the Hoosiers. Indiana (2-0) sank 56.3 percent of its field-goal attempts, including 11 of 27 on 3-point tries, and garnered a 46-24 rebounding advantage on the River Hawks.

However, Crean was concerned about his team's play without the ball. Specifically, how the Hoosiers allowed UMass Lowell (1-2) to sink 9 of 21 3-point attempts for the game and convert almost 50 percent of their field-goal tries after halftime.

"We weren't nearly as good in our defensive communication and switching as we needed to be," Crean said. "They were usually putting four shooters on the floor, sometimes five. Our communication has to get better, our ability to help on the ball has to be better."

Playing five days after they outlasted Kansas 103-99 in the season opener at the Armed Forces Classic in Honolulu, the Hoosiers brought their explosive offense back with them across seven time zones. It took about 12 minutes for that offense to overrun the game but undersized River Hawks.

Blackmon Jr. was right in the middle of it. After freshman Cameron Wolter's driving layup pulled UMass Lowell within 21-20 at the 9:17 mark of the first half, Blackmon went on a personal 10-0 run in 102 seconds.

His second 3-pointer in the stretch capped the spurt and gave Indiana its first double-figure lead at 31-20. Blackmon finished the half with 20 points, equaling his second-half production against Kansas.

Crean said an adjustment enabled Indiana to crack the code against the River Hawks' sagging man-to-man defense.

"We were passing the ball, but we were passing it along the 3-point line without getting it into the paint," he said. "Once we did that, we had 15 straight scores through the paint in the first half. Not that we scored every basket in the paint, but the ball moved through the paint on all of those scores. That's where a lot of James' threes came from."

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What ball movement couldn't accomplish, sheer athleticism sometimes did. To end the first half, the freakishly-skilled Anunoby, who has earned comparisons to Crean-era star Victor Oladipo, soared over a UMass Lowell defender to dunk home a missed shot and give the Hoosiers a 53-36 halftime lead.

Indiana didn't let the River Hawks generate any kind of pushback until it was too late, expanding the margin to 29 at the 12:51 mark of the second half on a dunk off a steal by freshman Devonte Green. Most of the Hoosiers starters spent the game's last seven minutes on the bench.

Jahad Thomas scored 16 points for UMass Lowell, which is in its fourth season as a Division I program. Tyler Livingston tallied 14, and Isaac White contributed 13 points.

It was the second of five games in nine nights for the River Hawks, who play at Fort Wayne on Saturday and then take on Liberty and Mississippi Valley State Monday and Tuesday in Lynchburg, Va. Coach Pat Duquette was looking at the big picture minutes after losing the school's first meeting with Indiana.

"Rest is going to be important for us," he said.

Crean was also viewing a big picture as well after this one. Before the calendar turns to 2017, the Hoosiers play North Carolina, Butler and Louisville. All the offensive firepower this team owns might not matter enough if they can't stop better opponents from scoring.

"We all know we can be better," he said. "We'll make our strides over the next few weeks to get the communication where it has to be."

NOTES: Indiana's season-opening win over Kansas in Hawaii was its fifth over a team ranked in the top 3 since 2011. Only Duke, which has six, can claim more victories. ... UMass Lowell reached the foul line 73 times in its first two games, canning 59. The River Hawks hit 15 of 18 free throws Wednesday. G Matt Harris is a perfect 19 of 19 at the line, though he didn't have an attempt at Indiana. ... This is the first of four straight games the Hoosiers will play as part of the Indiana Classic, which also involves Liberty, Mississippi Valley State and Fort Wayne.

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