Hoosiers Tame Panthers 91-57

Written by: TJ Inman

Indiana’s offense was stalled and the Hoosiers were nursing a narrow lead midway through the first half of the season-opening contest against the Eastern Illinois Panthers. With the game at 21-19 and Eastern Illinois finding some offensive rhythm, Darian DeVries’ squad dialed up the defensive intensity. The Panthers were suffocated on their way to a scoring drought of nearly 10 minutes and IU went on an extended run to end the first half with a 44-23 advantage. Eastern Illinois had severe issues with Indiana’s defensive activity and length and turned the ball over 14 times in the first 20 minutes as Markus Burton paced IU’s attack with nine points.

Darren Harris opened the second half with five points including a fast-break dunk off of another forced turnover and IU continued to pull away from the visitors. The Eastern Illinois Panthers again had an offensive spurt, scoring 17 points in the first 6:30 of the second half prompting a timeout from Darian DeVries. The attempt at refocusing his team did not really work as EIU continued to find success on offense and Indiana began to accumulate fouls. DeVries turned to big men Aiden Sherrell and Samet Yigitoglu to lock things down and the hosts extended the lead back to more than 30 points thanks to dominance on the glass and at the foul line. The Hoosiers coasted to the 91-57 win to move to 1-0.

Markus Burton struggled to find his way in the three exhibition games but IU’s point guard was really good throughout this contest. The Notre Dame transfer had 19 points on only eight shots along with five assists. He had complete control of Indiana’s offense in his 24 minutes. Indiana forced Eastern Illinois into 22 turnovers and turned those giveaways into 29 points. Those live ball turnovers limited Eastern Illinois’ shot attempts and kept the rebounding battle closer than it otherwise would have been but IU still prevailed on the glass, 34-26. Nine IU players were on the floor for more than 11 minutes and eight of those individuals had eight points or more as Indiana racked up 32 free throw attempts and outscored Eastern Illinois by 20 points from the foul line.

The Hoosiers stay at home and take on the Bellarmine Knights on Thursday evening at 6:00.