Late Spurt Flips Script, Gives Indiana 69-63 Win Over Florida Gulf Coast
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Sometimes all it takes is one good run to win a basketball game. Indiana did exactly that on Tuesday night.
One good run. And a win.
Struggling to get much going for the better part of 30 minutes against a gritty Florida Gulf Coast team, the Hoosiers went on a 14-0 run to erase a six-point deficit. It lit a spark, and Indiana won its season opener 69-63 at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Florida Gulf Coast, thanks to eight second-half three pointers, jumped out to a 48-42 lead with 10:54 to go. But then the Hoosiers, spurred by its defense, finally got going. They scored 14 straight points over a 5-minute span and got the Assembly Hall crowd into it, too.
The lead jumped to 56-48, and then after an Eagles basket, the lead got to 11, the largest of the game, at 61-50. with 3:58 to go.
"I had no choice but to call timeout because they had gone on a nice little run,'' Indiana coach Mike Woodson said. "We got a bucket (out of the timeout), and then got a big steal and turned that into a bucket as well. That was enough to get us going, and then the crowd got into it, too.''
Malik Reneau had five points in the run, and Trey Galloway, Kel'el Ware and Xavier Johnson also scored. FGCU missed four straight shots during IU's streak, and also had two turnovers against Indiana's ramped-up defense.
"X and Trey are seniors, and they're supposed to make plays. They did that,'' Woodson said. "We expect that from them.''
The Hoosiers weren't crisp in closing the game out, though. They had turnovers on three straight possessions, and suddenly the Eagles were back within two points with 35 seconds to go. Johnson made 3-of-4 free throws and Ware 1-of-2 to close out the game.
Win No. 1 wasn't very impressive outside of that five-minute run, but the Hoosiers will take it — and then learn from it
"Obviously we're capable of being up more,'' Galloway said. "We could have broken there and fallen apart (down by six), but we didn't. It was huge to step up. (Johnson and I), we have the time spent here to know what it takes to win. Pulling guys along, we know it's not going to be easy. We've just got to keep fighting. I thought we did that.''
Galloway led the Hoosiers with 16 points. Reneau had 15 points, Johnson 14 and Ware 13. He also had 12 rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots. Freshman Gabe Cupps had five off the bench, and played a big part in the run when the Hoosiers went to a three-guard lineup.
He's a winner. That's the first time I've had an opportunity to play he and X some extended minutes,'' Woodson said of Cupps. "Especially in crunch time, you don't expect that, but I felt comfortable enough with Gabe in the game. I've seen him enough plays.
"He's capable of hanging in there and making basketball plays. I thought he was tremendous on both ends.''
It looked very much like a season-opening game early, with both sides looking fairly lethargic. The pace was slow, and shot selection wasn't great on either side. ...
Indiana made six of its first 10 shots, but then went 2-for-10 after that.
Ware aggressive going to the basket. Shot eight first-half free throws, making five. Free throw shooting, often an issue for Indiana a year ago, was a problem early, too. They made just 10-of-18 in the first half.
Florida Gulf Coast played without senior guard Isaiah Thompson, who was their leading scorer (14.9 ppg) a year ago. The Zionsville, Ind., native played his first three years at Purdue, so this had to be a crusher for him to miss this game. He has an upper body injury.
Others picked up the slack, though. Zach Anderson had 19 that included five made threes, and Dallion Johnson, who played at Penn State for three years, had 17 off the bench. He made five threes as well.
"He's a winner,'' Woodson said of Cupps. "That's the first time I've had a chance to play he and X together with extended minutes. He's capable of hanging in there and making plays.''
The 7-foot Ware did a lot of everything, keeping the Hoosiers in the game with big plays on both ends of the court.
"Every night is going to a night where we need to play hard and do our best to win the game,'' Ware said. "It's a 40-minute game, if I can just get a block or rebound, it's important to do that the whole game. ''
The Hoosiers are back in action on Sunday, taking on Army at Assembly Hall. The game starts at 7 p.m. ET and will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
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