After a solid start, No. A point lead late in the first half was wiped out by UNC-Greensboro less than five minutes into the second half. It was a freshman that came to the rescue for the Hoosiers. Bryson Tucker came off the bench and scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half.
Eleven of those points were scored in a six-plus-minute stretch after Greensboro tied the game. Indiana coach Mike Woodson was willing to acknowledge that. I thought they played harder than we did. We didn't play hard, and that's unacceptable. Aside from Tucker, who shredded Greensboro with his reliable mid-range jumper, it was an uneven day from the Hoosiers.
Myles Rice led all scorers with 20 points and six assists, though much of his production came in the first half. Past that? No other Hoosiers reached double-figure scoring. Oumar Ballo 9 points, 11 rebounds and Malik Reneau 9 points, 10 rebounds came closest. That's awful. I mean, it's awful. With this team, we should average between 20 and 30 assists. No Indiana players were made available for comment after the game. The Hoosiers took a lead on their way to a advantage.
Rice was at his best as he scored eight points in the early surge, including a pair of 3-pointers. Greensboro missed 12 of its first 14 shots and had five turnovers that helped fuel that early Indiana run. It seemed the Hoosiers would have an easy night, but when Indiana turned to its bench, the dropoff was dramatic.
The Hoosiers became very turnover-prone — seven committed from the to the six-minute mark — and the made shots dried up, too. The bad offense had a spillover effect on the defense, and the Spartans closed the gap to with left in the half. Rice provided some forward momentum with a couple of buckets, but the Hoosiers got aggressive in drawing fouls.
