Indiana Finishes Strong, Knocks Off Minnesota 82-72

Indiana had five players in double figures and played great in the second half to come back from a six-point deficit and win 82-72 over Minnesota Wednesday night in Assembly Hall.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Cruising to the finish rarely happens during this brutal Big Ten season, but Indiana got a taste of that Wednesday, beating Minnesota 82-72 thanks to an impressive second-half run.

It was a huge win for the Hoosiers, who are still trying to spruce up their NCAA tournament resume. With the victory, they are now 12-9 overall and back to even in the Big Ten at 7-7.

They did it with an offensive explosion in  the second half, something we haven't seen very often from this team. They went from down six to up six early in the second half, and pulled away so quickly that they were ahead by 14 points at one time. In that 14-minute stretch of the second half, they outscored Minnesota 36-18.

They did it with three-point shooting, too. They were 5-of-7 from deep in the second half and 7-for-12 from three for the game. Armaan Franklin had three, and Al Durham and Jerome Hunter both had two during the second-half run. 

Hunter finished with a career-high 16 points in just 20 minutes off the bench. It was his second straight double-figures game – he had 10 in the loss at Ohio State last Saturday – and he's been playing well since missing a couple of games after getting in Archie Miller's doghouse.

It was the best game of his career, one that's been beset by serious injuries. But he's zeroed in now, learning from his mistakes.

"Jerome's had a tough go of it. He's not the same athlete that he once was,'' Miller said. 'But Jerome is a confident player, and when he's embracing what he's doing, he's very competitive.

'Right now he's not messing around. His attitude is good. What he's done in practice is what he's been doing in games. I'd like to even play him more with Trayce and Race if I can when we need a bigger lineup. He's starting to show signs of the player he can be.''

Trayce Jackson-Davis led the Hoosiers with 20 points. He got off to a quick start with two dunks and played well throughout the game. He wsa 8-for-14 from the field and made 4-of-5 free throws.

Armaan Franklin (11) and Al Durham (16) were in double figures, as was Rob Phinisee, who scored 10 points and had six assists in his best game in a month. In Indiana's last five games, he had scored only 19 total points and was just 5-for-27 shooting.

"Rob did what we needed him to do tonight,'' Miller said. "He was much more aggressive off the dribble and got to the basket three or four times. He's been much better the last couple of days. 

"Tonight he kept it simple, and he worked really hard against a really good player (Marcus Carr). And he did that without a lot of help. He was out there on an island most of the night.''

Miller said that Phinisee's slumps are self-induced, because he's so hard on himself. When he gets down, he stays down, and he needed a game like this to snap out of it

"Part of it is, he cares so much. He processes things, and he worries,'' Miller said. "When he doesn't play well, he's impacted. He gets down, and he lets it carry over a little too much. I told him in practice the other, I don't care if he goes 0-for-10. When he gets six assists in a game, that's what we need from him, what we need from all our guards.'' 

Indiana has been struggling with slow starts lately, falling behind by double digits early in the first half of three straight games. It was a point of emphasis against Minnesota and  they came out blazing, with two set plays that led to dunks for Jackson-Davis.

And even though they played well, the Hoosiers still trailed at halftime, 37-35. Eight first-half turnovers were a problem. The Hoosiers had 17 turnovers for the game, allowing 25 Minnesota points off miscues.

Minnesota struck quickly in the second half, dashing out to a 45-39 lead. But then the Hoosiers got hot and started to take control. Jackson-Davis scored twice in a row, the second one on a dunk in transition. 

The Hoosiers continued to push the ball upcourt and they were getting good looks from three. Durham made one and Hunter had two others all in the span of 90 seconds and Indiana was quickly ahead 52-46.

Minnesota scratched back to take a 55-53 lead on a Brandon Johnson dunk with 8:35 to go. But then Indiana completely took over. A 22-6 run blew the game open, with the Hoosiers scoring on eight straight possessions.

Minnesota tried to fight back, but the Hoosiers were solid from the line – much like they were in the overtime win at Northwestern last week. The Hoosiers shot 76.7 percent from the line (23-of-30), with the three guards going a perfect 8-for-8.

Minnesota was led by Carr and Jamal Mashburn, Jr., who each had 19 points. The Gophers, who have now lost all eight Big Ten road games this season, were just 4-for-20 from three-point  range and were outrebounded by the Hoosiers 34-24.

Indiana is back in action on Saturday against Michigan State. The game starts at Noon ET from Assemby Hall.

Related stories on Indiana basketball

• LIVE BLOG: Relive the Indiana-Minnesota game in real time with Tom Brew's live blog from inside Assembly Hall. CLICK HERE
• PARKER STEWART UPDATE: Indiana coach Archie Miller talked about transfer Parker Stewart on his radio show Monday night. There's o timetable for him to play this season, but he is practicing with the team now and working out. For the story, CLICK HERE
• INDIANA NCAA TOURNAMENT PROJECTIONS: The Hoosiers are currently projected to be a "last four in" team in the NCAA Tournament. CLICK HERE
• BIG TEN POWER RANKINGS: For Tom Brew's latest Big Ten power rankings, CLICK HERE
• INDIANA IN MUST-WIN TERRITORY: Indiana has two vital games for its tournament hopes this week. CLICK HERE

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