Indiana Pulls Away Late to Knock Off Kennesaw State, 69-55

Tamar Bates scored 19 points and Jalen Hood-Schifino added 18 as the Indiana guards took over the game late to lead the Hoosiers to a hard-fought 69-55 win over Kennesaw State on Friday at Assembly Hall.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — There are nights when the final score doesn't tell much of a story. That was certainly the case Friday night, where No. 18 Indiana beat Kennesaw State 69-55 but struggled for 30-plus minutes before finally gettin their act together.

There was a built-in excuse, of course, with Indiana's two best players — forward Trayce Jackson-Davis and point guard Xavier Johnson — out with injuries. But even that shouldn't have mattered like it did. Kennesaw State, ranked No. 214 in the Kenpom.com rankings coming into the game, led most of the first half and were still within four points with 5-plus minutes left in the game.

Thankfully, sophomore guard Tamar Bates and freshman point guard Jalen Hood-Schifino stepped up in a big way in the second half, and especially down the stretch. Bates finished with 19 points and Hood-Schifino had 18, with the two of them combining to shoot 9-for-12 in the second half.

Bates was comfortable putting up big shots, and it showed.

"It's kind of just having that mentality where just to shoot the ball in the game the same way I do when I'm in there working out and it's empty,'' Bates said. "So that's pretty much it. Just calming down and not being so tense, really. And just taking all the pressure off myself.

"It's just putting the work in, that's all. By myself and with the team. And just also knowing that my teammates and the coaches have confidence in me to go play my game."

The guards were huge, a rarity for an Indiana team that often plays inside-out. Here's how big of an impact they had in the final 12 minutes, a time where Kennesaw was still leading, 40-36. From there, Indiana outscored them 33-15, with Bates scoring 11 points during that stretch and Hood-Schifino adding nine.

Bates was hot from deep, hitting three three-pointers. Indiana coach Mike Woodson expects that when Bates gets open looks

"I'm not surprised. He's put in the time,'' Woodson said. "He's been able to make shots for us. When I run plays for him, I expect him to deliver."

Hood-Schifino benefited from Indiana playing a small lineup and center Race Thompson playing up in the high post. He scored three times on handoffs with a wide open lane to help Indiana pull away. The adjustment to a smaller lineup and spreading the floor made a big difference.

 "We opened the floor up a little bit, to get Schifino some room to work with the basketball, as well as Gallo,'' Woodson said. 

The spark that #IUBB needed. 🔥@tbates_11 came up big for the Hoosiers, leading the way with 19 pts, 2 ast, and 2 reb in the win. pic.twitter.com/bOdIBbI19G

— Indiana On BTN (@IndianaOnBTN) December 24, 2022

Thompson didn't score a lot — he had only four points on 2-of-7 shooting and missed all four free throw attempts — but he had 14 rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots. 

Indiana, now 10-3 as they head into a 13-day break before re-opening the Big Ten season on Jan. 5 at Iowa, got nine points from junior guard Trey Galloway, who started in Johnson's absence after the veteran point guard had foot surgery on Wednesday, Miller Kopp added seven, as did Jordan Geronimo, who was back after missing Tuesday's win over Elon with a finger injury. 

Kennesaw (8-5) scored only four points in the final 5 minutes and 42 seconds. Indiana, which got lost often early in the game in drifting away from three-point shooters, was lights out defensively down the stretch. The Owls hit 10 threes, but none in the final 10 minutes.

Chris Youngblood, Kennesaw's leading scorer this season, finished with just six points on 2-of-11 shooting, Terrell Burden, their second-leading scorer, had nine points on 2-of-9 shooting from the field.

The Hoosiers now have their longest break of the season. The players — and coaches, too — now get three or four days off for Christmas and then will get back at it. Woodson is optimistic that Jackson-Davis, the team's leading scorer, will be ready to go when they return.

"Hopefully he'll be back after the break,'' Woodson said. "I'm hoping this break will allow him to rest a bit more and come back ready to go.''

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