With just over 10 minutes left to play Tuesday night, the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles held a six-point lead over Indiana after going on a 8-0 run. The Hoosiers called timeout and needed a quick response in order to not let their first game of the season slip away. That’s when five-star sophomore forward Malik Reneau took charge.
Reneau drove to the basket, took the contact and finished strong underneath the rim for two of his 15 points. After hitting the free throw, all of Assembly Hall was on their feet.
“DE-FENSE!”
“DE-FENSE!”
“DE-FENSE!”
The Hoosiers were listening. After a quick double team led to a turnover for a fast break, senior captain Xavier Johnson ran the length of the floor for an easy layup. Indiana did not stop there. Fellow senior captain Trey Galloway hit a floater on the next possession, then a Johnson 3-pointer, followed by five-star sophomore center Kel’el Ware hitting a turnaround bucket to push Indiana’s lead back up to six.
Ultimately, the Hoosiers went on a 19-2 run, which proved to be the difference maker as IU defeated FGCU 69-63 at Assembly Hall.
It was a team effort for Indiana — four starters finished in double figures. Galloway led the way with 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting, while Ware may have had the biggest impact as he finished with 13 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, three blocks and two steals.
Four-star freshman Gabe Cupps was another huge presence, coming off the bench but playing crunch-time minutes with the starting unit in the first official game of his career. With under four minutes left to play, he stepped into a pull-up 3 and drilled it to give IU an 11-point advantage.
Head coach Mike Woodson had high praise for his youngest star.
“He’s a winner,” Woodson said. “He’s capable of hanging in there and making basketball plays. I thought he was tremendous on both ends.”
There were struggles for Indiana — free-throw shooting and guarding the 3-pointer were challenges, similar to IU’s exhibition play. IU shot 10-for-18 (56%) on free throws in the first half and allowed 13 3-pointers overall, many of which were clean looks. Although the Hoosiers finished 19-for-30 from the line by the end of the game, Woodson was far from satisfied.
“Free throws,” Woodson said. “We just got to step up to the line and make them. That’s the difference in winning and losing a lot of nights. We weren’t very good tonight shooting them.”
Juniors Zach Anderson and Dallion Johnson were fantastic for FGCU, finishing with 19 and 17 points, respectively, and shooting a combined 10-for-18 from beyond the arc. Two of Anderson’s 3s came with one minute left in the game, followed by a Keesha Kellman layup to cut IU’s lead to only two with 35 seconds to go.
Galloway credits the outcome of the game to his team’s defensive intensity and willingness to fight after the Eagles’ second-half run.
“Obviously we got to be better and not put ourselves in that position, but to be able to climb out of that and come out with a win was huge for us,” Galloway said.
Indiana returns to Assembly Hall on Sunday, Nov. 12 to take on Army West Point at 7 p.m. on Big Ten Network.
