COLUMBIA, S.C. – Indiana advanced to the second round of March Madness for the sixth consecutive season with a 76-68 win over the Utah Utes on Friday. In a game that was tied at 31 at halftime, the Hoosiers came out of the break with a 27-point third quarter, and held on in the final frame.
Indiana’s ability to share the sugar is one of its greatest strengths
The offensive prowess of players such as Yarden Garzon and Shay Ciezki has been well documented, and while those two led the way for Indiana with 17 and 16 points respectively, the Hoosiers had the benefit of five players in double digit scoring against Utah. Chloe Moore-McNeil put up 12, Lilly Meister added 11 and Karoline Striplin finished with 10 on the afternoon.
Even early on, in a back and forth first quarter, Indiana was able to find success with balanced scoring. Ciezki was effective, while Meister had one of her best quarters of the year, scoring eight. Perhaps the most notable stat? Indiana assisted on all but one of its field goals in the first, and ended the game with 19 assists on 29 made shots.
Success in transition
After the first quarter, this game looked like one where whichever team got hot from deep first would be the one that found success. And neither team really found that hot streak - Indiana and Utah were a combined 2-for-13 on 3s in the first 10. The Hoosiers, however, came into the second quarter and the rest of the game looking to control the pace and play at their speed. The result of those adjustments was Indiana catching the Utes off guard in the open floor, and not allowing their defense to get set on the other end. Indiana ended up totaling 14 fast-break points, while holding Utah to just two.
The Hoosiers are comfortable away from Bloomington — but their real test comes Sunday
Aside from the outlier year of 2021, the last time Indiana did not play its first and second round tournament games at Assembly Hall was in 2019, and there is no doubt playing in front of the home fans in Bloomington the last three helped the Hoosiers to (at least) first round wins in recent years. With this win, Indiana proves that they can play postseason ball at a high level away from home. However, back in 2019, the Hoosiers lost by 23 to Oregon, who had their own home fans behind them in Eugene.
On Sunday, Indiana will be in a similar situation: they’re coming off of a first round win by a single digit margin, and they’ll play a top seeded team in No. 1 South Carolina, whose fans filled the house in a 60-point drubbing of Tennessee Tech in the first round. It’ll be a truly hostile environment when Indiana takes the floor against the Gamecocks on Sunday.
