Hoosiers down UNC-G 71-64 in season opener

Earlier in the week, IU coach Mike Davis wasn't sure who he could count on to be his top scorer. But in IU's 71-64 win over UNC-Greensboro, it was sophomore guard Bracey Wright who came out on top with 23 points, along with two assists and one block.\nWright, however, wasn't satisfied with the final score of the game.\n"I think that game should have been won by 25 to 30 points," Wright said.\nIU held the lead the entire first half but only by a few points at a time. \nPerhaps the reason IU never hit the 25-point lead Wright wanted was due to the poor free throw shooting percentage at nearly 42 percent. IU only made 5 of its 12 free-throw attempts in the first half.\nDavis acknowledged the problem and said it's an area the team has to improve in, especially on the road.\nThe IU defense held UNC-Greensboro's guard Jay Joseph to only two points in the first half. Joseph, a senior for the Spartans, was a preseason All-Southern Conference selection. \nAfter a team field goal percentage of only 35 percent in the first half, sophomore guard Marshall Strickland said Davis wanted to see more energy and to speed up the game a little bit to slow down the Spartan offense.\n"I think in the second half we went small and were really able to open it up," Strickland said. "We got a lot of good baskets out of transition in the second half."\nStrickland was IU's second top scorer with 17 points, and he added two assists.\nWhile IU (1-0) improved its shooting percentage to 52 percent in the second half and free-throw percentage to 85 percent, the team also blew the 17-point lead it had with just under three minutes left in the game.\n"We played overall pretty good defense except the last maybe seven or eight minutes of the game," Wright said. "I think if we would have executed a little bit better and not given them easy opportunities like fouls and miscommunication, we easily would have built upon that lead we had."\nAlso hurting IU in the second half was Joseph, who scored 18 points in the second half to help the Spartans come within seven points of IU with less than a minute left in the game.\nStrickland said the team's overall energy was average in Friday night's contest.\n"In our defense, we took breaks," Strickland said. "At the end, we let them back in the game."\nDavis said part of the problem that killed their lead was players who weren't watching the clock.\n"We had guys that were thinking 'Let's win by 20, let's win by 25,'" Davis said. "We've got to get better with the clock. Someone's got to take control and be aware of what's going on out on the floor."\nDavis also was concerned about his team's turnovers and assists. IU's eight assists and 16 turnovers told Davis a lot about "team basketball," he said. \n"You want to have 16 assists and eight turnovers," Davis said. "We've got to get better."\nSophomore forward Sean Kline was an important part of IU's win, Davis said, noting that Kline had a great game and was probably the only one rebounding and playing good defense.\n"He's been sick the last couple of days," Davis said. "To come out and play the way he's played, having not practiced the last couple of days, is good for us."\nKline finished the game with eight points.\nIU looked like it had the game wrapped up with a 10-point lead with under five seconds to go. It was UNC-Greensboro's forward Rodney Blackstock that scored a trey in the last second of the game to bring the final score to 71-64.\n"We let them back in the game at the end," Strickland said. "But I think we're moving on, and we're going to get better tomorrow."\n-- Contact staff writer Natalie A. Trout at natrout@indiana.edu.