Roth carries IU with second-half outburst in rout against UMBC

IU junior forward Derek Elston went down a week ago after catching an elbow to the nose in practice. IU sophomore forward Will Sheehey went down yesterday in practice after stepping on a basketball and rolling an ankle. IU senior guard Verdell Jones III went down after suffering a hip injury in Thursday’s game.

With three IU players down, senior guard Matt Roth stepped up.

Roth scored a season-high 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc to carry the depleted Hoosiers to a 89-47 win against UMBC on Thursday at Assembly Hall. UMBC falls to 1-10 while the Hoosiers go into Big Ten season 12-0

“It’s just part of the philosophy they’ve instilled in us where it’s just the next man up,” Roth said. “It’s unfortunate that it’s through injury, but you have to be prepared either way.”

The 69 percent (9-of-13) outburst from the 3-point line came after a first half in which Indiana shot 14 percent (2-of-14) from beyond the arc. IU, who came into the contest as the No. 1 ranked team in the country in 3-point field goal percentage at 47 percent, also shot 35 percent (9-of-26) from the field in the first half.

Like IU, Roth struggled out of the gate.

The senior didn’t even attempt a three in his six minutes in the first half and went into the break with two points. Roth said they were getting open looks, but they just weren’t converting.

“It just came down to our ball movement in the first half,” Roth said. “We moved the ball well, but we just weren’t getting shots to drop.”

Roth started in Jones’s place in the second half and wasted little time getting into a rhythm.

Just 42 seconds into the second half, Roth struck, knocking down a 3-pointer to end UMBC’s 10-0 run.

By the time UMBC could adjust, IU had already gotten hot from beyond the arc. IU junior forward Christian Watford, who led all scorers with 22 points, knocked one down. Then junior guard Jordan Hulls joined the party, knocking down another three.

Hulls said the Hoosiers were licking their chops when they saw UMBC’s zone defense, and it was only a matter of time before they got it going.

“You love it when people play zone,” Hulls said. “It’s good because we move the ball so well, and we don’t care who gets the shot.”

On a night where Hulls’s Big Ten record of 58 straight made free throws came to an end, he still scored 16 points and went 3-for-7 from beyond the arc.

But the constant in the second half was Roth.

By the time the game reached the under-12 minute timeout in the second half, Roth had already knocked down four 3-pointers in that eight-minute stretch to lead the Hoosiers to a 71-35 lead that they would not look back on.

Thursday marked the first time this season Roth scored in double figures. It marked the first time since Jan. 30 at Michigan State last season that Roth knocked down at least four 3-pointers, which was also the last time Roth played more than the 18 minutes he did on Thursday.

“We really needed people like Matt Roth and Austin Etherington to step their play up,” Crean said. “Tonight, I think they did. It was tough to play without Verdell, but there again Matt came right in, and it was next man up, and he did an excellent job with that.”

In a game in which IU was searching for bench scoring in the absence of Sheehey and Elston, the senior delivered.

“It’s big because he’s a veteran,” Crean said. “It’s great to see him do that. It’s great to see him go into this break and into the next wave of the season with confidence because we’re going to need him. There’s no doubt about it.”